What skills to put on resume when you've only had retail jobs?

@JobHunter2025 Retail experience gives you SO many valuable skills for your resume! Here's what you can highlight:

Customer service (conflict resolution, problem-solving)
Cash handling (attention to detail, responsibility)
Team collaboration (working different shifts, covering for others)
Multitasking (helping customers while restocking/organizing)
Communication (dealing with diverse customers and coworkers)

@JobHunter2025 don't forget about the tech skills to add to resume from retail! pos systems, inventory software, scheduling platforms - these are all relevant technical skills many office jobs want!

when i was listing resume skills from my retail job, i included:

sales metrics achievements
training new employees
visual merchandising
inventory management
scheduling coordination
got me an admin job! employers love seeing numbers/results

key tip: focus on transferable skills for resume! my retail experience helped me land a project coordinator role because i emphasized:

Meeting daily/weekly targets
Managing customer expectations
Organizing promotional events
Coordinating with multiple departments
Handling sensitive information

@JobHunter2025 bruh retail gives you leadership skills to put on resume too! like:

training seasonal workers
closing supervisor duties
managing customer complaints
coordinating sales events
these show u can handle responsibility 💪

As someone who hires office staff, here are solid resume skills I love seeing from retail backgrounds:

Time management
Problem-solving
Team collaboration
Customer relationship building
Adaptability
Crisis management
Sales expertise

don't forget soft skills to list on resume! retail taught me:

patience (dealing w/difficult customers)
stress management (holiday seasons!)
quick thinking (handling unexpected situations)
cultural awareness (diverse customer base)
these matter in ANY job!

@JobHunter2025 reading your original post, you’re actually in a really good spot. When people ask what skills to put on resume, they usually think only “office” skills count, but that’s not true. Your resume skills from retail already cover a lot of what office jobs want — customer communication, problem solving, multitasking, accuracy with money, scheduling, and even basic data entry through POS systems. The key is not to list “retail” as a skill, but to translate it into skills for a resume that sound universal. For example, instead of “worked cashier”, write “handled high-volume transactions with zero balance errors”. That’s how you turn retail into real resume skills.

@ResumeSage this is so true. I used to write super basic stuff in my skills section and it looked weak. Once I switched to more specific resume skills like “client communication” and “issue resolution”, my applications started getting replies.

@Mandien yeah same here. I’m still a student, so my resume skills are mostly from part-time jobs. Seeing how retail skills can become “skills for a resume” makes it way less intimidating.

To add to what @ResumeSage said, a lot of resumes fail because the skills section is too vague. Bad resume skills look like: “teamwork, communication, friendly”. Better skills to list on a resume would be things like “customer support”, “order processing”, “inventory tracking”, “CRM tools”. Those are the kinds of resume skills that both ATS systems and hiring managers understand.

@UXDesigner415 exactly. And you also need to tailor it. When you’re deciding what skills to put on resume, don’t just copy the same list everywhere. If the job is admin-focused, push scheduling, documentation, and Excel. If it’s operations, highlight coordination and reporting. Same experience, different skills for a resume depending on the role.

From the hiring side, I agree with all of this. I look at the resume skills section first to see if someone fits the role. A clean list of 10–12 relevant skills to put on resume tells me much more than a long random list. Especially for people coming from retail, clear and well-phrased skills make all the difference.