What does an associate do?
Associates are typically entry-level positions for employees who are taking on their first job or organizational role. They are assigned to teams or departments that are related to their skills or educational background. They usually start with smaller tasks that may not seem as impactful but are still essential to the department. Associates are trained by more tenured team members on the ins and outs of the department and the organization. As they grow with the organization, they are given more responsibilities that directly impact the results of the department's initiatives as they work towards their goals.
Associate responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real associate resumes:
- Manage the sale of smoothies at different educational institutes while interacting with hundreds of students and ensuring their happiness and satisfaction.
- Manage customer resolutions associate with flight reservations.
- Lead the team by exemplify reliability through punctuality and personal integrity.
- Help drive sales by providing excellent customer service in gourmet cheese, wine, beer, and coffee departments.
- Utilize teamwork, communication, customer service, responsibility, and organizational skills.
- Work according to ISO standards.
- Work on a line building brakes for Honda
- Work with adults and kids with mental retardation.
- Maintain the global SharePoint site for GPPO department.
- Produce quality braking systems for various models for Honda!
- Stock hardware, home lines, and apparel departments.
- Encourage kids to use positive communication skills among their peers.
- Formulate daily reporting in JDE and SharePoint for invoice hold resolution.
- Respond to emergencies when necessary (CPR and first aid train).
- Prepare, process and collect Medicaid, Medicare and third party insurance claims.
Associate skills and personality traits
We calculated that 16% of Associates are proficient in Customer Service, Sales Floor, and Patients. They’re also known for soft skills such as Customer-service skills, Interpersonal skills, and Math skills.
We break down the percentage of Associates that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- Customer Service, 16%
Worked on over $2 billion in energy market acquisitions including electric generation facilities and retail customer service territories.
- Sales Floor, 13%
Achieved record sale numbers in Luggage/Housewares Departments by evaluating and analyzing weekly sales reports and setting up sales floor accordingly.
- Patients, 10%
Help patients obtain secondary insurance coverage through Arkansas Medicaid, and/or exploring Arkansas Medicaid options for uninsured or exhausted benefits.
- Cleanliness, 8%
Marketed memberships, supervised customer safety, and maintained facility cleanliness to optimize guest experience.
- Windows, 4%
Developed a utility that uses Windows Scheduler to poll the Application server to identity documents ready for distribution.
- HR, 4%
Gained significant experience training groups of supervisors and conducting HR and facility/workplace-safety audits, including training and audits in multiple states.
Common skills that an associate uses to do their job include "customer service," "sales floor," and "patients." You can find details on the most important associate responsibilities below.
Customer-service skills. The most essential soft skill for an associate to carry out their responsibilities is customer-service skills. This skill is important for the role because "retail sales workers must be responsive to the wants and needs of customers." Additionally, an associate resume shows how their duties depend on customer-service skills: "developed customer service solutions for the start-up prior to a new medical device product from fda approval through the product launch"
Interpersonal skills. Another soft skill that's essential for fulfilling associate duties is interpersonal skills. The role rewards competence in this skill because "a friendly and outgoing personality is important for these workers because the job requires almost constant interaction with people." According to an associate resume, here's how associates can utilize interpersonal skills in their job responsibilities: "exemplify strong management and interpersonal skills as well as the ability to handle a wide variety of tasks with complete autonomy. "
Math skills. This is an important skill for associates to perform their duties. For an example of how associate responsibilities depend on this skill, consider that "retail sales workers must have the ability to calculate price totals, discounts, and change owed to customers." This excerpt from a resume also shows how vital it is to everyday roles and responsibilities of an associate: "used quantitative analysis to forecast financial decisions of portfolio companies and presented investment and financial reports to emergent fund investors. ".
Selling skills. For certain associate responsibilities to be completed, the job requires competence in "selling skills." The day-to-day duties of an associate rely on this skill, as "retail sales workers must be persuasive when interacting with customers." For example, this snippet was taken directly from a resume about how this skill applies to what associates do: "managed, tracked, and reported sample activity for sales representatives as required by fda regulations. "
The three companies that hire the most associates are:
- Victoria's Secret931 associates jobs
- Walmart634 associates jobs
- Wawa411 associates jobs
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Compare different associates
Associate vs. Customer service retail associate
A customer service retail associate is responsible for providing the highest customer service for the store's customers by responding to their inquiries and concerns and recommending them goods and services that would fit their needs. Customer service retail associates support the marketing campaigns and promotional strategies of the store by offering and demonstrating products to the customers, as well as arranging stock displays, and monitoring the adequacy of inventories. They also escalate high-level complaints to management for immediate resolution and assist with product replacement and issuing refunds as needed.
There are some key differences in the responsibilities of each position. For example, associate responsibilities require skills like "patients," "cleanliness," "windows," and "hr." Meanwhile a typical customer service retail associate has skills in areas such as "retail environment," "bank deposits," "product line," and "retail store." This difference in skills reveals the differences in what each career does.
The education levels that customer service retail associates earn slightly differ from associates. In particular, customer service retail associates are 4.1% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree than an associate. Additionally, they're 6.3% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Associate vs. Retail sales associate/cashier
A cashier is responsible for ensuring all the products and goods sold are well recorded and paid for as well as answering customer inquiries and recommending products. They also help the other sales team when needed and process payment for all goods bought. Their duties and responsibilities include processing payments, ensuring all goods bought are accurately scanned and recorded, and bagging purchases.
While some skills are similar in these professions, other skills aren't so similar. For example, resumes show us that associate responsibilities requires skills like "patients," "cleanliness," "windows," and "hr." But a retail sales associate/cashier might use other skills in their typical duties, such as, "basic math," "math," "retail sales," and "cash handling."
Retail sales associate/cashiers earn similar levels of education than associates in general. They're 5.0% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 6.3% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.What technology do you think will become more important and prevalent for associates in the next 3-5 years?
Travis Kurowski Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Creative Writing, Writing Program Lead, York College of Pennsylvania
Associate vs. Commissioned sales associate
Commissioned sales associates are professionals who conduct sale transactions that can generate additional compensation by increasing selling operations. These associates are must collaborate successfully with fellow associates in regard to sales and commission distribution. They must provide excellent customer service so that they can establish long term relationships with customers and ensure high satisfaction. Commissioned sales associates must also assist the department managers with visual merchandising to arrange racks so that they can place and stock new merchandise.
The required skills of the two careers differ considerably. For example, associates are more likely to have skills like "patients," "cleanliness," "windows," and "hr." But a commissioned sales associate is more likely to have skills like "excellent organizational," "excellent interpersonal," "customer relationships," and "commission sales."
Commissioned sales associates typically earn similar educational levels compared to associates. Specifically, they're 3.4% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree, and 6.1% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Associate vs. Technician/sales associate
A technician/sales associate is someone who promotes the products or services of an enterprise through customer service. Sales associates are in charge of greeting the customers and guiding them through the products. They are the ones who provide answers to questions from customers, ensuring a pleasant experience for the guests. It is also part of their job to process the payment of the customers and package their purchased goods. They need to develop skills in customer service, communication, and sales strategy.
Updated January 8, 2025
