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What achievements should I add to my Retail CV?

By Monster Contributor

If you were an employer receiving hundreds of applications for an advertised position, what would you look for to determine who the best applicant was? The answer to sort the good from the great is simple -: achievements.

Too often job seekers identify the key skills that are required for a certain vacancy and then list them on their CV. But employers don’t want to be confronted with a list of adjectives; they want to know how you have used your skills in a positive way.

For example, stating that you have ‘effective influencing and negotiation skills’ has little impact and will do little to persuade a recruiter to interview you. Instead, demonstrate how these skills have been used in a business setting by using an achievement statement

Use your CV to position yourself as someone who offers something unique to anyone else. Have you won awards? Have you increased sales despite testing economic conditions? Did you introduce a new product into the market that has become the company’s biggest selling product? Is your store the best-performer in the region?

And with every achievement that you boast, make sure you can quantify your achievements in monetary or percentage terms.

Retail is all about servicing customer needs, making money and cutting costs so see how you can show off what you’re done.

Here are a few examples you can adapt for your CV:

  • “Boosted sales of Product X by £250k, representing a 35% increase year-on-year.”
  • “Set up a complaint handling procedure that reduced response times by 10% and increased customer satisfaction by 15%”.
  • “Negotiated lower rates with suppliers which enabled the company to purchase more stock and increase its volume of sales by an additional £1.5m.”
  • “Devised and implemented a new customer loyalty scheme which saw an uptake of more than 200,000 new customers and new orders worth over £2m.”
  • “Successfully negotiated lower media advertising rates which resulted in the company being able to extend its new brand launch by a further two weeks.”
  • “Developed a direct marketing campaign and new brochure that cleared end-of-season stock with a 15% profit margin”.

Make sure you include many instances when you have exceeded expectations, gone beyond your job remit and gained recognition from your colleagues and peers.

Wondering what to do now? Check out our expert career advice, find out more about the Retail industry or search for the latest Retail jobs.