How To Become An Hourly Sales Staff: What It Is and Career Path

What is an hourly sales staff and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

3 min read

Quoted experts

Frederik Beuk,

Joseph Hancock

There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being an hourly sales staff. For example, did you know that they make an average of $16.87 an hour? That's $35,089 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 4% and produce 63,300 job opportunities across the U.S.

What general advice would you give to an hourly sales staff?

Frederik Beuk

Associate Professor of Marketing, University of Akron

The key consideration is whether you really want to maximize your initial salary. For instance, envision two job opportunities: one offering a salary of $50,000 per year, where you'd be the most junior team member, and the other providing $75,000 per year, with the caveat that you would be the sole sales representative for the firm. The optimal choice is to prioritize learning opportunities. In this context, being the lone salesperson for a company that compensates its highest-earning sales professional $75,000 might not be your superior option. Instead, seek a position that offers the greatest potential for learning. Subsequently, demonstrate your negotiating prowess, a critical sales skill, by securing a slightly higher salary. However, it's essential not to fixate on maximizing your starting salary. Your career requires a long-term strategy, and you have several decades ahead of you to maximize income.

ScoreHourly Sales StaffUS Average

Salary

2.7

Avg. Salary $35,089

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

7.1

Growth rate 4%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

3.8

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.23%

Asian 5.20%

Black or African American 3.88%

Hispanic or Latino 14.48%

Unknown 3.72%

White 72.49%

Gender

female 46.21%

male 53.79%

Age - 48

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 - 48

Stress level

7.1

Stress level is high

7.1 - high

Complexity level

8.4

Complexity level is challenging

7 - challenging

Work life balance

4.9

Work life balance is fair

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become an hourly sales staff

Explore hourly sales staff education requirements

Most common hourly sales staff degrees

Bachelor's

63.8 %

Associate

15.3 %

High School Diploma

12.0 %

Start to develop specific hourly sales staff skills

Skills	Percentages
Customer Service	47.58%
POS	9.08%
Sales Floor	5.58%
Product Knowledge	4.93%
Customer Relations	4.85%

Complete relevant hourly sales staff training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 6-12 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New hourly sales staff 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 an hourly sales staff based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real hourly sales staff resumes.

Research hourly sales staff duties and responsibilities

Manage accounts and create invoices via QuickBooks.
Gain experience with inventory, cash handling, and POS register use.
Provide direct counter sales to customers, transaction handling via touchscreen POS cash register, and daily housekeeping.
Assist installers with a variety of HVAC systems, making sure the installation is conducted in compliance with local regulations.

Prepare your hourly sales staff resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your hourly sales staff 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 an hourly sales staff resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable hourly sales staff resume templates

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