First-Line Supervisors of Retail Sales Workers

Directly supervise and coordinate activities of retail sales workers in an establishment or department. Duties may include management functions, such as purchasing, budgeting, accounting, and personnel work, in addition to supervisory duties.

On the job, you would:

Assign employees to specific duties.
Keep records of purchases, sales, and requisitions.
Provide customer service by greeting and assisting customers and responding to customer inquiries and complaints.

Personality

A3	Your Strengths	Importance	Characteristics of this Career
		97%	Integrity - Job requires being honest and ethical.
		96%	Stress Tolerance - Job requires accepting criticism and dealing calmly and effectively with high-stress situations.
		94%	Leadership - Job requires a willingness to lead, take charge, and offer opinions and direction.
		94%	Cooperation - Job requires being pleasant with others on the job and displaying a good-natured, cooperative attitude.
		93%	Dependability - Job requires being reliable, responsible, and dependable, and fulfilling obligations.
		92%	Self-Control - Job requires maintaining composure, keeping emotions in check, controlling anger, and avoiding aggressive behavior, even in very difficult situations.
		92%	Adaptability/Flexibility - Job requires being open to change (positive or negative) and to considerable variety in the workplace.
		88%	Attention to Detail - Job requires being careful about detail and thorough in completing work tasks.
		85%	Concern for Others - Job requires being sensitive to others' needs and feelings and being understanding and helpful on the job.
		82%	Social Orientation - Job requires preferring to work with others rather than alone, and being personally connected with others on the job.
		81%	Independence - Job requires developing one's own ways of doing things, guiding oneself with little or no supervision, and depending on oneself to get things done.
		78%	Initiative - Job requires a willingness to take on responsibilities and challenges.
		77%	Innovation - Job requires creativity and alternative thinking to develop new ideas for and answers to work-related problems.
		77%	Analytical Thinking - Job requires analyzing information and using logic to address work-related issues and problems.
		75%	Persistence - Job requires persistence in the face of obstacles.
		72%	Achievement/Effort - Job requires establishing and maintaining personally challenging achievement goals and exerting effort toward mastering tasks.

A3	Your Strengths	Importance	Strengths
		100%	Enterprising - Work involves managing, negotiating, marketing, or selling, typically in a business setting, or leading or advising people in political and legal situations. Enterprising occupations are often associated with business initiatives, sales, marketing/advertising, finance, management/administration, professional advising, public speaking, politics, or law.
		72%	Conventional - Work involves following procedures and regulations to organize information or data, typically in a business setting. Conventional occupations are often associated with office work, accounting, mathematics/statistics, information technology, finance, or human resources.
		56%	Social - Work involves helping, teaching, advising, assisting, or providing service to others. Social occupations are often associated with social, health care, personal service, teaching/education, or religious activities.

A3	Your Strengths	Importance	Values of the Work Environment
		61%	Independence - Occupations that satisfy this work value allow employees to work on their own and make decisions. Corresponding needs are Creativity, Responsibility and Autonomy.
		56%	Relationships - Occupations that satisfy this work value allow employees to provide service to others and work with co-workers in a friendly non-competitive environment. Corresponding needs are Co-workers, Moral Values and Social Service.

Aptitude

A3	Your Strengths	Importance	Abilities \| Cognitive, Physical, Personality
		72%	Oral Comprehension - The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
		72%	Oral Expression - The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.
		72%	Speech Clarity - The ability to speak clearly so others can understand you.
		69%	Speech Recognition - The ability to identify and understand the speech of another person.
		56%	Problem Sensitivity - The ability to tell when something is wrong or is likely to go wrong. It does not involve solving the problem, only recognizing that there is a problem.
		53%	Deductive Reasoning - The ability to apply general rules to specific problems to produce answers that make sense.
		53%	Information Ordering - The ability to arrange things or actions in a certain order or pattern according to a specific rule or set of rules (e.g., patterns of numbers, letters, words, pictures, mathematical operations).
		53%	Near Vision - The ability to see details at close range (within a few feet of the observer).

A3	Your Strengths	Importance	Skills \| Cognitive, Physical, Personality
		55%	Critical Thinking - Using logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions, or approaches to problems.
		55%	Monitoring - Monitoring/Assessing performance of yourself, other individuals, or organizations to make improvements or take corrective action.
		55%	Speaking - Talking to others to convey information effectively.
		55%	Reading Comprehension - Understanding written sentences and paragraphs in work-related documents.
		54%	Social Perceptiveness - Being aware of others' reactions and understanding why they react as they do.
		54%	Service Orientation - Actively looking for ways to help people.
		52%	Instructing - Teaching others how to do something.
		52%	Time Management - Managing one's own time and the time of others.
		52%	Management of Personnel Resources - Motivating, developing, and directing people as they work, identifying the best people for the job.
		52%	Active Listening - Giving full attention to what other people are saying, taking time to understand the points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times.
		52%	Writing - Communicating effectively in writing as appropriate for the needs of the audience.
		52%	Coordination - Adjusting actions in relation to others' actions.
		52%	Persuasion - Persuading others to change their minds or behavior.
		52%	Negotiation - Bringing others together and trying to reconcile differences.

Job Details

Responsibilities

Greet customers, patrons, or visitors.

Answer customer questions about goods or services.

Monitor sales activities.

Assign duties or work schedules to employees.

Supervise sales or support personnel.

Purchase stocks of merchandise or supplies.

Monitor inventories of products or materials.

Maintain records of sales or other business transactions.

Monitor work areas to provide security.

Examine condition of property or products.

Train sales personnel.

Supervise sales or support personnel.

Clean work areas.

Set up merchandise displays.

Sell products or services.

Establish operational policies.

Train sales personnel.

Establish operational policies.

Monitor market conditions or trends.

Examine condition of property or products.

Assign duties or work schedules to employees.

Prepare financial documents, reports, or budgets.

Monitor inventories of products or materials.

Develop marketing plans or strategies.

Set up merchandise displays.

Coordinate sales campaigns.

Develop marketing plans or strategies.

Establish operational policies.

Authorize financial actions.

Prepare operational budgets.

A3	Your Strengths	Importance	Attributes & Percentage of Time Spent
		99%	Face-to-Face Discussions - How often do you have to have face-to-face discussions with individuals or teams in this job?
		96%	Contact With Others - How much does this job require the worker to be in contact with others (face-to-face, by telephone, or otherwise) in order to perform it?
		94%	Work With Work Group or Team - How important is it to work with others in a group or team in this job?
		94%	Telephone - How often do you have telephone conversations in this job?
		92%	Indoors, Environmentally Controlled - How often does this job require working indoors in environmentally controlled conditions?
		89%	Deal With External Customers - How important is it to work with external customers or the public in this job?
		85%	Coordinate or Lead Others - How important is it to coordinate or lead others in accomplishing work activities in this job?
		83%	Freedom to Make Decisions - How much decision making freedom, without supervision, does the job offer?
		81%	Frequency of Decision Making - How frequently is the worker required to make decisions that affect other people, the financial resources, and/or the image and reputation of the organization?
		81%	Time Pressure - How often does this job require the worker to meet strict deadlines?
		79%	Structured versus Unstructured Work - To what extent is this job structured for the worker, rather than allowing the worker to determine tasks, priorities, and goals?
		77%	Electronic Mail - How often do you use electronic mail in this job?
		75%	Importance of Being Exact or Accurate - How important is being very exact or highly accurate in performing this job?
		74%	Impact of Decisions on Co-workers or Company Results - What results do your decisions usually have on other people or the image or reputation or financial resources of your employer?
		72%	Spend Time Standing - How much does this job require standing?
		70%	Responsible for Others' Health and Safety - How much responsibility is there for the health and safety of others in this job?
		68%	Responsibility for Outcomes and Results - How responsible is the worker for work outcomes and results of other workers?
		66%	Physical Proximity - To what extent does this job require the worker to perform job tasks in close physical proximity to other people?
		65%	Importance of Repeating Same Tasks - How important is repeating the same physical activities (e.g., key entry) or mental activities (e.g., checking entries in a ledger) over and over, without stopping, to performing this job?
		65%	Deal With Unpleasant or Angry People - How frequently does the worker have to deal with unpleasant, angry, or discourteous individuals as part of the job requirements?
		65%	Letters and Memos - How often does the job require written letters and memos?
		64%	Frequency of Conflict Situations - How often are there conflict situations the employee has to face in this job?
		62%	Spend Time Using Your Hands to Handle, Control, or Feel Objects, Tools, or Controls - How much does this job require using your hands to handle, control, or feel objects, tools or controls?
		53%	Spend Time Walking and Running - How much does this job require walking and running?
		56%	Duration of Typical Work Week - Number of hours typically worked in one week.

A3	Your Strengths	Importance	Tasks & Values
		77%	Training and Teaching Others - Identifying the educational needs of others, developing formal educational or training programs or classes, and teaching or instructing others.
		77%	Performing for or Working Directly with the Public - Performing for people or dealing directly with the public. This includes serving customers in restaurants and stores, and receiving clients or guests.
		73%	Making Decisions and Solving Problems - Analyzing information and evaluating results to choose the best solution and solve problems.
		72%	Coaching and Developing Others - Identifying the developmental needs of others and coaching, mentoring, or otherwise helping others to improve their knowledge or skills.
		72%	Resolving Conflicts and Negotiating with Others - Handling complaints, settling disputes, and resolving grievances and conflicts, or otherwise negotiating with others.
		71%	Communicating with Supervisors, Peers, or Subordinates - Providing information to supervisors, co-workers, and subordinates by telephone, in written form, e-mail, or in person.
		70%	Coordinating the Work and Activities of Others - Getting members of a group to work together to accomplish tasks.
		70%	Establishing and Maintaining Interpersonal Relationships - Developing constructive and cooperative working relationships with others, and maintaining them over time.
		70%	Getting Information - Observing, receiving, and otherwise obtaining information from all relevant sources.
		68%	Identifying Objects, Actions, and Events - Identifying information by categorizing, estimating, recognizing differences or similarities, and detecting changes in circumstances or events.
		67%	Communicating with People Outside the Organization - Communicating with people outside the organization, representing the organization to customers, the public, government, and other external sources. This information can be exchanged in person, in writing, or by telephone or e-mail.
		67%	Guiding, Directing, and Motivating Subordinates - Providing guidance and direction to subordinates, including setting performance standards and monitoring performance.
		65%	Developing and Building Teams - Encouraging and building mutual trust, respect, and cooperation among team members.
		64%	Organizing, Planning, and Prioritizing Work - Developing specific goals and plans to prioritize, organize, and accomplish your work.
		61%	Scheduling Work and Activities - Scheduling events, programs, and activities, as well as the work of others.
		59%	Monitoring Processes, Materials, or Surroundings - Monitoring and reviewing information from materials, events, or the environment, to detect or assess problems.
		57%	Selling or Influencing Others - Convincing others to buy merchandise/goods or to otherwise change their minds or actions.
		56%	Working with Computers - Using computers and computer systems (including hardware and software) to program, write software, set up functions, enter data, or process information.
		54%	Analyzing Data or Information - Identifying the underlying principles, reasons, or facts of information by breaking down information or data into separate parts.
		54%	Evaluating Information to Determine Compliance with Standards - Using relevant information and individual judgment to determine whether events or processes comply with laws, regulations, or standards.
		54%	Judging the Qualities of Objects, Services, or People - Assessing the value, importance, or quality of things or people.
		54%	Performing Administrative Activities - Performing day-to-day administrative tasks such as maintaining information files and processing paperwork.
		53%	Updating and Using Relevant Knowledge - Keeping up-to-date technically and applying new knowledge to your job.
		53%	Assisting and Caring for Others - Providing personal assistance, medical attention, emotional support, or other personal care to others such as coworkers, customers, or patients.
		52%	Staffing Organizational Units - Recruiting, interviewing, selecting, hiring, and promoting employees in an organization.

Getting Started

Education:

52%

High School Diploma - or the equivalent (for example, GED)

19%

Associate's Degree (or other 2-year degree)

First-Line Supervisors of Retail Sales Workers

What they do:

On the job, you would:

Personality

Characteristics of this Career

Strengths

Values of the Work Environment

Aptitude

Abilities | Cognitive, Physical, Personality

Skills | Cognitive, Physical, Personality

Job Details

Attributes & Percentage of Time Spent

Tasks & Values

Getting Started