How To Become A Sales Associate And Shift Leader: What It Is and Career Path

What is a sales associate and shift leader and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

3 min read

There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a sales associate and shift leader. For example, did you know that they make an average of $16.52 an hour? That's $34,358 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 5% and produce 23,800 job opportunities across the U.S.

ScoreSales Associate And Shift LeaderUS Average

Salary

2.7

Avg. Salary $34,358

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

9.4

Growth rate 5%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

8.4

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.65%

Asian 6.91%

Black or African American 8.40%

Hispanic or Latino 17.73%

Unknown 4.64%

White 61.67%

Gender

female 64.58%

male 35.42%

Age - 42

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 - 42

Stress level

9.4

Stress level is very high

7.1 - high

Complexity level

5.2

Complexity level is intermediate

7 - challenging

Work life balance

4.6

Work life balance is fair

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a sales associate and shift leader

Explore sales associate and shift leader education requirements

Most common sales associate and shift leader degrees

High School Diploma

34.7 %

Bachelor's

33.4 %

Associate

20.9 %

Start to develop specific sales associate and shift leader skills

Skills	Percentages
Store Merchandise	11.13%
Customer Service	8.06%
Sales Floor	7.54%
POS	7.18%
Customer Satisfaction	6.17%

Complete relevant sales associate and shift leader training and internships

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

Research sales associate and shift leader duties and responsibilities

Partner in managing operations of multiple retail outlets, including hiring, performance management, scheduling, and merchandising management.
Excel in positions of leadership with fellow employees.
Interact with customers and utilize the pos system along with meeting sales goals and meeting all customer needs.
Utilize proactive persuasive/retention skills to turn requests for disconnection or downgrade into sales and save opportunities by identifying customer needs.

Get sales associate and shift leader experience

Generally, it takes 4-6 years to become a sales associate and shift leader. The most common roles before becoming a sales associate and shift leader include sales associate, cashier team lead and server.

Apply for sales associate and shift leader jobs

Now it's time to start searching for a sales associate and shift leader job. Consider the tips below for a successful job search:

Browse job boards for relevant postings
Consult your professional network
Reach out to companies you're interested in working for directly
Watch out for job scams

How do sales associate and shift leaders rate their job?

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Sales associate and shift leader reviews

A zippia user wrote a review on Mar 2020

Pros

Safety of the employees and opportunities to learn and leadership

A zippia user wrote a review on Jan 2020

Cons

Handling the details for all the issues is sometimes hard to manage.