When someone doesn't show up to their assigned shift, it throws everyone out of sync. Luckily, with a shift leader onsite, the team can continue to work together efficiently and in-sync.
That's exactly what shift leaders are there for. They make sure everything continues running smoothly, even when factors are less than favorable. Shift leaders are there to ensure nobody misses a beat while also creating a positive experience for customers.
Typically found working in the food industry, shift leaders are in charge when the manager is absent. They usually work full-time hours, but not necessarily in the normal 9-5 fashion. Sometimes, you may be needed to work 10 hours in a day rather than just the standard 8 hours. While you try to keep your team on a constant schedule, you may have to learn to be a little flexible.
Shift Leader Overview
Shift Leader Careers
There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a shift leader. For example, did you know that they make an average of $14.21 an hour? That's $29,553 a year!
Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 11% and produce 38,500 job opportunities across the U.S.
What Does a Shift Leader Do
There are certain skills that many shift leaders 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 business skills, detail oriented and leadership skills.
When it comes to the most important skills required to be a shift leader, we found that a lot of resumes listed 12.4% of shift leaders included customer complaints, while 10.6% of resumes included customer service, and 9.7% of resumes included company policies. Hard skills like these are helpful to have when it comes to performing essential job responsibilities.
When it comes to searching for a job, many search for a key term or phrase. Instead, it might be more helpful to search by industry, as you might be missing jobs that you never thought about in industries that you didn't even think offered positions related to the shift leader job title. But what industry to start with? Most shift leaders actually find jobs in the hospitality and retail industries.
How To Become a Shift Leader
If you're interested in becoming a shift leader, one of the first things to consider is how much education you need. We've determined that 27.9% of shift leaders have a bachelor's degree. In terms of higher education levels, we found that 1.8% of shift leaders have master's degrees. Even though some shift leaders 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 shift leader. When we researched the most common majors for a shift leader, we found that they most commonly earn high school diploma degrees or bachelor's degree degrees. Other degrees that we often see on shift leader resumes include associate degree degrees or diploma degrees.
You may find that experience in other jobs will help you become a shift leader. In fact, many shift leader jobs require experience in a role such as cashier. Meanwhile, many shift leaders also have previous career experience in roles such as sales associate or customer service representative.
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Shift Leader Career Paths
In addition to switching up your job search, it might prove helpful to look at a career path for your specific job. Now, what's a career path you ask? Well, it's practically a map that shows how you might advance from one job title to another. Our career paths are especially detailed with salary changes. So, for example, if you started out with the role of assistant manager you might progress to a role such as general manager eventually. Later on in your career, you could end up with the title general manager.
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Average Salary for a Shift Leader
Best Paying Cities
Recently Added Salaries
Job TitleCompany  | Company | Start Date | Salary |
|---|---|---|---|
Holman Distribution Shift Lead Shift Lead | Holman Distribution Holman Distribution | 01/30/2021 01/30/2021 | $37,56601/30/2021 $37,566 |
Aventure Staffing Shift Lead Shift Lead | Aventure Staffing Aventure Staffing | 01/30/2021 01/30/2021 | $41,74001/30/2021 $41,740 |
HCI Hospitality Shift Leader-Supervisor Shift Leader-Supervisor | HCI Hospitality HCI Hospitality | 01/30/2021 01/30/2021 | $29,21801/30/2021 $29,218 |
Walgreens Shift Lead Shift Lead | Walgreens Walgreens | 01/29/2021 01/29/2021 | $29,74001/29/2021 $29,740 |
Walgreens Shift Lead Shift Lead | Walgreens Walgreens | 01/29/2021 01/29/2021 | $29,74001/29/2021 $29,740 |
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Shift Leader Resumes
Designing and figuring out what to include on your resume can be tough, not to mention time-consuming. That's why we put together a guide that is designed to help you craft the perfect resume for becoming a Shift Leader. If you're needing extra inspiration, take a look through our selection of templates that are specific to your job.
Learn How To Write a Shift Leader Resume
At Zippia, we went through countless Shift Leader resumes and compiled some information about how best to optimize them. Here are some suggestions based on what we found, divided by the individual sections of the resume itself.
View Detailed InformationTop Skills For a Shift Leader
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, 12.4% of shift leaders listed customer complaints on their resume, but soft skills such as business skills and detail oriented are important as well.
- Customer Complaints, 12.4%
- Customer Service, 10.6%
- Company Policies, 9.7%
- Safety Standards, 8.5%
- Menu Items, 6.6%
- Other Skills, 52.2% See All Shift Leader Skills
Best States For a Shift Leader
Some places are better than others when it comes to starting a career as a shift leader. The best states for people in this position are New Jersey, Virginia, Washington, and West Virginia. Shift leaders make the most in New Jersey with an average salary of $39,425. Whereas in Virginia and Washington, they would average $38,439 and $36,902, respectively. While shift leaders would only make an average of $36,605 in West Virginia, 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. Virginia
$38,439
Avg. Salary
2. West Virginia
$36,605
Avg. Salary
3. Michigan
$33,470
Avg. Salary
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