Customers develop an impression of a store within the first few seconds of walking into it. Their impressions will be based on both conscious and subconscious judgments about a range of factors including the store’s layout, aesthetics, music, staff, and products.  

Many of these factors will be under the direct control or influence of the store manager. After all, the store manager is in charge of both the store’s operations and sales staff. They must simultaneously ensure that the shop is running smoothly in accordance with the company’s policy and that staff are meeting sales objectives and conducting themselves in a professional manner. They’re responsible for everything from training, coordinating, scheduling, and discipling staff to managing and optimizing the store’s inventory, sales, and customer service. 

Recruiters are therefore very picky about who they’ll hire for this all-important position. The right candidate has the potential to significantly boost customers and sales, while the wrong one could lead to the downfall of the entire store. 

In order to convince a recruiter you’re the right store manager for the job, you need to hand in a flawless resume. Don’t worry if you don’t know where to begin – this resume writing guide will cover the most critical aspects of making a winning store manager resume. By reading it, you’ll learn how to:

• Effectively prep for a job interview and common questions to expect
• Select the most ideal hard and soft skills to feature
• Write a killer resume objective or summary
• Make an amazing resume even without previous store manager experience
• Speedily create a resume that gets you hired

1. Multiple Template Example

2. How Do You Write a Store Manager Resume That Will be Noticed?

How should you format your resume?

The format you use for your resume is equally as important as the information you share within it. When you think about it, your resume’s formatting is akin to the process of packaging your store’s products for customers at the checkout counter. 

You wouldn’t just let a customer leave with a crumpled up shirt in their hands, would you? Doing so would give your company a bad reputation for customer service. You would instead ensure that you neatly folded it up and put it in a convenient carrier bag. 

Likewise, you need to format your resume in a way that neatly packages the most important information so that it’s convenient for recruiters to read. The resume format that excels in this is reverse-chronological format. By presenting your most recent professional experience first and then the ones that preceded it after, it effectively emphasizes your growth as a retail professional.

Another feature you’ll need to think twice about is your resume’s layout. Be sure to follow the guidelines we’ve shared below:

• • Number of Pages: Just one page.
  • Fonts to Use: Legible fonts that recruiters are already familiar with, such as Merriweather and Verdana.
  • Fonts to Avoid: Any font you wouldn’t use to write an email to a customer. For example, Good Times Bad Times and Bradley Hand.
  • Margins: 1 inch on all sides.

• Line Spacing: 1 or 1.15.

• Header size: 14-16 point size.
• Text size: 11-12 point size.

How do you prepare for a job interview as a retail store manager?

If you don’t know how to effectively prepare for a job interview as a retail store manager, take a read of our practical tips below. Once you put them in action, you’ll be better prepared to impress the socks off any recruiter.  

• Practice your answers to typical questions: It’s impossible to know precisely what questions you’ll be asked during a job interview, but there’s a wealth of information on the most common questions candidates get asked. We’ve even shared 21 of them in the next section. By practicing your answers to these questions, you’ll be able to gain confidence in yourself and your ability to succeed. In turn, you’ll also get a better handle of your nerves.

• Have some key examples up your sleeve: One of the biggest challenges you’ll face in an interview is coming up with suitable and powerful examples to illustrate your answers. For example, if a recruiter says, “Describe a time where you went up and beyond for a customer,” you should be able to offer an impressive example that highlights your expertise in customer service. To ensure you’re ready for such requests, prepare a handful of examples that you can draw on during the interview that showcase your skills and experiences as a professional.

• Know your weaknesses: In addition to being able to confidently list off your strengths, you need to be aware of your weaknesses. After all, every store manager has weak points, so a recruiter will appreciate it if you not only acknowledge what they are, but also show how you’re working on improving them.  

Which questions are likely to be asked during the interview process?

As we touched on in the section above, a crucial part of preparing for a job interview involves practicing answers to common interview questions. Needless to say, you need to know what these questions are in the first place in order to practice! To help you out, we’ve listed some of the most common ones below:

Practical questions:

• Can you tell me a bit about yourself?
• When are you available to start?
• Why should we hire you?
• What are your salary expectations?

Questions about you as a professional:

• How would your former coworkers describe you?
• Where do you see yourself in 1/5/10 years from now?
• What are your strengths and weaknesses?
• Tell me about a time you failed at a task and what you learned from it

Questions about working at the store:

• What does customer service mean to you?
• What methods do you use to motivate staff?
• Describe a time when you successfully delegated tasks to your staff.
• How do you train new employees?
• What improvements would you make based on your own experiences as a customer?
• What are the key goals you have for working in this store?
• How would you resolve any conflict between staff members?
• What would you do if a staff member is failing to reach sales targets?

Questions about the business:

• What is our company’s brand philosophy?
• Who are the company’s primary competitors? 
• What makes our brand stand out against our competitors? 
• How much knowledge do you have about our brand’s products?
• What improvements can our company make to boost sales?

Pro tip: These are just a selection of questions you may be asked in your interview. There are countless resources online that you can read to discover more of them.

Where do you list additional leadership or management training or certifications as a store manager? How can you do so correctly?

Are you trying to figure out the best way to list any additional leadership or management training you have as a store manager in your resume? We’re glad you’re thinking about this because many candidates don’t. This is great news for you as listing this information will leave a positive impression on a recruiter.

So where should you list them? Create a separate “Training and Certifications” section. You can correctly list each training or certification by providing the following information about each one, as appropriate:

• The name of the certification or training
• The institute or company who provided it
• The state it is valid in or that you undertook it   
• The year you received the certification or training

For example:

• Store Management Training, The Friedman Group, NY, 2020
• Sales Leadership Training, IAB, NY, 2019

Pro tip: Don’t forget about listing any internal training you’ve undertaken as a store manager. If you haven’t undertaken any yet, see if there are any training opportunities that your current company is willing to provide.

Which skills should you mention on a resume?

Successful store managers boast a variety of skills that they draw on to excel in their jobs. They have so many they could fill a book! So how are you meant to emphasize your skills to a recruiter when you only have a single page to fit in your entire resume?  

You need to know precisely which skills are worthwhile mentioning. The long and the short of it is that you need to feature the skills a recruiter desires from their dream candidate. You can discover what these are by scanning a job ad for skills-focused keywords. 

A keyword is just a fancy way of saying the words that represent what a recruiter is looking for in an ideal candidate. That means the skills-based keywords you identify in a job ad reflect the skills a recruiter either requires or wishes an ideal candidate to possess.

Skills-based keywords can be divided into two types: 

1. Hard skills: Technically focused skills 
2. Soft skills: Interpersonal and communication focused skills

It is pivotal to feature both as doing so will communicate that you are a candidate who possesses a well-rounded skill set that is aligned with the recruiter’s expectations.

Upon identifying skill-based keywords in a given job ad, you’ll need to determine which ones match up to your skills set. For any that do, be sure to list around 6 to 8 of them in a dedicated “Skills” section. You should also feature them throughout your entire “Employment History” section. And don’t forget to highlight a few in your resume objective or summary!

To offer you an insight into which skills are prized among many recruiters, we’ve created a list of hard and soft skills we extracted directly from real-life store manager job ads. Take a look for yourself: 

Hard skills

• Facilitating, promoting, and supervising all aspects of customer service
• Driving overall store performance
• Creating a plan of succession for current staff members
• Conveying corporate communication down the management team and line-level staff
• Overseeing general merchandising and store operations
• Achieving sales and labor goals
• Recruiting, training, and supervising sales and support staff
• Driving omni-channel sales by utilizing all available tools and technology
• Proper cash handling
• Merchandising ordering and handling 
• Maintaining store appearance

Soft skills

• Organized
• Resourceful 
• Driven to satisfy customers
• Ability to foster a customer-focused environment
• Ability to be persuasive
• Ability to enable management and develop staff
• Team player
• Strong communication
• Interpersonal skills
• People skills

How to highlight your most important achievements

Your resume’s “Employment History” section shouldn’t just state what you did in each role...unless you want to make a recruiter fall asleep! Instead, it should showcase your most relevant and eye-grabbing achievements.

In order to highlight achievements that will captivate a recruiter, you’ll need to base your selection on your knowledge of what a recruiter actually cares about. Rest assured that this is far easier than it sounds! 

All you need to do is formulate your achievements around the keywords you find in a job ad. In addition to skills-based keywords (a topic which we explored in further detail above), keywords may represent an ideal candidate’s educational background, professional background, and any other attributes a recruiter is after.

To be clear, that means that each of your achievements should exemplify your competency in the keyword you’re targeting. Be sure to keep in mind that it’s not adequate to solely state what you achieved, as this example of an achievement for the keyword “motivate staff” shows:

• Implemented a training program that motivates staff to perform their best at all times.

You also need to expand on the result your actions brought about by quantifying your achievements with numbers and percentages. That is, you need to show:

The action + The positive result

The candidate above only addressed the first half of this formula (The action). So in order to address the second half (The positive result), they should quantify their achievement using a tangible example of the positive impact that their training program had: 

• Implemented a training program that led to a 40% increase in staff motivation based on employee feedback as well as a 200% increase in sales.

How to write a resume objective or summary

One of the keys to effective selling is to prime a customer for the sale. You’ll quickly lose a potential customer if you’re too forceful with your selling technique. Instead, you first need to lay down the foundations for the sale by taking a strategic approach that addresses their needs as well as their concerns. 

This is exactly the same approach you should take with your resume. If you bombard the recruiter with too much information too soon, there’s a good chance they’ll tune out.

That’s why it’s crucial to include a resume objective or resume summary in your resume. They both provide a recruiter with a convenient summary of who you are and what you bring to the table. You can even use it to strategically address some weaknesses in your application. 

So which should you use? Entry level candidates should use a resume objective while experienced candidates should use a resume summary. Remember, neither should be too long – 2 to 4 sentences is perfect. After all, the whole point is to provide a glimpse of the rest of your resume so you can prime them to perceive you as an attractive candidate from the get-go.      

To ensure the one you write charms a recruiter, keep reading to learn more:

Resume objective

If you’re worried that you won’t be taken seriously as a candidate given your lack of previous experience as a store manager, make sure to spend time crafting a captivating resume objective. A recruiter may indeed cast aside many entry-level candidates’ resumes because they didn’t take the time to sell why they’re worth taking a chance on. 

Your resume objective is your chance to directly communicate to a recruiter that you’re ready to step up to this new challenge. To do so, you’ll need to avoid common mistakes candidates make, like this store manager resume objective example shows:

• Retail sales associate aspires to be hired for the store manager position at Dazzling Jewels. While I don’t have any experience in this position, I have been working as a retail sales associate for a long time so I understand everything that goes into effectively managing a store. I want the chance to implement what I have learned so that I can improve Dazzling Jewels’ sales and staff performance.  

The problem with this resume objective is that it doesn’t frame the candidate as someone who is ready to take on the responsibilities involved with being a store manager. The candidate justifies that they “understand everything that goes into effectively managing a store” based solely on the fact that they’re an experienced retail sales associate. 

They also don’t provide any further explanation of what they’ve learned from their experience that they could apply as a store manager. Nor do they specify which relevant skills they’ve gained that would help them in this new position. 

Perhaps the difference doing these things make will be clearer once you see the following example of a strong store manager resume objective:

• Top-performing retail sales associate with 2 years of experience aspires to bring their enthusiasm for customer service and strong teamwork skills to the store manager position at Dazzling Jewels. My current manager has commended my ability to achieve sales goals, as exemplified by my $10,000+ sales last month. They have also commended the leadership skills I demonstrated when I helped to train staff. 

Even if a recruiter was initially looking for a more experienced candidate, they'd certainly pay attention to this inexperienced candidate after reading their resume objective. That’s because the candidate has used their resume objective to make their strong potential to thrive in the role crystal clear. 

What is particularly brilliant about it is that the candidate strategically worded it so that the recruiter wouldn’t instantly classify them as an inexperienced candidate. While the previous candidate took a deficit approach when representing their professional background by stating, “I don’t have any experience in this position,” this candidate instead chose to draw the recruiters attention to all of the positive attributes they offer even as a candidate who doesn’t have experience as a store manager. 

For example, they share that they are highly skilled in precisely the skills the recruiter is after. They mention their soft skills (enthusiasm, customer service, teamwork skills) as well their hard skills (ability to achieve sales goals and training staff). In fact, they even used a tangible example to further solidify their suitability for the role by sharing the fact that their manager commended them for their massive sales.

Resume summary

Consider your resume summary as an opportunity to tell a recruiter precisely why you’re a candidate who ticks all the boxes they’re looking for. It’s useful to keep in mind that there will be many candidates who also tick these boxes, so you need to ensure your resume summary showcases why your application is the strongest they’ll come across.

As such, you should avoid generalizations like the plague. You’ll know if your resume summary is too vague if it sounds like just about any store manager could have written it. Here’s an example of a store manager resume summary that sounds generic and bland:
  

• Store manager with 4+ years of experience who has a proven track record of being skilled at both managing staff and sales. I have made massive sales and my staff love my management style. I therefore know I would be a huge asset to your company.

This candidate failed to offer the recruiter any substantial insights into who they are as a sales manager. While they make a number of claims that they’re the right person for the job, it’s important to notice that they didn’t provide any specific information or evidence about why. For example, they stated they have a “proven track record of being skilled at both managing staff and sales,” but didn’t bother to show the recruiter any proof of it.

They also stated that they “made massive sales and my staff love my management style” but once again didn’t back these assertions up in any way. Consequently, it would be hard to find a recruiter who agreed with the candidate that they’d be “a huge asset” to the company.

In order to create a resume summary that turns heads, you’ll need to put your own stamp on it, just like this candidate did:

• Highly organized store manager with 4+ years of experience who has a proven track record of motivating and managing staff as well as increasing sales month-on-month. I received a Store Manager of the Month award in my current company not only because of my drive to satisfy customers and implement successful training programs, but also my record sales that were 3x the store average.

As you can see, this store manager resume summary example features specific information about the candidate’s unique competencies as well as their suitability for the role. For example, the candidate makes note of the specific skills that they excel in that are relevant to the role by highlighting both their soft skills (motivating and managing staff) and hard skills (increasing sales month-on-month).

Moreover, the candidate offered evidence to exemplify the assertions they made about their professional skills and experiences. For instance, the candidate puts a spotlight on their eye-catching award to exemplify that their drive to satisfy customers, implement successful training programs, and record sales is truly exceptional. A recruiter would also be impressed by the fact that they even quantified their sales by sharing that they were “3x the store average.” 

Pro tip: It may not seem like a big deal if you use the same resume objective or summary for each job you apply for. However, recruiters are trained to detect generic ones candidates use for all of their applications from a mile away!

How to write a store manager resume when you have little or no experience?

If you have little or no experience as a store manager but already have a solid work history in retail, don’t let this stop you from applying from an attractive job! Every store manager was once in the same position, so recruiters expect to receive applications from candidates just like you. To give your resume the best chance of being considered, keep the following tips in mind:   

• Emphasize your commitment to the profession: Recruiters highly regard candidates who make their commitment to working in retail clear. After all, many candidates don’t take their job in retail seriously and aren’t in it for the long haul. Show your commitment by highlighting the many years you’ve already worked in retail, the efforts you’ve made to develop and utilize your relevant skills, and the valuable contributions you’ve made in your current and previous retail jobs.

• Focus on any management or leadership skills and experiences: Just because you’re not a store manager yet doesn’t mean you’re lacking relevant skills and experiences to your name. If you’ve been working as a retail associate for a while, there’s a good chance that you’ve helped to train staff, mentored new employees, or assisted your manager with management duties. Maybe you’ve even stepped in for them when they’ve been sick. Be sure to shine a light on these experiences as well as the skills you drew on during them.

• Convey that you have the right attitude: As you’ll well be aware, attitude is everything in retail. Recruiters won’t take the risk of hiring someone who ticks every box except possessing the right attitude. What “right” means in this context will vary from job to job, so be sure to consult each job ad for clues. But generally speaking, recruiters will seek candidates who show that they are proactive, respectful, honest, determined, collaborative, and positive. 

How to make your resume stand out

If you want to make it immediately clear to a recruiter that your resume is worth taking seriously, you need to ensure your resume stands out. Here are some simple but powerful things you can do to catch a recruiter’s eye: 

• Always state the obvious when relevant to: There are certain qualities all store managers should have that may seem redundant to state on your resume. For example, being skilled in customer service or knowing how to manage a team. However, if a job ad’s keywords indicate that an ideal candidate must have these qualities, you must clearly incorporate them into your resume. Keep in mind that if you fail to do so, a recruiter won’t assume you have them – they’ll instead assume you don’t.
• Leverage power verbs: Every word on your resume has the potential to influence how a recruiter perceives you. In addition to selecting relevant keywords, you should also make a conscious effort to leverage power verbs at the start of each achievement in your “Employment History” section. Power verbs are verbs that sound far more impactful than regular verbs. For example, instead of using an overused verb like “Handled” you could use “Processed”. For more ideas, check out this resource of 100+ power verbs.
• Give every job application your all: If you’ve been on the job hunting grind for a while now, it’s natural to feel increasingly disheartened the more rejections you receive. However, one of the easiest ways to jeopardize your chances of getting hired is to stop putting effort into each application. To be clear, this includes using a generic resume. So if you want to get hired, make sure to put the time and effort into customizing your resume for each and every application. 

3. How to Quickly Make a Fantastic Resume Using Resumebuild.com’s Resume Builder Tool

If you’ve ever wished that your resume wasn’t so important to showing a recruiter that you’re a star store manager, you’re not alone. Most candidates find putting together their resume an arduous process that takes considerable time and effort. And sometimes even when you put in the time and effort, your resume still doesn’t quite hit the mark.

While we wish we could tell you differently, a resume is 100% essential to include in any store manager job application. There’s not a single recruiter out there who’s willing to consider your application without seeing your resume. Moreover, if it’s not up to scratch, they will have hundreds (or even thousands) of other resumes to take their pick of instead. 

It’s not all bad news, however. You’ll be pleased to hear that you don’t need to figure out how to create the perfect resume all by yourself. Our intuitive resume builder at Resumebuild.com is built for job seekers just like you who are looking for some expert support and guidance. In fact, countless job seekers have successfully landed jobs because of it.  

So what exactly is a resume builder? It’s a program that aims to help job seekers to quickly compile their resume from scratch. Unlike most resume builders you’ll find, our resume builder is designed with the needs of both job seekers and HR professionals in mind. 

To support you to get hired, we’ve made our resume builder completely user-friendly. You’ll be guided step-by-step to complete each important resume section so that you end up with a top store manager resume. Our resume builder won’t just support you to fill out the contents of your resume, either. It will provide you with plenty of HR-friendly resume templates that recruiters approve of. There are dozens of them, so you’ll be spoiled for choice!

If your goal is to finally get your ideal store manager job in 2020, use our tried-and-tested resume builder to make it happen.