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How To Hire Retail Staff

How To Hire Retail Staff
Post Series: How to Hire

Hiring retail employees is a vital task because these front line workers are often crucial to the success of your business. Retail staff serve customers, sell your products, provide customer service, and process financial transactions. Therefore, good employees will help drive revenue and profit and uphold your brand reputation.

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If you are a small business owner or even a medium-sized enterprise, being down one member of staff can be an issue, so it is essential to bring into play recruitment solutions that will not only find candidates quickly, but find retail candidates that are ready to help you take your business to the next level.

In this retail business hiring guide, we lay out the steps for hiring retail staff, including:

  • Preparing To Recruit Retail Staff: Your Employer Brand & Company Careers Page
  • Writing A Retail Job Description & Job Advert
  • How To Hire All Retail Staff
  • Advertising Your Retail Positions: Referral Schemes, Social Media, & Online Job Boards
  • Reducing Hiring Process Costs And Time: Recruitment Companies & ATS
  • Screening Retail Employees & Conducting Interviews
  • Presenting A Job Offer & Onboarding Retail Business Staff

Preparing To Recruit Retail Staff: Your Employer Brand & Company Careers Page

How To Recruit Retail Staff

Before you think about advertising your job opening externally, you should review all your existing candidate touchpoints to ensure you are promoting a positive employer brand. You will ultimately only secure the best retail industry workers if you show that you are a highly desirable employer where the right candidates want to work.

It would help if you considered the big picture and how you portray your company’s culture, company values, and business success. Do you offer good job security and have a positive working environment? Do you offer guaranteed hours, support younger candidates with training opportunities, and provide those with retail experience career development opportunities?

In our step by step guide; How To Hire, we explore deeper the topics of Why Should SMEs Build An Employer Brandand What Should Be On A Company Careers Page.

Writing A Retail Job Description & Job Advert

How To Write Retail Job Descriptions

You can only write an accurate retail employee job description and job advert for your roles if you speak to key decision makers in the hiring process, including the position’s line manager:

Retail Job Descriptions

Writing a job description for your roles will help your hiring manager speed up the recruiting process. The best practice is to have one on file for all company positions, which can be quickly updated and used to create the job posting whenever recruitment needs arise.

For SEO, it is a good practice to integrate keywords and key phrases that potential candidates might search for in a search engine or on a job site. The job profile should have a clear message to attract the most suitable candidates. It also helps to refrain from using excessive punctuation and too much industry jargon.

1. When writing a job description for retail staff, consider:

2. Identifying and outlining typical company-wide requirements

3. Collating today’s minimum technical and practical skills, qualifications, and experience

4. Reviewing what your competitors are saying in their job ads

5. What a great hire should look like

6. How you want your brand and company culture to be perceived

Our Job Description Templates can help you get started; we appreciate writing this content can be a challenge. You can discover the most popular Retail Job Descriptions here.

Further useful resources include How To Define What People Do In Their Jobs, Preparing Job Descriptions, and Key Roles And Responsibilities In Retail.

Retail Job Adverts

Your retail job descriptions form the basis of your new job ad. There are other things to add to attract the best workers with the required skills, so ensure your job post includes:

  1. An accurate job title – retail associate, retail manager, store manager, visual merchandiser, travel agent, shop assistant, etc
  2. An opening statement – saying why great candidates will want to work for your company
  3. The job’s description
  4. A list of responsibilities – selling to customers, resolving customer disputes, processing sales transactions, performing stock audits, etc
  5. Qualifications, personality traits, retail experience, and hard and soft skills – retail management and administration diploma, active listening, attention to detail, etc
  6. Job location – shop or business location, front or back office
  7. Salary range and employee benefits – check the average salary and minimum wage here for all retail roles
  8. Next steps – job seekers should email xxx or apply via our careers page

Download Job Advert Template

We recommend that a large, medium, or small business use a job advert template to get down the basics and then fill in more detail on the unique aspects of your company, team, role, and ideal candidate.

How To Hire All Retail Staff

HOW TO HIRE A STORE MANAGER

To hire a Store Manager, you can leverage regular job boards and those with an industry or leadership focus. Clearly state the size of the team to be managed and the type of products and services offered. Your list of requirements could include a business administration degree or equivalent experience.

Duties that might compel store managers to apply for your vacancy include coaching and appraising staff, delivering training, communicating sales and customer satisfaction targets, managing expenses, auditing contracts and paperwork, planning staff schedules, and authorising leave.

Store Manager Job Description Example

Post A Store Manager Job

HOW TO HIRE A TRAVEL AGENT

To hire a Travel Agent, stipulate if the employee will work in a high-street travel agency or remotely, making sales via a telephone or online chat. Your role might be a junior position with training, but you could state a requirement for a travel and tourism degree and experience using booking systems.

Enticing aspects of a travel agent’s role include listening to customer desires and recommending appropriate travel products, processing bookings and payments, providing travel advice, and resolving customer issues and complaints.

Travel Agent Job Description Example

Post A Travel Agent Job

HOW TO HIRE A SHOP ASSISTANT

To hire a Shop Assistant, you can advertise on general job sites, describing your company, products, employee benefits, and salary range. Job skills include numeracy and a good standard of English.

The exciting parts of the shop assistant’s role include greeting customers, recommending products, processing sales, handling cash, erecting merchandise displays, preparing banking, and handling customer complaints.

Shop Assistant Job Description Example

Post A Shop Assistant Job

HOW TO HIRE A RETAIL PROFESSIONAL

To hire a Retail Professional, begin by stating your business sector, values, and objectives. Application numbers are usually higher when you display the pay range and promote staff benefits. Communication and empathy are needed skills, and some roles require product knowledge or training.

Retail professionals may work in a high-street location or retail park, so it can be helpful to clarify this. Alluring responsibilities include performing credit checks, accepting and auditing stock, selling subscriptions or products, and maintaining excellent customer satisfaction.

Retail Job Description Example

Post A Retail Assistant Job

HOW TO HIRE A CASHIER

To hire a Cashier, describe your retail business and if the position is serving individual customers or business clients. Required skills consist of excellent numeracy, attention to detail, communication, and a polite manner.

Your job description should comprise vital tasks such as processing cash and card payments, balancing the till, preparing bank remittances, giving refunds, and providing excellent customer service.

Cashier Job Description Example

Post A Cashier Job

HOW TO HIRE A CUSTOMER ASSISTANT

To hire a Customer Assistant, you can leverage your social media accounts, employee referrals, and job board advertising. Evidence of the required knowledge may be through work experience or college diplomas. A list of skills may help an interested person decide if the role is for them.

Download Job Advert Template

Enjoyable duties attracting candidates to your vacancy include talking to customers face-to-face or via the phone, responding to emails, building short and long-term relationships, guiding purchasing choices, selling products, and recommending services and add-ons.

Customer Assistant Job Description Example

Post A Customer Assistant Job

HOW TO HIRE AN ESTATE AGENT

To hire an Estate Agent, you can post on general and retail job boards, stating if you require an experienced estate agent or provide training and career development opportunities. Where clientele is corporations and businesses, your person specification may include a degree in surveying, urban and land studies, business studies, or estate management. Structural engineering and civil engineering are other relevant degrees.

The enticing job duties of estate agents include scheduling land or property viewings, creating property listings and posting them online, liaising between sellers, buyers, and legal professionals, negotiating sales, and ensuring legal compliance.

Estate Agent Job Description Example

Post An Estate Agent Job

HOW TO HIRE A MERCHANDISER

To hire a Merchandiser, write a compelling advert for general, sales, and marketing job boards. Sharing the products, customer type, company culture, and team makeup may also help secure a suitable candidate match.

The attractive elements of the merchandiser’s role include setting prices, monitoring stock levels in stores, ensuring stock arrives in time, researching trends and competitors, adapting strategies, and designing product layouts and point of sale materials.

Merchandiser Job Description Example

Post A Merchandiser Job

HOW TO HIRE A STORE ASSISTANT

To hire a Store Assistant, you can use a job advert template and post your vacancy on Facebook, your company careers page, and the top job boards. Qualifications may not form part of your applicant profile, but you should request a good standard of English and maths.

Job duties that appeal to candidates include creating and restocking product displays, helping store visitors find specific products, accepting deliveries and unboxing stock, talking to customers positively, and completing shop opening and closing procedures.

Store Assistant Job Description Example

Post A Store Assistant Job

HOW TO HIRE A BUYER

To hire a Buyer, produce a short company story and prioritise employee benefits and the position’s pay range. Buyer proficiencies include business management, merchandise, marketing, or retail fashion degrees and familiarity with buying software and Microsoft Office.

Attractive responsibilities include travelling to meet suppliers, negotiating prices, delivery tracking, making quality inspections, researching market trends, and coordinating activities with the stock management team.

Buyer Job Description Example

Post A Buyer Job

Advertising Your Retail Positions: Referral Schemes, Social Media, & Online Job Boards

Advertising To Attract Potential Candidates

With your job ad in hand, you are ready to find job candidates. Your hiring strategy might include posting your advert:

Internally (Employee Referral Schemes)

A non-incentivised or incentivised employee referral scheme is extremely valuable when you want to hiring employees. You will turn your current employees into motivated recruiters, sharing that you are hiring new employees across their social and professional networks (LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter).

Employee referrals often bring in the top talent, with your team’s connections including like-minded professionals and industry contacts. To engage this recruitment strategy, share your job descriptions with your current and previous employees and reward referrals.

You can discover more tips on employee referral schemes by reading Introducing An Employee Referral Scheme.

On Social Media

Recruiting great workers through social media is effective, with free and paid advertising options. The best tips for success include ensuring your messaging is consistent with your employment brand and conveys a positive image. An active social media channel is helpful if you want to build a community of potential employees just waiting for an opportunity to join your business. Recommended activity includes posting news, expert opinions, updates, and industry insights.

Our tips and advice for implementing a successful social network recruitment strategy include:

  • Marketing yourself first
  • Joining industry networks and groups
  • Engaging with respondents and nurturing discussions
  • Using advanced search tools and Recruiter Lite on LinkedIn
  • Using Twitter’s advanced search tool and direct messaging
  • Building activity on your company’s Facebook page and encouraging engagement from existing employees, turning them into business advocates

We explore finding qualified employees through social networks further in our articles Social Media Hiring Strategies For SMEs and Job Advertising On Social Media.

On Job Boards

Whether your new hire is your first employee or your hundredth, you should post your job ad on popular job boards if you want to find an employee in an acceptable timeframe. You can post your job ad on one board, or many using an Applicant Tracking System. Job board resellers help you advertise your retail jobs across multiple general, geographical, and niche job boards using their integrated ATS software, minimising the hassle and time it takes to find candidates.

Download Job Advert Template

Leading General Job Boards:

Niche Retail Job Posting Sites:

Aggregator Job Sites:

Geographical Job Sites:

You can advertise your job on these job boards today.

Reducing Hiring Process Costs And Time: Recruitment Companies & ATS

Recruitment Agencies And Reducing Recruitment Costs And Time

Budgets, deadlines, and administration require careful consideration whenever you instigate the recruitment process. To get the best results when hiring staff, you may decide to work with a recruitment agencies with a UK wide focus, a global recruitment partner, or a niche recruitment agency.

We discuss agency fees and recruiters in these two articles; How To Avoid High Recruitment Agency Fees and The Pros And Cons Of Having A Recruiter On Retainer.

Fixed Cost Recruitment

Fixed-cost recruitment allows you to hire at a flat fee governed by the level of service and functionality you desire.

The success of fixed-cost recruitment depends on the company offering the service, the methodologies they deploy, and their expertise and knowledge of your industry or business sector. You will need to determine which actions you need assistance with to use flat-fee recruitment successfully.

Five steps to leveraging fixed cost recruitment hiring practices:

  1. Place ads across leading job boards
  2. Search CV databases and social networking channels
  3. Headhunt and shortlist new employee candidates
  4. Conduct individual or group interviews
  5. Receive interviewed and qualified candidates

Useful resources:

Applicant Tracking Systems

Automatic Tracking Systems can significantly reduce the costs of recruitment by creating efficiency and by minimising the repetitive tasks involved. Candidate, vacancy, and advert management fall within the software’s parameters.

Team access creates a unified place to work, helping you build a seamless hiring process and candidate experience.

Five steps to centralising recruitment with ATS:

  1. Find workers online
  2. Review candidate scores
  3. Distribute personalised messages to a large candidate pool
  4. Automate responses
  5. Direct candidates to application forms

To explore all the features and benefits of Automatic Tracking Systems, read Centralising Recruitment With ATS.

Screening Retail Employees & Conducting Interviews

Screening And Interviewing Retail Staff

Before you conduct interviews you need to run a pre-selection process that shortlists applicants by reviewing their CVs or resumes. Indications that you have a candidate worth interviewing include:

  • Quantifiable evidence of past achievements and transferable skills
  • The individual has steady career progression (for senior retail positions)
  • The candidate is not job-hopping
  • The CV is free from spelling and grammatical errors
  • The candidate has the relevant retail experience and skills to meet the job’s requirements

Decision-makers and hiring managers need to be prepared to deliver a consistent interview experience. It helps to ask the same interview questions to each prospect, to aid candidate scoring. Ensure anyone who has candidate contact is on the same page and understands the brand’s vision, values and opportunities. The interview process should be challenging, supportive, positive, and engaging.

Video interviews are an increasingly popular recruitment solution, saving on resources and speeding up the recruitment process. Video sharing, shortlisting, and feedback from hiring and line managers ultimately generate more successful outcomes. If your business has not conducted a video interview before, read How To Conduct A Remote Interview.

Our article Defining Your Interview Process, discusses interview questions, avoiding unconscious bias, and interviewing tips.

Presenting A Job Offer & Onboarding Retail Business Staff

Presenting An Offer And Employment Contract To Job Candidates

When you have finished interviewing candidates and believe you have the right person for your shop, you will need to present a job offer and onboard the employee:

Making A Job Offer

The process of presenting the offer to potential candidates varies depending on what has occurred before. If you don’t already understand the individual’s current earnings, expectations are better managed over the phone.

Phone offers should be confident but be prepared to make changes if the individual’s circumstances have changed. Reaffirm that the candidate is happy with the offer, clarify their acceptance, and proceed to a formal written offer, in the same way you would for any business employee.

A formal offer letter from your firm can be conditional (dependent on a background check or completing job trials, etc) or unconditional and should include:

  • Job title
  • Candidate name
  • Your conditions – i.e., this offer is made subject to…
  • Official start date, time, and location
  • Probationary period
  • Offer terms
  • Candidate actions and acceptance instructions – i.e., signed copy of job offer
  • Terms and conditions of employment (issued within two months of the start date)

Formal offers are good for both you and potential candidates and you can read further on Presenting A Job Offer here.

Onboarding Retail Staff

The onboarding process should support the employee as they become part of your team.

Actions for onboarding workers might include:

  • Creating an employee identification number
  • Presenting the individual with an employee handbook
  • An office or shop tour, introducing the person to their manager, team, and senior executives
  • Informing the person of the communication methods to use in the new role
  • Presenting clear responsibilities and duties
  • Defining new role expectations, standards, and performance indicators
  • Gathering feedback from new hires to establish job realities

Retail Industry Recruitment FAQs

Here we answer your retail employee recruiting questions.

How do I find potential employees to hire?

You should advertise your vacancy on job board sites and across your social networks. Promote the benefits of working for your company, such as a salary above minimum wage and reliable hours.

How do I find local people to hire?

You can use local recruitment agencies, geographical job sites, local job fairs, and implement software to help with recruitment, such as ATS.

How do you hire the right person every time?

Advertise your retail jobs to the broadest audience possible to give yourself the best talent pool to choose from. Fixed fee recruitment agencies can help you with recruitment tasks such as screening and the interview process.

What are job titles in retail?

Retail employee job titles include:

1. Retail Advisor
2. Store Manager
3. Merchandiser
4. Shop Assistant
5. Travel Agent
6. Assistant Manager
7. Cashier
8. Butcher
9. Buyer
10. Fashion Designer
11. Customer Complaints Officer
12. Assistant Buyer

How To Hire Staff In Different Sectors

Find our recruitment guides for different sectors below:

All Retail Job Descriptions

Post All Retail Jobs

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