Working at a deli, whether it's located in a grocery store or just in a stand-alone shop, takes a lot of patience. As a deli clerk, you'll be dealing with customers throughout your shift. It doesn't matter if they come in with a really big order that takes forever to fill or they're rude to you, your employer will be impressed as long as you wear a smile the entire time.
But good customer service isn't the end-all be-all for this position. Not every order is going to suck and not every customer is going to take patience. You might even develop a friendly relationship with those who become your "regulars." It's those orders and customers that make your job fun.
Deli clerks receive training after they're hired so that they understand how to measure deli items and price them correctly. Depending on where you're working you may even have to help customers check-out.
How to Become a Deli Clerk
There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a deli clerk. For example, did you know that they make an average of $15.05 an hour? That's $31,305 a year!
Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 8% and produce 69,100 job opportunities across the U.S.
What Does a Deli Clerk Do
There are certain skills that many deli clerks have in order to accomplish their responsibilities. By taking a look through resumes, we were able to narrow down the most common skills for a person in this position. We discovered that a lot of resumes listed physical strength, listening skills and communication skills.
How To Become a Deli Clerk
If you're interested in becoming a deli clerk, one of the first things to consider is how much education you need. We've determined that 19.0% of deli clerks have a bachelor's degree. In terms of higher education levels, we found that 1.1% of deli clerks have master's degrees. Even though some deli clerks have a college degree, it's possible to become one with only a high school degree or GED.
Choosing the right major is always an important step when researching how to become a deli clerk. When we researched the most common majors for a deli clerk, we found that they most commonly earn high school diploma degrees or bachelor's degree degrees. Other degrees that we often see on deli clerk resumes include associate degree degrees or diploma degrees.
You may find that experience in other jobs will help you become a deli clerk. In fact, many deli clerk jobs require experience in a role such as cashier. Meanwhile, many deli clerks also have previous career experience in roles such as sales associate or customer service representative.
Deli Clerk Career Paths
As you move along in your career, you may start taking on more responsibilities or notice that you've taken on a leadership role. Using our career map, a deli clerk can determine their career goals through the career progression. For example, they could start out with a role such as housekeeper, progress to a title such as personal assistant and then eventually end up with the title account manager.
Average Salary for a Deli Clerk
What Am I Worth?
Top Skills For a Deli Clerk
The skills section on your resume can be almost as important as the experience section, so you want it to be an accurate portrayal of what you can do. Luckily, we've found all of the skills you'll need so even if you don't have these skills yet, you know what you need to work on. Out of all the resumes we looked through, 23.7% of deli clerks listed deli on their resume, but soft skills such as physical strength and listening skills are important as well.
Choose From 10+ Customizable Deli Clerk Resume templates
Zippia allows you to choose from different easy-to-use Deli Clerk templates, and provides you with expert advice. Using the templates, you can rest assured that the structure and format of your Deli Clerk resume is top notch. Choose a template with the colors, fonts & text sizes that are appropriate for your industry.
Deli Clerk Demographics
Deli Clerk Gender Distribution
After extensive research and analysis, Zippia's data science team found that:
- Among deli clerks, 60.4% of them are women, while 39.6% are men.
- The most common race/ethnicity among deli clerks is White, which makes up 63.4% of all deli clerks.
- The most common foreign language among deli clerks is Spanish at 68.3%.
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Best States For a Deli Clerk
Some places are better than others when it comes to starting a career as a deli clerk. The best states for people in this position are Pennsylvania, California, Washington, and Nevada. Deli clerks make the most in Pennsylvania with an average salary of $100,392. Whereas in California and Washington, they would average $35,479 and $34,435, respectively. While deli clerks would only make an average of $34,250 in Nevada, you would still make more there than in the rest of the country. We determined these as the best states based on job availability and pay. By finding the median salary, cost of living, and using the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Location Quotient, we narrowed down our list of states to these four.
1. Pennsylvania
$100,392
Avg. Salary
2. Alaska
$32,447
Avg. Salary
3. Oregon
$31,454
Avg. Salary
How Do Deli Clerk Rate Their Jobs?
Top Deli Clerk Employers
Most Common Employers For Deli Clerk
| Rank  | Company  | Average Salary  | Hourly Rate  | Job Openings  |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Giant Eagle | $100,392 | $48.27 | 531 |
| 2 | Meijer | $79,243 | $38.10 | 1,109 |
| 3 | Winco Mfg | $79,243 | $38.10 | 380 |
| 4 | Kroger | $33,914 | $16.30 | 4,711 |
| 5 | Publix | $33,914 | $16.30 | 4,380 |
| 6 | Safeway | $33,914 | $16.30 | 3,448 |
| 7 | Walmart | $33,914 | $16.30 | 2,155 |
| 8 | Stop & Shop | $33,914 | $16.30 | 1,686 |
| 9 | Albertsons Companies | $33,914 | $16.30 | 1,163 |
| 10 | ShopRite | $33,914 | $16.30 | 821 |
Deli Clerk Videos
Becoming a Deli Clerk FAQs
How long does it take to become a Deli Clerk?
It takes 2 years of professional experience to become a deli clerk. That is the time it takes to learn specific deli clerk skills, but does not account for time spent in formal education.