Retail Manager Resume Sample, Template & Writing Guide for 2024
From merchandising and managing budgets to training and hiring new sales associates, retail managers have a diverse set of responsibilities. Even those with many years of experience and all the most wanted skills may find it overwhelming to sit down and create a retail manager resume.
Recruiters can’t see your skills first-hand so they need to be sure your resume indicates you’d be a fantastic store manager. Every detail on your resume needs to show your skills and accomplishments. A strong resume opens up a world of opportunities for dedicated retail managers.
As you go through this guide, we’ll share everything you need to know to build a resume that gets more than a simple glance. You’ll get an example to base your resume on, as well as insight into each of the sections of a typical retail manager resume. Everything you need is here so there’s no reason to stress about building a great resume.
By following the steps here, you’ll craft a resume you are proud of. Plus, it will take much less time than most people expect. We offer tools that make it simple to show off your skills as a retail manager so you have a better chance of making it to an interview and showing off your stuff.
As we move through this guide, you’ll get secrets that show you how to craft a retail manager resume that any hiring manager will appreciate. We’ll share information about the best format and provide a sample resume that you can use to guide your efforts. We’ll even break down each section of the resume to make it less overwhelming to get started.
Retail Manager Resume Example
Resume examples for retail management are the best thing you can have available while you create this professional document. You can get an idea of how to put together your resume by looking at other exceptional documents. When you have the skills for a job, the important thing is to make sure you include them and highlight how you’re better than your competitors.
As you browse retail management resume examples, you’ll see how to format different sections and make important information stand out. This guide will have a full resume example, as well as several section examples of retail manager resumes. By having both the small details and the larger picture, it’s easier to make every section exciting to read and packed with good information.
Whether your resume catches the eye or not can determine whether you end up in an interview. That’s why you should consider retail management resume samples to ensure every part of the document is perfect. We’ll help you do that starting with the image below. Then we’ll add other resume examples for a retail manager throughout this article.
Now you can see all the sections that go into an excellent retail manager resume. While you do your resume writing, make sure you add them all in. These include the following:
· Clear contact information
· Inspiring resume objective
· Relevant employment experiences
· Your educational background
· Skills related to the position
· At least three references
Many resumes utilize these sections so you’ll see them on resumes for retail managers as well as jobs in totally different sectors. This might lead you to think that a generic resume will do the job for every position you’re interested in. That is not the case. Each resume you send in should be customized for the specific company and role you’re interested in. We’ll share more details about that below.
How to Write a Good Resume for a Retail Sales Manager in 2024: Full Retail Management Resume Guide
You have an idea about why sample resumes are useful, but so is having a retail manager job description for a resume. Once you find a position you’d love to have, make sure to save the job description so you can look over it while crafting a resume and others needed documents. It’s way more important than you might think at first.
It’s possible to pull keywords out of the job description. These are things that the employer wants to see in a new worker. For instance, if the job description has a lot of focus on merchandising, you want to include that in some way in your retail manager resume objective, experience, or skills. This same idea can be used with any important skill.
You might wonder why keywords are so important. One reason is because a human often is not the first person to access your retail general manager resume. Instead, a computer often looks over the resume first. If you don’t add in the keywords to match a position, that could result in being looked over. A human might not ever see the resume at all.
In addition, hiring managers want to see that you customized your resume for a specific job. If you apply for a retail manager position but include skills, experience, and education that doesn’t apply, it might seem as if you didn’t put any work into learning about the company and position. This will harm your chances of landing the position.
You can see in retail manager resume examples how important keywords are used. Let that guide you as you craft your resume. Sure, it takes a bit more time than sending out a generic resume for every position. However, you’ll find that it is well worth the effort when you get a fantastic job with a great salary and benefits.
Keywords are important in terms of a retail manager resume, but you also should think about the right resume format. For most people, this is a reverse-chronological order format. For your experience and education, this means you place the most recent position (or degree) first and work your way back adding relevant information.
The last thing to consider before you start creating your retail manager resume is how long it should be. For most people, a one-page resume is appropriate. Those who have over 10 years of experience can go to two pages if there is enough content to spread over an additional page.
Section #1: Contact Information
Any professional resume has to include a contact information section. While you might be excited to get to your skills and experience, first you need to provide the basic details a hiring manager needs to know. Not doing so makes all your time go to waste since there will be no way to get in contact with you.
This is a great way to start the resume because it’s simple and entails typing the information you already know. Just add in your details and then you can move on to other sections that give more info about what you’ve done (or plan to do) as a retail manager.
Contact Information Example
One of our examples of retail management resumes showcases contact information. You can see that this is a quick and easy section to include. The applicant includes their name, address, and two ways to reach out to them. That’s all you need to add to your own unless the job description asks for social media or other details.
How to Format This Section
Hiring managers want to have an easy way to contact you so that’s the goal here. The formatting is relatively simple for this section. Keep in mind that you can add this information to the header of the resume or one of the sidebars. Use highlighting to make things easy to understand.
Section #2: Resume Objective
Next up is the retail manager resume summary section. Also known as a resume objective for a retail manager, this is the opposite of the contact information section. The resume summary for a retail manager should pack in tons of information about how great you are or would be as a retail manager. Add your best achievements to this part of the resume.
Resume Objective Example for an Entry-Level Retail Sales Manager Resume
As someone who may be coming into the retail environment as an entry-level hire, your objective will look different than one for an experienced person. Above you can see what that might look for with someone who has no management experience. Tie in your skills and abilities that fit the job.
Resume Objective Example for Experienced Retail Sales Manager Resumes
In this sample resume for a retail manager, the objective digs a lot deeper since the person has lots of experience. Look at what you’ve done that changed the workplace. Maybe you increased annual sales, decreased shrinkage, or instituted new initiatives for employees. Explain all of that in the resume objective using numbers and examples.
How to Format This Section
If you thought the contact information section was easy to format, you’ll love the objective formatting. This is typically a block of text where appearance matters very little. Instead, the words used in the resume objective are what should make a leader keep reading your retail management resume. Try to avoid going over four sentences.
Section #3: Professional Work Experience
This is the time to show you understand retail manager roles and responsibilities for a resume. You’ll be sharing the experiences you have had in the past as a retail manager or similar roles. This also gives you additional space to expand on your retail manager accomplishments.
For those who don’t have a lot of experience, don’t be afraid to be creative with your work experience. Other positions could have given you skills that are similar to those a store manager needs. Internships, volunteering experiences, and similar things can also be used to fill out this section.
Professional Work Experience Example
You can see above that the work experience section is detailed and provides a lot of space to add keywords. In this case, you see two jobs under work history, both of which are associated with work in retail. It has all the basic information followed by more detailed descriptions of what the position entailed. You can copy this to create your work experience shine.
How to Format This Section
Formatting for this section is more involved than the other sections we’ve looked at. For instance, a heading is included with information about when you worked somewhere, what the name of the company was, and which years you were an employee. Underneath are bullet points that focus on specific duties a job had.
Section #4: Educational Background
You might be great at hitting metrics but more than experience needs to be included on a resume. The educational background area is where you show that you graduated high school, received a bachelor’s degree, or went on to earn a master’s degree. Certifications should also be listed here if applicable.
Those who have little experience can often make up for it by listing additional details about their educational background. Everyone needs to include this section, even if you’re only adding your diploma. However, those with a university degree can take the diploma off and only include degrees and certifications.
Educational Background Example
For an idea of how to build your education section, take a look at the image above. You can see that this applicant has a bachelor’s degree as well as a master’s degree. One of the degrees is in business administration, which fits well with a retail manager resume. However, any higher education should be included.
How to Format This Section
When you want to be an assistant manager in the retail industry, you need to be sure your education is easy to find on your resume. It will have a similar look to the formatting of the work experience but less detail is typically included. Only add things like honors and GPA if you are entry-level and have less experience to include.
Section #5: Skills
Retail manager resume skills can be highly diverse. It’s a position where a lot of different skills can be useful. You’ll also find that the retail management skills used for one job are going to be a lot different from the next one. This is another area where you really need to customize things.
When you list skills for a retail manager resume, there are hard skills and soft skills to include. Remember to include things like communication skills as well. Leadership skills and interpersonal skills can be just as useful to include as other skills. Make a good mix of skills for the best results with your retail manager resume.
Skills Example
Above you can see an example of the skills for a retail manager resume. However, as mentioned, there are going to be skills that are critical to one job that may not even be used in another. Go through the things you are good at and determine which fit best. A few examples include:
· Business administration
· Customer experience
· Customer satisfaction
· Employee retention
· Forecasts
· Inventory management
· Leadership skills
· Management skills
· Marketing strategy
· Meeting sales goals
· POS (point of sale) systems
· Project management
· Pricing
· Teamwork
· Team building
· Time management
· Visual merchandising
How to Format This Section
The skills section has a new format but it’s easy to create. You want your skills to be on a list so it’s easy to read them. The name of the skill is important to include but so is adding your level of proficiency with the skill. You can see an example of that above. However, you can get creative with how you make your own look.
Section #6: References
The perfect resume for a retail manager position will come with a set of references. This is a great way to show hiring managers that people trust you and appreciate the skills you have in this industry. When you decide on people to use as references, make sure they’re aware of the many things you’re good at.
It’s also important that you contact anyone you choose to make a reference. You want them to be aware that they might be contacted by email or phone call. References should consent to be contacted. If that’s not the case, move on and choose someone else.
References Example
The person above offers excellent customer service on the sales team and has included managers who are aware of that. You can also see that one of the references is from outside of their employment, which many leaders like to see. Just make sure to avoid adding friends or family members.
How to Format This Section
When you want to get a job as a retail store manager, references matter. So does the way you format the section. We recommend including the name of the reference, what organization they are associated with, and leaving the rest of the information out. Instead, add “available on request” and the hiring manager can reach out if and when they need to contact the people you list.
Related Resume Templates
At this point, you have all the information you need to create a great resume. When you want to make the process quicker and easier, consider using a retail manager resume template. This puts everything together and all you need to do is plug in your information. It’s far less time-consuming than using word processing software to make a resume from scratch.
The sample retail management resume used throughout this guide is an excellent choice. However, some people will prefer a different look and feel for their resume. Below are several options you can choose from. Each has a different appearance so you can select one that appeals to you. While these aren’t designed specifically for a retail manager resume, they can easily be adapted for that purpose.
When using one of our resume templates, all you need to do is open it and edit it to match the role that you want to gain. Choose a template you love and include your information. Our Resume Builder service can help you make resumes quickly whenever you want. All of the complicated formatting is done for you.
Final Points on Writing Successful Retail Managers Resumes
By following the writing tips in this guide, you can build a retail manager resume that gets you an interview so you can move forward. When using a template, make it your own to create the best resume possible. After you’re done with that, there are only a few more steps that you will need to take. Follow along to finish the process.
· Skim over the resume to see how it looks. Read it at least once to see how the flow is. If you see errors, correct them but we’ll focus more on that in a moment.
· Consider the colors and font faces you have used for the resume. Does everything look good together? Is the information easy to read? If not, you should make some edits before you move forward.
· Read the resume again but this time, focus on fixing any errors. It can also be helpful to use software like Grammarly. It will key in on any problems you don’t notice so you can quickly edit your resume to be even better.
· Think about how the resume will look to a recruiter who knows nothing about you. Look for good spacing and white area, a professional aesthetic, and excellent organization. Change anything that seems off.
· Read over the resume one more time but do so out loud. This will give you insight into anything confusing or with a bad flow so you can make final edits.
At this point, you’re ready to turn in your retail manager resume. Turn the resume into a PDF so it looks great on any device and send it in. Make sure to include a cover letter and any other documents required by the job application. Then all you can do is wait to be contacted. Good luck!