Retail CV: examples for sales assistants, supervisors and store managers

Example CV

Example

Megan Doyle

Retail Sales Assistant

megan.doyle@example.com · 07700 900583 · Glasgow

Summary

Retail sales assistant with three years in fashion and homeware stores, including two Christmas peaks. Average 4.8 out of 5 in customer feedback scores and 112% of my personal sales target in 2026. Trusted to cash up, open the store on Sundays and train new starters on the till. Looking for a sales assistant or key holder role, available weekends and late nights.

Experience

Sales Assistant

Mar 2024 - Present

Clyde & Co Home · Glasgow · Permanent, 30 hours a week

• Serve up to 250 customers on a Saturday across tills, fitting rooms and click and collect.
• Reached 112% of my personal sales target in 2026, mostly through add-on sales of textiles and lighting.
• Cash up four tills and open the store on Sundays; no unexplained till difference in 2026.
• Trained six new starters on the till system and the returns policy.

Christmas Sales Assistant

Nov 2023 - Jan 2024

Merchant Street Fashion · Glasgow · Temporary, November to January

• Replenished the shop floor from deliveries of up to 40 cages a day during the peak.
• Kept to a 3-minute average queue time at the busiest tills during the December weekends.

Volunteer

Jun 2022 - Oct 2023

Southside Cancer Charity Shop · Glasgow · Volunteer, Saturdays

• Priced and displayed donations; redesigned the window display each month.

Education

National 5s: English, Maths, Business Management, Art and Design

Aug 2017 - Jun 2021

Shawlands High School · Glasgow

Skills

• Customer service
• Till operation and cashing up
• Add-on sales
• Stock replenishment and counts
• Visual merchandising
• Handling complaints and returns
• Training new starters

Languages

• English native speaker
• Polish B2 · fluent

Interests

Upcycling furniture and selling it online · Netball, Sunday league

Megan has three years on the shop floor and wants a key holder role. Her CV fits on one page and every bullet answers a manager's question: how many customers, how much in sales, can she be trusted with the keys and the cash?

What this retail CV example does well:

• the profile has two figures (feedback score, sales target) and her availability;
• the temporary Christmas job stays: a peak season is exactly what a store manager wants to see;
• the volunteering in a charity shop shows where her retail experience started;
• the skills use the words retail adverts use: till, cashing up, replenishment, visual merchandising.

This retail CV template is a single-column design that online application systems read in order. Switch to any of our CV templates without retyping.

Three shorter examples, from a first shop job to running a store. Names and shops are made up.

1. Contact details: name, town, mobile, email. No photo, age or date of birth.
2. Job title and personal profile: the role you want, three or four sentences with a figure and your availability.
3. Work experience: most recent first, with the store, the type of contract and three bullets with results.
4. Skills: the ones from the advert that you can prove.
5. Education: one or two lines; GCSEs or National 5s in English and maths are what shop adverts check.
6. Languages and interests, if they help: a second language is useful in tourist areas and busy city stores.

Retail roles rarely require a degree. The National Careers Service notes that some employers ask for GCSEs at grades 9 to 4 in English and maths, and that retail or customer service experience helps but isn't essential.

Keep it short and concrete: years in retail, the type of store, one result and when you can work. More examples in our CV personal statement guide.

Every sales assistant serves customers and stacks shelves. A strong CV says how well. Pick numbers you can back up at interview:

• Customers: how many you serve on a busy day, feedback or mystery shop scores, complaints resolved.
• Sales: personal or team targets, add-on sales, loyalty or card sign-ups, average basket value.
• Stock: deliveries processed, stock count accuracy, waste or shrinkage reduced, online orders picked.
• Trust: cashing up, key holding, opening and closing, cash office, training new starters.

The National Careers Service lists customer service, working well with others, verbal communication, attention to detail, staying calm under stress, selling, initiative, maths and basic computer tasks for sales assistants. Match them to the role you want, and see our guide to skills for a CV for more.

You don't need shop experience to apply: the National Careers Service says it helps but isn't essential, and suggests three ways in: a temporary weekend or Christmas job, volunteering in a charity shop, or applying directly. On your first retail CV, put forward school or college, any volunteering, roles where you dealt with people (events, clubs, babysitting), and your availability. Our guide to writing a CV with no work experience has a full example.

Retailers hire extra staff for the Christmas peak each autumn: see our round-up of Christmas temp jobs for this year's openings.

• Shifts: the National Careers Service gives 37 to 42 hours a week for a full-time sales assistant, with evenings, weekends and bank holidays on a rota. Write your availability on your CV.
• Pay: the job profile gives an average of £19,000 for a starter to £27,000 for an experienced sales assistant. The legal minimum, the National Living Wage, is £12.71 an hour from 21 since April 2026 (£10.85 at 18 to 20, £8 under 18), rising to £13.21, £11.27 and £8.31 in April 2027.
• Age-restricted products: you need to be over 18 to sell alcohol and other restricted goods, according to the National Careers Service. If you are trained in age checks, say so.

• One page for a sales assistant or supervisor; two for a store or area manager.
• One column and standard headings for online applications.
• A clear font, size 11 or bigger (National Careers Service).
• No photo, age, date of birth or nationality.
• A PDF named after you, unless the retailer asks for Word.

Check your CV with the AI CV checker before you apply: it lists the advert's keywords your CV is missing.

• “Good with customers” with no example or figure.
• No availability, when shifts decide who gets hired.
• Leaving out temporary Christmas jobs: they prove you can handle the busiest weeks.
• One CV for every job, without the store's own words from the advert.
• Spelling mistakes in a job where you'll write price labels and emails.

In the Kandiq CV builder, paste the retailer's advert: “Improve my bullets” rewrites your lines in its words and “Suggest skills” proposes the ones it asks for. Where a figure is missing, the AI leaves a marker for your real number instead of inventing one. Then prepare for the interview with the mock interview.