Retail Store Manager CV Example (Australia)

Area managers in Australian retail hire store managers on the numbers they are measured on themselves: sales against budget, wage cost, shrinkage at stocktake, net promoter score and team turnover. Open your CV with the size of the store, its annual turnover and the number of team members, then show the results you are accountable for and the change you made to get them.

The Sample CV below is for a Store Manager with seven years in Queensland retail, now running a large-format homewares store in Brisbane's northern suburbs. The bullets use the measures a national retailer reports every Monday morning and name the action behind each one: a roster rebuilt around trade patterns, a stocktake routine, a Christmas floor plan.

Tailor it to the retailer. A supermarket wants fresh standards, compliance and wage percentage; a specialty chain wants conversion, average sale and a selling culture; a department store wants visual standards and seasonal planning. Match the wording of the advert on Seek and move the most comparable store to the top of the page. The US counterpart of this page is the retail manager resume example, written for American district managers on Letter paper, and the Chronological template keeps the work history in the order an Australian recruiter reads it.

Updated . The person and employers in this Sample CV are fictional. Written for applicants in Australia; the page for applicants in the US is the retail manager resume example.

Retail Store Manager sample CV

Drawn at A4 proportions, the paper an Australian CV is printed on.

Tegan Whitlock

Store Manager, Large-Format Homewares and Specialty Retail

Chermside, QLDtegan.whitlock@example.com0491 571 348

Summary

Store Manager with seven years in Queensland retail, currently running a 2,400 square metre homewares store turning over A$11 million a year with a team of 42. Moved the store from eleventh to second of sixteen in the state on sales against budget within two years by rebuilding the roster around trade and coaching a selling culture on the floor. Holds wage cost and shrinkage under budget while developing team members into department managers.

Experience

Store Manager, Banksia Home & Living

– Present

Chermside, QLD

  • Run an A$11 million large-format homewares store with 42 team members and three department managers; lifted the store from eleventh to second of sixteen in Queensland on sales against budget within two years.
  • Rebuilt the weekly roster around hourly sales data under the General Retail Industry Award, moving hours to Thursday nights and weekends and holding wage cost at 10.8 percent of sales against a budget of 11.5.
  • Cut shrinkage from 1.6 percent to 0.9 percent across the last two stocktakes by retraining the receiving team and introducing a weekly count of the fifty highest-loss lines.
  • Promoted two team members to department manager and one department manager to run her own store; team turnover is the lowest in the region.
Assistant Store Manager, Coral Coast Outfitters

–

Maroochydore, QLD

  • Ran operations for an A$6 million apparel store on the Sunshine Coast: receiving, stocktake, the cash office and the daily trade report to the area manager.
  • Recruited and inducted twenty casual team members each Christmas and kept their penalty-rate hours inside the wage budget.
  • Lifted the store's net promoter score for three quarters running by coaching the fitting-room service and the greeting standard at the door.
Retail Team Member and 2IC, Noosa Point Surf Supply

–

Noosa Heads, QLD

  • Served on the floor and the register in a busy tourist-strip store, then stepped up as second in charge with keys, banking and the weekend roster.
  • Ran the end-of-season markdown and stock return to head office with no variance at the following stocktake.

Education

Diploma of Leadership and Management

Bramble Bay Institute, Brisbane, QLD

Completed part time while working as an assistant store manager.

Skills

  • Store operations
  • Sales against budget
  • Rostering under the General Retail Industry Award
  • Wage cost control
  • Shrinkage and stocktake
  • Visual merchandising standards
  • Recruitment and induction
  • Coaching and performance management
  • Customer experience and net promoter score
  • Fair Work compliance
  • Retail reporting

Certifications

  • Provide First Aid (HLTAID011), St John Ambulance Queensland,

Start yours from this example

Opens this sample in the editor, in one of the templates below. Swap in your details, then tailor it to each vacancy in about two minutes.

Use this example

How an Australian CV differs

A store manager's CV in Australia is a different document from the American one, not a copy with the spelling changed. The title is Store Manager or Retail Store Manager, the people are team members rather than associates, the measures are shrinkage at stocktake and wage cost against the award rather than payroll percentage, and a recruiter at a national chain expects two or three pages with referees named at the end. Applications go through Seek or the retailer's careers site with a short cover letter, so the CV has to carry the numbers on its own.

For a retail store manager in Australia

  1. Store Manager, team members and 2IC

    Use the titles Australian retailers use: Store Manager, Assistant Store Manager, 2IC, Department Manager, Area Manager. Associate, district manager and keyholder read as American.

  2. The award belongs on the page

    Rostering under the General Retail Industry Award, penalty rates and Fair Work compliance are part of the job, and naming them shows you have managed wages legally as well as cheaply.

  3. Stocktake, shrinkage and wage cost

    Write the measures the way head office reports them: sales against budget, wage cost as a share of sales, shrinkage at stocktake, net promoter score. Give the figure and the trend.

  4. Referees at the end

    Australian retailers expect two referees, usually your area manager and a previous one, listed by name and title or offered on request. Tell them before you apply.

  5. Two to three pages

    An Australian CV runs longer than a UK one. A store manager with three stores fits two pages; an area manager may use three. One page is for a first retail job.

Every CV in Australia

A4 paper
Australia prints on A4. A Letter-sized PDF prints short on A4 and tells a recruiter the CV came from a US template.
Two to three pages
Australian CVs run longer than UK ones: two pages is normal and three is accepted for experienced applicants. One page suits a first job.
No photo
No photo, date of birth or marital status. Australian employers do not expect them, and anti-discrimination law makes most prefer not to see them.
Dates as DD/MM/YYYY
Day first where a full date appears, month and year for each role. The US month-first order reads wrong to an Australian recruiter.
Australian English
Australian English follows British spelling: organise, programme, centre, licence, specialise.
Suburb and state, not a street address
"Parramatta, NSW" is enough on the contact line. A full address is not expected, and the US-style ZIP line never is.

More on applying in Australia, with every CV example for it, on the Australia page.

Templates for the retail store manager CV

All templates

Every template exports on A4. The previews are drawn on Letter; the editor sets the page size when you export.

How the CV changes with experience

The same retail store manager CV, written at three levels: a profile and three bullets for each.

Entry level

Zero to two years, or a first post in the title

Senior team member and keyholder with four years in a national supermarket chain, ready for a department manager or assistant store manager role. Trusted to open and close the store, run the night fill and train casuals.

  • Open and close the store as keyholder, including the safe count and the morning banking.
  • Trained nine new casuals on the registers and the fresh-produce rotation standard.
  • Ran the night-fill team of six on weekends and kept the shelves full for Saturday trade.

Mid level

Three to seven years, owns a process or a workload

Assistant Store Manager with four years running operations and a team of thirty in a high-volume discount department store in western Sydney.

  • Manage receiving, stocktake and the cash office for an A$18 million store.
  • Supervise up to thirty team members a shift and write the weekly roster within the wage budget.
  • Improved on-shelf availability through a new replenishment routine before the morning open.

Senior

Eight years or more, leads people, budgets or programmes

Area Manager with fourteen years in retail leading twelve store managers across south-east Queensland, accountable for A$95 million in annual sales and the people who deliver them.

  • Lead twelve stores with combined sales of A$95 million and 380 team members.
  • Built a store manager development program that filled most vacancies from within the area.
  • Delivered sales above budget in four of the last five financial years.

Skills to put on the retail store manager CV

Hard skills

Sales against budget
Every Australian retailer sets a store budget and ranks its stores against it, so lead with where you finished and what you changed.
Rostering and wage cost
Wages are the biggest cost you control, and a roster that meets the award while matching trade is what an area manager checks first.
Shrinkage and stocktake
The stocktake result is a hard number on your record, and a falling shrinkage figure is one of the clearest results a store manager can show.
Fair Work and award compliance
Underpayment cases have made compliance a hiring question, and knowing the General Retail Industry Award tells a retailer you will not expose them.
Visual merchandising
Planograms and seasonal floor changes are audited by the area manager, and a store that trades well on a reset is noticed.
Recruitment and induction
Christmas casuals and turnover mean a store manager hires constantly, and a smooth induction protects service and compliance.

Soft skills

Coaching on the floor
A manager who develops team members into department managers builds a store that trades well on their day off.
Calm decisions on a busy day
Boxing Day and a late truck both test a store manager, and interviewers ask how you kept the floor moving.
Customer focus
Net promoter score is reported weekly in most chains, and the manager sets the standard at the door and the register.

Mistakes that cost retail store manager interviews

  1. No store size or turnover

    Annual turnover, floor area, team size and format tell an area manager your level before the bullets do. Open each role with them.

  2. Results with no budget to compare

    Sales grew says little. Sales against budget, rank in the state and the trend at stocktake are what a retailer reads, so give the comparison every time.

  3. Leaving out the roster and the award

    A manager who never mentions rostering or the award leaves the reader to guess whether wages were controlled and paid correctly. One bullet on the roster answers both questions.

  4. American retail vocabulary

    Associates, payroll percentage, district manager and a one-page layout on Letter paper all tell a recruiter the CV came from a US template. Use the words in the advert and set the page to A4.

  5. No people results

    Team members promoted, casuals retained after Christmas and turnover below the area's are management results. Put at least one beside the sales numbers.

Questions about the retail store manager CV

What should a Store Manager CV include in Australia?

Store turnover, floor area and team size, sales against budget, wage cost, shrinkage at stocktake, net promoter score, roster and award compliance, and the team members you have developed, with two referees at the end.

How long should a retail manager CV be?

Two pages for most store managers and up to three for an area manager with a long record. Keep the current store on the first page with its numbers.

Should I list referees on a retail CV?

Yes, or write that they are available on request if you have not told your current area manager you are looking. Retailers in Australia call referees before an offer, so name people who can speak to your numbers.

How do I move from 2IC to Store Manager?

Show the parts of the store you already own: the roster, stocktake, receiving, a department's sales. Write them as results, and mention every period you ran the store while the manager was on leave.

Do I need a qualification to be a store manager?

No. A Certificate IV or a Diploma of Leadership and Management helps with some chains and with the public sector retailers, but a record of sales, wage cost and shrinkage results carries more weight than any course.

How do I tailor my CV to a different retail format?

Lead with the measures that format reports on: fresh standards and compliance for a supermarket, conversion and average sale for a specialty chain, visual standards for a department store. Paste the Seek advert into Resume Master and it rewrites the CV against it in about two minutes.

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