We calculated that 18% of Sales Associates are proficient in Customer Service, Sales Floor, and Retail Sales. They’re also known for soft skills such as Interpersonal skills, Math skills, and Selling skills.
We break down the percentage of Sales Associates that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- Customer Service, 18%
Provided excellent customer service by assisting customers in purchasing prescriptions, over counter medications, and other health related merchandise.
- Sales Floor, 12%
Re-organized and filled floor inventory.
- Retail Sales, 10%
Answered questions about merchandise and provided product information to enhance retail sales and ensure ongoing customer satisfaction.
- Company Policies, 10%
Operate a well-structured store providing customer service and implementing company policies and service agreements; processing monetary sales and transactions.
- Communication, 8%
Establish positive flow of communication home inspectors, appraisers and closing attorneys to determine actions necessary leading to closing.
- Loss Prevention, 6%
Performed multifaceted cashier duties ensuring a consistent balance between customer service and loss prevention.
Some of the skills we found on sales associate resumes included "customer service," "sales floor," and "retail sales." We have detailed the most important sales associate responsibilities below.
The most important skills for a sales associate to have in this position are interpersonal skills. In this excerpt that we gathered from a sales associate resume, you'll understand why: "a friendly and outgoing personality is important for these workers because the job requires almost constant interaction with people." According to resumes we found, interpersonal skills can be used by a sales associate in order to "applied interpersonal skills and organizational skills maintained cashier position/money handling learned about loss prevention and means to avoid it" While it may not be the most important skill, we found that many sales associate duties rely on math skills. This example from a sales associate explains why: "retail sales workers must have the ability to calculate price totals, discounts, and change owed to customers." This resume example is just one of many ways sales associates are able to utilize math skills: "completed other tasks assigned by store management as needed using their quantitative techniques for evaluating efficiency. " Sales associates are also known for selling skills, which can be critical when it comes to performing their duties. An example of why this skill is important is shown by this snippet that we found in a sales associate resume: "retail sales workers must be persuasive when interacting with customers" We also found this resume example that details how this skill is put to the test: "worked closely with leadership to manage loss prevention and led cross-selling quotas, while ensuring a pleasant shopping experience. " A sales associate responsibilities sometimes require "customer-service skills." The responsibilities that rely on this skills are shown by this resume excerpt: "retail sales workers must be responsive to the wants and needs of customers" This resume example shows how this skill is used by sales associates: "cleaned and inspected customers high-value possessions and followed loss prevention and security procedure for customer pieces and store-owned jewelry. " See the full list of sales associate skills.
Before becoming a sales associate, 38.1% earned their bachelor's degree. When it comes down to graduating with a master's degree, 2.3% sales associates went for the extra education. If you're wanting to pursue this career, it may be possible to be successful with a high school degree. In fact, some sales associates have a college degree. But about one out of every four sales associates didn't attend college at all.
Those sales associates who do attend college, typically earn either a business degree or a psychology degree. Less commonly earned degrees for sales associates include a general studies degree or a criminal justice degree.
Once you've obtained the level of education you're comfortable with, you might start applying to companies to become a sales associate. We've found that most sales associate resumes include experience from Dollar General, AutoZone, and Tractor Supply. Of recent, Dollar General had 19,735 positions open for sales associates. Meanwhile, there are 9,871 job openings at AutoZone and 4,008 at Tractor Supply.
If you're interested in companies where sales associates make the most money, you'll want to apply for positions at Citi, Google, and Morgan Stanley. We found that at Citi, the average sales associate salary is $71,999. Whereas at Google, sales associates earn roughly $65,854. And at Morgan Stanley, they make an average salary of $64,665.
View more details on sales associate salaries across the United States.
Some other companies you might be interested in as a sales associate include Macy's, Nordstrom, and Walmart. These three companies were found to hire the most sales associates from the top 100 U.S. educational institutions.
