How to hire a footwear sales associate

How to hire a footwear sales associate, step by step

Here's a step-by-step footwear sales associate hiring guide:

• Step 1: Identify your hiring needs
• Step 2: Create an ideal candidate profile
• Step 3: Make a budget
• Step 4: Write a footwear sales associate job description
• Step 5: Post your job
• Step 6: Interview candidates
• Step 7: Send a job offer and onboard your new footwear sales associate
• Step 8: Go through the hiring process checklist

What does a footwear sales associate do?

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1. Identify your hiring needs

   Before you post your footwear sales associate job, you should take the time to determine what type of worker your business needs. While certain jobs definitely require a full-time employee, it's sometimes better to find a footwear sales associate for hire on a part-time basis or as a contractor.

   Determine employee vs contractor status

   Is the person you're thinking of hiring a US citizen or green card holder?

   Yes

   No

   A footwear sales associate's background is also an important factor in determining whether they'll be a good fit for the position. For example, footwear sales associates from different industries or fields will have radically different experiences and will bring different viewpoints to the role. You also need to consider the candidate's previous level of experience to make sure they'll be comfortable with the job's level of seniority.

   This list shows salaries for various types of footwear sales associates.

   Type of Footwear Sales Associate	Description	Hourly rate
   Footwear Sales Associate	Retail sales workers include both those who sell retail merchandise, such as clothing, furniture, and automobiles, (called retail salespersons) and those who sell spare and replacement parts and equipment, especially car parts (called parts salespersons). Both types of workers help customers find the products they want and process customers’ payments.	$8-15

2. Create an ideal candidate profile

   Common skills:

   • Cash Handling
   • Apparel
   • Customer Engagement
   • Merchandise Presentation
   • Customer Service
   • Sales Floor
   • Product Knowledge
   • Basic Math
   • Stock Shelves
   • Loss Prevention
   • Seasonal Promotions
   • POS
   • Merchandise Displays
   • Warranty Sales

   Check all skills

   Responsibilities:

   • Supervise women's department, manage jewelry department, assist customers on finalizing purchases
   • Complete purchases with cash, credit and debit payment methods while operating a POS system.
   • Administer suggestions in the process of footwear and equipment organization and placement.
   • Maintain inventory and organization of warehouse, implement plan-o-grams, clean, organize, and maintain athletics department.
   • Update daily records of sales orders and maintain familiarity with dealership fleets including staying update regarding competitor products and offerings.
   • Improve customer solicitation pitch to increase Kohl's credit card application solicitations.

   More footwear sales associate duties

3. Make a budget

   Including a salary range in your footwear sales associate job description helps attract top candidates to the position. A footwear sales associate salary can be affected by several factors, such as geography, experience, seniority, certifications, and the prestige of the hiring company.

   For example, the average salary for a footwear sales associate in New Mexico may be lower than in New York, and an entry-level footwear sales associate usually earns less than a senior-level footwear sales associate. Additionally, a footwear sales associate with certifications may command a higher salary, and working for a well-known company or start-up may also impact an employee's pay.

   Average footwear sales associate salary

   $11.69hourly

   $24,305 yearly

   ---

   Entry-level footwear sales associate salary

   $18,000 yearly salary

   Updated December 29, 2025

   Average footwear sales associate salary by state

   Rank	State	Avg. salary	Hourly rate
   1	New York	$34,188	$16
   2	Maine	$33,043	$16
   3	New Hampshire	$31,840	$15
   4	California	$30,061	$14
   5	Minnesota	$29,266	$14
   6	Washington	$29,012	$14
   7	Colorado	$27,504	$13
   8	Michigan	$27,089	$13
   9	South Dakota	$26,393	$13
   10	Oregon	$25,987	$12
   11	Alaska	$25,863	$12
   12	Kansas	$25,451	$12
   13	Maryland	$24,898	$12
   14	Nebraska	$24,745	$12
   15	Illinois	$24,452	$12
   16	Nevada	$24,198	$12
   17	Montana	$24,152	$12
   18	Florida	$24,150	$12
   19	Wyoming	$24,144	$12
   20	Iowa	$23,856	$11

   Average footwear sales associate salary by company

   Company

   Rank	Company	Average salary	Hourly rate	Job openings
   1	Scheels	$27,430	$13.19	36
   2	Cabela's	$26,669	$12.82
   3	Neiman Marcus Group	$26,668	$12.82
   4	Bass Pro Shops	$24,645	$11.85	67
   5	Caleres	$24,105	$11.59	111
   6	North 40 Outfitters	$23,777	$11.43	6
   7	Sportsman's Warehouse	$23,481	$11.29	55

4. Writing a footwear sales associate job description

   A job description for a footwear sales associate role includes a summary of the job's main responsibilities, required skills, and preferred background experience. Including a salary range can also go a long way in attracting more candidates to apply, and showing the first name of the hiring manager can also make applicants more comfortable. As an example, here's a footwear sales associate job description:

   Footwear sales associate job description example

   FOOTWEAR SALES TEAM MEMBER
   
   At Academy Sports + Outdoors, our Purpose is to make it easier for everyone to enjoy more sports and outdoors. From the kids on the soccer field to the marathon runner, the Footwear Team Member will assist Academy's diverse customer base in finding the right shoes for the whole family. Through this important work, the Footwear Sales Team Member impacts customer satisfaction, store profitability, and Academy's Purpose.
   
   Education: High school diploma or general education degree (GED) preferred.
   
   Work Experiences: Previous related work experience preferred.
   
   Skills:
   
   * Excellent customer service orientation
   
   * Effective problem solving and communication with customers and team members
   
   * Ability to connect build and engage with our customer base that bonds with friends, family and community through the challenge of sports and outdoors pursuits
   
   * Ability to execute multiple tasks with superior organizational skills and detail orientation
   
   * Read, interpret and follow documents such as safety rules, operating and maintenance instructions, plan-o-grams and procedure manuals.
   
   * Proficiently use basic mathematical computations and apply common sense understanding to carry out instructions in written, oral or diagram form.
   
   Responsibilities:
   
   * Provide prompt and friendly service to all customers.
   
   * Drive sales through exceptional customer service skills, sales techniques and store knowledge to connect customers with the right products.
   
   * Zone footwear merchandise; re-work footwear area to ensure store conditions are meeting or exceeding expectations through processes (such as recovery, mismate, etc.).
   
   * Support customers in all segments of footwear with requests such as SKU or price lookups.
   
   * Read, understand and follow company policies, procedures and safety rules.
   
   * Adhere to company work hours, polices, procedures and rules governing professional staff behavior.
   
   * Duties may change and team members may be required to perform other duties or roles as assigned.
   
   Physical Requirements & Attendance
   
   * Ability to work a flexible work schedule including nights, weekends and holidays needed.
   
   * Constantly stand, walk, reach, handle, use repetitive motions (hand/wrist/fingers), feel and lift up to 20 pounds.
   
   * Frequently stoop, crouch, use fingers, grasp, push, pull, talk, hear and lift up to 21 to 40 pounds.
   
   * Occasionally required to sit, climb, balance and lift 41 to 60 pounds.
   
   Job Types: Full-time, Part-time
   
   Pay: $14.00 - $16.00 per hour
   
   Benefits:
   * 401(k)
   * 401(k) matching
   * Dental insurance
   * Employee discount
   * Flexible schedule
   * Health insurance
   * Paid time off
   * Vision insurance
   Shift:
   * 10 hour shift
   * 8 hour shift
   * Day shift
   * Night shift
   Weekly day range:
   * Monday to Friday
   * Weekend availability
   
   Work Location: One location

   Copy this example

   

5. Post your job

   There are various strategies that you can use to find the right footwear sales associate for your business:

   • Consider promoting from within or recruiting from your existing workforce.
   • Ask for referrals from friends, family members, and current employees.
   • Attend job fairs at local colleges to find candidates who meet your education requirements.
   • Use social media platforms like LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter to reach potential job candidates.

   Post your job online:

   • Post your footwear sales associate job on Zippia to find and recruit footwear sales associate candidates who meet your exact specifications.
   • Use field-specific websites such as salesjobs, salesheads, allretailjobs.com, sales trax.
   • Post a job on free websites.

6. Interview candidates

   Recruiting footwear sales associates requires you to bring your A-game to the interview process. The first interview should introduce the company and the role to the candidate as much as they present their background experience and reasons for applying for the job. During later interviews, you can go into more detail about the technical details of the job and ask behavioral questions to gauge how they'd fit into your current company culture.

   Remember to include a few questions that allow candidates to expand on their strengths in their own words. Asking about their unique skills might reveal things you'd miss otherwise. At this point, good candidates can move on to the technical interview.

   The right interview questions can help you assess a candidate's hard skills, behavioral intelligence, and soft skills.

7. Send a job offer and onboard your new footwear sales associate

   Once you've decided on a perfect footwear sales associate candidate, it's time to write an offer letter. In addition to salary, it should include benefits and perks available to the employee. Qualified candidates may be considered for other positions, so make sure your offer is competitive. Candidates may wish to negotiate. Once you've settled on the details, formalize your agreement with a contract.

   It's also important to follow up with applicants who do not get the job with an email letting them know that the position is filled.

   To prepare for the new footwear sales associate first day, you should share an onboarding schedule with them that covers their first period on the job. You should also quickly complete any necessary paperwork, such as employee action forms and onboarding documents like I-9, benefits enrollment, and federal and state tax forms. Finally, Human Resources must ensure a new employee file is created for internal record keeping.

8. Go through the hiring process checklist

   • Determine employee type (full-time, part-time, contractor, etc.)
   • Submit a job requisition form to the HR department
   • Define job responsibilities and requirements
   • Establish budget and timeline
   • Determine hiring decision makers for the role
   • Write job description
   • Post job on job boards, company website, etc.
   • Promote the job internally
   • Process applications through applicant tracking system
   • Review resumes and cover letters
   • Shortlist candidates for screening
   • Hold phone/virtual interview screening with first round of candidates
   • Conduct in-person interviews with top candidates from first round
   • Score candidates based on weighted criteria (e.g., experience, education, background, cultural fit, skill set, etc.)
   • Conduct background checks on top candidates
   • Check references of top candidates
   • Consult with HR and hiring decision makers on job offer specifics
   • Extend offer to top candidate(s)
   • Receive formal job offer acceptance and signed employment contract
   • Inform other candidates that the position has been filled
   • Set and communicate onboarding schedule to new hire(s)
   • Complete new hire paperwork (i9, benefits enrollment, tax forms, etc.)

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How much does it cost to hire a footwear sales associate?