Retail assistant CV example

Casey Brooks and Noor Rahman are not real people. The shops, the Saturday till note and the hours are invented. Use the order of the page, then write what you have actually done on a shop floor, a stall or a volunteer shift.

A UK retail CV names the hours you can work. It does not need a photo or your age. It does need proof you can serve someone, handle stock or follow a plan without inventing a manager title.

Full example CV

Fictional person and employers. Do not copy the sample Saturday onto your CV.

Casey Brooks

Cardiff · 07700 900301 · casey.brooks@example.com

Eligible to work in the UK · weekends and Thursday late

Personal statement

Retail assistant with three years on the shop floor, including the till and the delivery cage. I keep a queue moving without guessing a delivery date, and I can reset a table display from a plan. Looking for an assistant role with set weekend shifts.

Experience

Retail assistant

Plover Stores (fictional retailer) · March 2023 – present

  • Serve on the till and the fitting room, and call for another colleague when the queue reaches the door rather than rushing the person in front of me.
  • In a made-up sample Saturday, reconciled the till at close and wrote down two price look-ups that did not match the shelf edge, so they could be corrected before Sunday.
  • Check a delivery against the note before it is signed, and mark short deliveries on the paperwork instead of hoping they are in another box.
  • Rebuild the window table from the visual plan after a busy day, including sizes running left to right as the guide says.

Sales assistant

Hearth Market (fictional stall and shop) · July 2021 – February 2023

  • Covered the stall on Saturdays and the stockroom on two weekdays.
  • Told customers when an item was out of stock and offered the date on the next delivery note, not a promise I could not keep.
  • Folded and counted a returns cage at the end of the day so the morning shift was not starting from a pile.

Education

  • GCSEs, including English and maths, 2021

Skills

  • Till and cash handling
  • Stock checks and deliveries
  • Visual merchandising from a plan
  • Queue and fitting-room service
  • Straight answers about availability

If you have no shop experience yet

Noor Rahman is a second fictional example, for a first job. School year and dates are made up.

Noor Rahman

Swansea · 07700 900318 · noor.rahman@example.com

Eligible to work in the UK · Saturdays and two weekdays

Personal statement

Looking for a first retail assistant job. I have not worked a paid till yet. I have taken money and kept a list at a school fair, and I volunteer on the door of a community hall on Saturday mornings. I want a Saturday role where I can learn the shop routine.

Education

  • A levels, 2026. GCSEs in English and maths, 2024.

Experience

Door volunteer

Hale Room (fictional community hall) · September 2024 – present

  • Welcome people to Saturday sessions, tick them in, and point them to the right room without leaving the door unattended.
  • Count the float at the end of the cake table with another volunteer, and write the total on the sheet.

Skills

  • Meeting people at a door or a table
  • Counting a small float with a second person
  • Following a written list
  • Saturday availability

Skills worth listing

Name the task. “Good with people” is not a skill until you say what you did with them.

  • Till work: sales, voids, and a close that matches the receipt
  • Cash and card payments, including when to call a supervisor
  • Stock checks, deliveries and the difference between a short delivery and a mis-count
  • Replenishing the shop floor from a list, not from what is easiest to reach
  • Visual merchandising when you are following a plan or a photograph
  • Fitting rooms, queues and returns
  • Loss awareness: not leaving a till or a door unattended, without claiming you are a security guard

Bullet examples

Numbers help when they are a count you made. A busy Saturday is not a figure unless you wrote it down.

  • Greeted the queue, finished the person at the till, and called for help when the line reached the door.
  • Checked the delivery note against the cages before signing, and marked the two missing lines.
  • Reset the offer table from the photograph after the lunch rush, with sizes in the order the guide showed.
  • Told a customer the next delivery date printed on the note, and did not promise a day that was not on it.
  • Wrote the close-of-day note: till discrepancy, one faulty scanner, and the returns still to be booked in.
  • Kept the fitting room count and stopped extra garments going in when the rail was full.

Hours and availability

Put your real hours under your contact line or in the statement. “Weekends and Thursday late” is useful. “Available for any hours” is a problem if you cannot work a Sunday close.

If you are at school or college, say the days you can work and the holiday weeks. Employers would rather see a limit than discover it after the rota is written.

Seasonal work is still work. Name the shop, the dates and what you did. A six-week Christmas job can carry three honest bullets.

Common mistakes

  • A photo, age, or full home address.
  • “I love fashion” with no shift, delivery or till behind it.
  • Calling yourself a supervisor because you held a key once.
  • Listing every task in the shop as one long paragraph.
  • Hiding keywords in white text.
  • American spelling, or calling the document anything other than a CV.
  • Saying you can work any hour when you cannot.

ATS keywords

Use a word from the advert only if you have done the task. Till experience is not the same as visual merchandising.

  • retail assistant
  • sales assistant
  • customer service
  • till
  • cash handling
  • point of sale
  • stock replenishment
  • deliveries
  • visual merchandising
  • shop floor
  • returns
  • availability

Use it on your own CV

FAQ

Can I write a retail assistant CV with no shop experience?

Yes. Use school, a market stall, a community hall or volunteering where you served someone, counted money or followed a list. Say that it was unpaid. Do not invent a till job.

Should I put my hours on the CV?

Yes, if the job is part-time or shift-based. Write the days and times you can work. Do not write that you are free all week if you are not.

Do UK retail CVs need a photo?

No. Leave off a photo, your date of birth and your marital status. City, phone and email are enough.

How long should a retail CV be?

One page is enough for a first job or a few years on the shop floor. Two pages is fine only when every line is a task you can explain.

Free job-ready CV checklist

A one-page checklist for any role, plus a weekly jobs email. No name, and no account.