Retail Resumes

Many job seekers make the mistake of assuming that for the level of the position or with their accumulated experience, it is not necessary to compose a professional and formatted retail resume.  No matter the position or a candidate’s experience, employers have very little time to review resumes, and therefore they must be catchy, neatly organized, and filled with necessary information.  Most employers focus on candidates’ skills and experience, so it is very important to successfully highlight each of these in retail resumes. 

There are a number of resume formats candidates may use, but retail professionals often have the highest success with the chronological resume format.  This resume delivers all information in reverse chronological order, listing most recent information first.  This format is the most widely used, and often the easiest to compose because the formatting is very basic.  While there are a number of ways to represent these documents, it is important to make your resume unique, and reflect you as a person.  A common retail format is as follows:

Identification
This section should include the candidate’s full name, address, telephone number, email address, and any other method that may be used to contact the candidate.  Many candidates forget to review these sections and fail to include pertinent information, which makes it impossible for employers to contact applicants.  It may be helpful to align this information differently from the rest of the page so that it stands out to employers, but may be listed as follows:

Name
Address
Telephone number
Email address

Objective
This is a brief statement that describes what the candidate is looking for in a career or what a candidate has to offer a company.  It is possible to combine both of these aspects, but this section should not be longer than five sentences.  Candidates must be brief, but thorough. 

Summary of Qualifications
For executive level positions, candidates may choose to eliminate the objective statement and title this section “Executive Profile.”  The summary of qualifications describes a candidate’s skills, with the use of many nouns and key retail words.  Sales, customer service, supervisory, and computer application skills are all helpful and should be included. 

Employment History
In order to save space, and the readers’ time, it is important not to list positions over ten years.  Information may be listed as follows:

20xx to Present - Employer, Location of Employer
          Job Title
                 List of duties, accomplishments, and achievements 
Be detailed. 
Include specific numbers and titles. 
Complete sentences are not necessary.
Use bullets for each accomplishment.

20xx to 20xx – Employer, Location of Employer
          Job Title
          List of duties, accomplishments, and achievements
It is important to decrease length of employer information to focus on most recent skills.
            
Education
When listing education history, it is best to include only schools or programs in which a degree or certification was obtained.  It is not necessary to include high school information, but may be helpful to candidates who did not receive a formal education. 

Institution, Location of Institution
 Major
 Degree, diploma, or certificate received
 Graduation Date
 Any honors received

There are a number of ideas and concepts to keep in mind when properly composing a resume.  They are often the means to obtaining an interview, and are a way to sell the candidate to the employer.  All statements must be clear, neatly organized, and uniquely directed to the position in which the candidate is applying for.  Candidates must prioritize information to ensure resumes are no longer than one to two pages.  Additional headings may include Military Experience, Foreign Language Fluency, Special Awards, or Associations and Affiliations.  These sections should only be used if they pertain directly to the available position and should include a short description of each.

It may be necessary to compose multiple formats, to ensure optimum deliverability.  It is important to have others review a completed resume in order to detect any errors and suggest any changes before sending final copies to employers.  Candidates must carefully research all aspects of retail and resume creation before sending out their first and only contact to obtain an interview. 

For more information on creating a retail resume, visit the following sites:

• Cando Career Resume Writing Service
• Resume Samples 1-2-3
• Resume Systems
• Western Kentucky University
• Fast Track Resumes

Let iHireRetail help get your resume out into the retail industry.  We offer resume fax and email blasting for retail candidates to companies in your area for a small fee, or have your cover letter sent out for no charge.