4 Grocery Store Resume Examples + Skills & Tips

Grocery store employees stock shelves, advise shoppers, and ensure the overall client experience is positive. Regardless of your position, the goal of writing a grocery store resume is to show you’re capable of providing professional customer service and that you can be trusted with handling cash and physical goods. 

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Grocery Store Clerk Resume Example

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Entry-Level / No Experience Grocery Store Resume Example

Entry-level or no-experience grocery store jobs require minimal to no prior work experience in a grocery store setting. These roles typically involve tasks such as stocking shelves, bagging groceries, assisting customers, and maintaining store cleanliness. They introduce the grocery retail industry and offer opportunities to learn basic job skills and gain work experience.

Here’s a sample resume for entry-level grocery store jobs:

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Mid-Level Grocery Store Resume Example

Mid-level grocery store jobs typically require some prior experience in the grocery or retail industry. Occupants of these roles often have responsibilities such as managing store sections, overseeing junior staff, handling customer service issues, and assisting with inventory management. Examples of mid-level jobs include department supervisors, assistant managers, and senior cashiers.

Here’s a sample resume for mid-level grocery store jobs:

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Experienced / Senior Grocery Store Resume Example

Experienced or senior grocery store jobs are high-level positions that require extensive experience in the grocery or retail industry. These roles involve significant responsibility, such as managing entire store operations, leading large teams, and making strategic decisions. Examples include store managers, department managers, and regional managers.

Here’s a sample resume for senior grocery store jobs:

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Resume Templates for Grocery Store Workers

We analyzed 11 million resumes made with our builder and found that these 3 templates are the most commonly chosen for grocery store jobs.

Concept

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With a white background and black text, this clean resume template combines simplicity with elegance, ideal for retail professionals. It combines the best elements of infographics and traditional layouts, perfect for those who prefer a reverse-chronological format. The slim sidebar on the left is an excellent timeline for showcasing your retail career progression and achievements.

Cascade

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Introducing Cascade by Zety—A standout, super-modern resume template built with our resume builder, perfect for retail professionals. Highlight your skills and language proficiency with sleek bar graphs, and utilize the sidebar to keep personal details neatly organized. Subtle color shading and distinct black-and-white text enhance readability, ensuring your customer service expertise and sales achievements shine through.

Diamond

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Zety’s Diamond eye-catching resume template is a marvel for retail professionals, emphasizing data presentation while incorporating elegant infographics in the skills section. The timeline along the left-hand side seamlessly connects your retail education and work experiences, making it easy to follow your professional growth.

How to Write a Grocery Store Resume:

1. Choose the Best Format for Your Grocery Store Resume

To get a grocery store job, your resume must look and feel sweeter than a beautiful, ripe apple. Hiring managers may not be fruit pickers, but they for sure are picky. Fail to satisfy them and your resume lands in the waste produce basket.

Follow these resume formatting guidelines for a layout that’s one big green flag:

• Stick to the reverse-chronological resume format—recruiters prefer it, ATS resume software prefers it, and you should prefer it, too, since it’s the best choice for showing off your biggest achievements.
• Use white space and headings to make your resume easy to read.
• Set 1–1.15 line spacing. 
• Choose a professional resume font for an even better impression.
• Set even margins around your resume, ideally 1 inch. 
• Don’t exceed the recommended resume length of one page. Two-page resumes are only an option for candidates with extensive experience applying for managerial positions.

Make sure you include these resume parts:

• Header: Your name along with contact information.
• Summary: Highlight your most impressive retail achievements in a concise summary.
• Experience: Showcase your top retail accomplishments and roles.
• Education: List relevant education and any pertinent achievements.
• Skills: Include the skills mentioned in the job advertisement.
• Additional Sections: Add any certifications, such as customer service training or notable side projects.

Read more: Best Resume Designs in 2024

2. Prepare a Grocery Job Description Section

Grocery store employees are at some of the highest risk of job loss due to the ever-progressing automation. It’s up to you to prove you’re an irreplaceable team member for years to come, and the work history section of your resume is your best bet at this stage.

Here’s how to describe your work experience on your resume for maximum impact: 

• Put your most recent or current job first, and add the past ones subsequently.
• Make sure each entry includes the job title, the company’s name and location, and dates worked. 
• Write up to 6 resume bullet points to describe your tasks and, most of all, achievements. Recruiters are much more interested in your performance than in your responsibilities. 
• Tailor the resume to the job ad, making sure that your bullets show the skills and experience listed in the job posting. Copy-pasting a generic resume and sending it to 20 places hurts your chances greatly.
• Use numbers and resume action words—it really goes a long way. The former showcases exactly the impact your work had, while the latter adds impact to your content and keeps the reader engaged.

Here are some examples of responsibilities for a grocery store resume:

Grocery Store Keywords for a Resume

• Stocking Shelves: Ensure shelves are fully stocked with products and items are organized and displayed properly.
• Customer Assistance: Help customers locate products, answer questions, and provide recommendations.
• Cashiering: Operate the cash register, process transactions, and handle payments accurately.
• Inventory Management: Monitor inventory levels, perform regular counts, and notify management of low-stock items.
• Maintaining Cleanliness: Keep aisles, shelves, and checkout areas clean and tidy.
• Receiving Shipments: Unload and inspect deliveries, verify contents against purchase orders, and store products appropriately.
• Product Rotation: Rotate stock to ensure older items are sold first, and remove expired or damaged products.
• Price Tagging: Ensure all products are correctly priced and labeled.
• Assisting with Promotions: Set up promotional displays and signage to attract customer attention.
• Handling Returns: Process customer returns and exchanges, and handle any related paperwork.

Remember to use action verbs that convey your responsibilities and achievements effectively. Here are some action verbs for grocery store resumes:

Grocery Store Resume Action Verbs

• Stocked
• Assisted
• Operated
• Managed
• Maintained
• Received
• Labeled
• Set up
• Processed
• Monitored
• Organized

Read more: Cashier Job Description for a Resume: Examples & Guide

3. Mention Your Educational Background on a Grocery Store Resume

Lots of people ignore their education when composing their resume. And basically, that’s like passing by the freshest produce just to dig into the past-due stuff. The resume education section won’t get you hired all on its own, that much should be clear. But don’t underestimate it—it could easily turn out to be the ace up your sleeve.

For seasoned grocery store veterans, all you need to mention is:

• your highest obtained degree (be it from college or high school)
• school's name
• when you graduated

If you lack experience, I suggest you opt for more detail to show off your skills differently and fill in the gaps. Extracurricular activities can show interpersonal, teamwork, communication, and leadership skills (depending on the activity in question), while a high GPA on a resume proves you’re a quick learner.

Read more: How to Put Your College Degree on a Resume: Examples

4. Include a Tailored Skills Section on Your Grocery Store Resume

The skills you claim to possess need to look like a pallet jack full of the right product. All loaded up, in one place, ready to pick up and put in the proper space.

However, if you overload it, it’s just going to break under its own weight. A bloated skills section on a resume is often unrealistic, and employers know.

Here’s what to do instead:

• Create a list of all of your skills. Don’t filter it just yet: just write down every skill of yours that you can think of. 
• Look at the requirements presented in the job ad. There, you’ll find mentions of the skills the employer seeks. 
• The matching pairs that you find between the posting and your own list are the best skill keywords for your resume (which you need to beat the company’s Applicant Tracking System). Pick up to 10, and you’re done! 

Here’s a list of skills to get you started: 

Grocery Store Resume Skills

• Customer Service Skills
• Interpersonal Skills
• Food Safety Procedures
• Packing & Unpacking
• Stocking
• Unloading Deliveries
• Organizational Skills
• Inventory Management Skills
• Responsibility
• Perseverance
• Problem-Solving
• Teamwork Skills
• Store Floor Sanitization
• Math Skills
• Physical Fitness
• Pallet Jack Operation

Read more: List of Best Cashier Skills to Put on a Resume

5. Add Extra Sections to Your Grocery Store Resume

A store that never does extra deals or discounts gets written off as a boring establishment that doesn’t cater to customer needs. Hey, it may not be fair, but it’s just the way the world can be sometimes.

Likewise, unless you try to spice up your resume, it won’t get far. Give it an extra kick with some additional elements, such as:

• Certifications and licenses resume section
• Volunteering resume section
• Language skills
• Hobbies and interests resume section

None of these sections are mandatory, but they can help you stand out from the crowd. Just make sure that everything you include is relevant to the job.

Read more: What to Put on a Resume: Full Guide with Examples

6. Write a Grocery Store Resume Objective or Summary

You know how each store has a distinct color scheme, branding, logo, and all that jazz? It lets you know where you are and what you can expect upon walking inside.

Resumes share that function too, and it comes in the form of a resume profile. Essentially, it’s an introductory statement used to capture the manager’s attention. Write an eye-catching resume summary if you have 2+ years of relevant experience. If you’re writing a grocery store resume with no experience or you’re changing careers, opt for a resume objective instead.

Here’s how to write a grocery store resume profile:

1. Start with an adjective like proven or efficient.
2. Add your title (grocery store clerk, store manager).
3. List years of experience (1, 1+, 5).
4. Cite your goal (contribute to the efficient operations).
5. Share your biggest school or work accomplishment.
6. Proofread to eliminate all errors.

Read more: Best Examples of Resume Opening Statements

7. Include a Cover Letter with Your Grocery Store Resume

Not writing a cover letter saves you time, for sure. It also wastes the opportunity of you getting hired. You need a cover letter. Not every recruiter reads cover letters, but some won’t even consider your job application without one. Is it worth taking the risk?

It really isn’t, assuming you genuinely want the job. So, let’s get to it. Here’s how to write a cover letter for grocery store jobs:

• Format your cover letter properly first.
• Then, get your reader hooked in an engaging cover letter opening. 
• Elaborate on what makes that store in particular the one for you and how you are the one for them. Also, use the body of your cover letter to shine the light on more of your (preferably numbered) achievements.
• End your cover letter with a call to action and a post-script. Both of these tend to stick in recruiters’ memories for far longer.

Wasn’t so bad, right? Keep an eye on your cover letter length: 3–4 paragraphs will be enough. 

Plus, a great cover letter that matches your resume will give you an advantage over other candidates. You can write it in our cover letter builder here. Here's what it may look like:

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See more cover letter templates and start writing.

Looking for similar positions (and their respective guides)? We’ve got you covered:

• Cashier Resume Examples
• Sales Associate Resume Examples
• Retail Resume Examples
• Customer Service Resume Examples
• Retail Manager Resume Examples
• Store Manager Resume Examples
• Retail Sales Associate Resume Examples
• Sales Resume Examples
• Salesforce Resume Examples
• Best Resume Examples for Every Industry

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This article has been reviewed by our editorial team to make sure it follows Zety's editorial guidelines. We’re committed to sharing our expertise and giving you trustworthy career advice tailored to your needs. High-quality content is what brings over 40 million readers to our site every year. But we don't stop there. Our team conducts original research to understand the job market better, and we pride ourselves on being quoted by top universities and prime media outlets from around the world.

Sources

• https://www.ift.org/news-and-publications/food-technology-magazine/issues/2020/june/columns/robotic-automation-is-transforming-grocery-retail
• https://ecs.osu.edu/news/2021/01/avoid-resume-black-hole-understanding-ats