Retail CV examples

A well-structured retail CV should be as organised as a neatly stocked shelf. If recruiters have to dig through clutter to find your skills, they might move on faster than a shopper spotting a ‘closing down sale’ sign.

This guide will show you how to write your CV, structure your work experience, and highlight the key skills that make you a strong retail candidate. You’ll have a CV that gets attention – just like the best in-store promotions.

Retail employers don’t have time to search through a messy CV – if they wanted to dig through piles of disorganised stock, they’d just check the clearance section. A clear and logical layout makes sure they can quickly find what they need.

Here’s how to set up your CV structure:

• Name and contact details – Keep your personal details at the top where they can’t be missed, along with an optional photo.
• Profile – A strong opening that highlights your experience, skills, and customer service abilities.
• Core skills – A quick list of your most relevant skills, such as sales, stock management, or cash handling.
• Work experience – Detail your previous retail roles in reverse chronological order, showing your impact in each position.
• Education – List your qualifications, like degrees and certificates, starting with the most recent.
• Additional info – If relevant, mention extra things like any related hobbies, languages spoken, or awards.

Presentation matters. If your CV formatting looks disorganised, a hiring manager might assume your stockroom would look the same.

Even the most qualified candidates would miss out if they made simple formatting mistakes, so put your attention to detail to good use here.

Stick to these formatting tips for the best results:

• Bullet points – Help the recruiter skim your CV quickly and pick up the important bits with ease.
• Divide sections – Logically organise the information and make it easy to navigate.
• Use a clear and readable font – Keep your font professional, ensuring it’s easy to scan quickly.
• No more than 2 pages – 2 pages is the perfect length to cover the essentials without getting boring.

Your CV profile is your shop window – it needs to grab attention and make employers want to know more. This short section at the top of your CV should summarise your skills, experience, and strengths in retail, all to convince recruiters why hiring you would benefit them.

Less experienced candidates should go for a personal statement, which is longer and focuses more on your aspiration.

To make an impact, include the following:

• Where you’ve worked – Have you worked in high street retail, supermarkets, luxury brands, or independent stores? Say which type, and how many years of experience.
• Key customer service skills – Do you have experience in upselling, handling complaints, or managing queues?
• Sales experience – If you’ve consistently hit or exceeded sales targets, mention it here.
• Stock and merchandising knowledge – Employers value staff who can keep shelves stocked and displays looking their best.
• Leadership abilities – If you’ve trained new staff, supervised a team, or managed store operations, highlight it.

A core skills section helps employers quickly see what you bring to the role. Make sure to list skills relevant to retail: think of it like a store’s ‘bestsellers’ shelf – highlight the skills that will catch a recruiter’s eye first.

Tailor your CV skills to match the job description, focusing on the skills that matter most for the role you’re applying for.

Your work experience section should show more than just where you worked – it should prove how you made a difference. Employers want to see how you’ve helped improve sales, kept stores running smoothly, or delivered great customer experiences.

List your jobs in reverse chronological order, focusing on key responsibilities and achievements in each role. If you don’t have much retail experience, highlight transferable skills from other customer-facing jobs or volunteer work.

• Outline – Introduce the store or company you worked for and your role within the team.
• Responsibilities – Describe your key tasks, such as assisting customers, processing sales, or restocking displays. Use action words like “advised”, “assisted”, and “managed”.
• Achievements – Highlight measurable successes, such as increasing sales, improving customer satisfaction scores, or training new team members.

While experience matters most in retail, your education section should still be well-structured. If you’re applying for an entry-level role, your qualifications might be more important, so highlight any coursework relevant to business, sales, or customer service.

If you have additional retail-related certifications, such as health and safety training or a customer service diploma, include those here.

List qualifications in reverse chronological order, starting with the most recent.