How To Become A Canvasser: What It Is and Career Path

What is a canvasser and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

3 min read

A canvasser is responsible for gathering information from contacts, making sales, and persuading people to see how they can best benefit from the services provided. You will need to go door-to-door to speak with people to generate new business leads with residents. Your duties include memorizing and reciting sales statements prepared by the employer and driving to canvassing locations. You will also need to attend industry events and exhibitions like fairs, rallies, and shows, confidently answer questions and refuse excuses to meet objectives. You must maintain a professional appearance, display knowledge of products, attempt to sway options, and meet quotas set up by the organization. You will also recruit and train new canvassers.

You need a high school diploma or GED and previous work experience as a canvasser to be considered for this position. This job requires you to have excellent interpersonal and conversational skills. You must be able to stand and walk for long periods. Your average annual salary is $33,299.

ScoreCanvasserUS Average

Salary

3.4

Avg. Salary $43,293

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

2.9

Growth rate 12%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

7.5

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.72%

Asian 6.37%

Black or African American 8.35%

Hispanic or Latino 19.95%

Unknown 6.53%

White 58.07%

Gender

female 39.99%

male 60.01%

Age - 45

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 45

Stress level

2.9

Stress level is moderate

7.1 - high

Complexity level

1.8

Complexity level is simple

7 - challenging

Work life balance

10.0

Work life balance is excellent

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a canvasser

Explore canvasser education requirements

Most common canvasser degrees

Bachelor's

39.4 %

High School Diploma

33.9 %

Associate

12.8 %

Start to develop specific canvasser skills

Skills	Percentages
Door Sales	31.36%
Social Justice	26.23%
Customer Service	8.50%
Leadership	6.55%
New Windows	5.26%

Complete relevant canvasser training and internships

Accountants spend an average of Less than 1 month on post-employment, on-the-job training. New canvassers learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a canvasser based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real canvasser resumes.

Research canvasser duties and responsibilities

Manage voter contact tactics, organize phone banks, GOTV canvasses and visibility events such as campaign rallies.
Talk to customers about ADT.
Engage citizens in grassroots lobbying, organizing and fundraising.
Sign designate people to support plan parenthood and stop the refunds going on in Illinois.

Prepare your canvasser resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your canvasser resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a canvasser resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable canvasser resume templates

Build a professional canvasser resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your canvasser resume.