Sales associates really capitalize on the whole shopping experience, from finding the exact product you're looking for, to helping you check out, sales associates are there for you.
A lot of sales associates work in clean, well-lit stores, so you don't have to worry about getting dirty at work. They also work unique hours, including on the weekends and some nights. So if you like to sleep in then maybe you should consider becoming a sales associate.
Most sales associates don't have to worry about formal education requirements because there are none. Instead, you'll receive on-the-job training and you'll learn as you go.
How to Become a Sales Associate
There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a sales associate. For example, did you know that they make an average of $14.4 an hour? That's $29,949 a year!
Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow -2% and produce -105,200 job opportunities across the U.S.
What Does a Sales Associate Do
There are certain skills that many sales associates have in order to accomplish their responsibilities. By taking a look through resumes, we were able to narrow down the most common skills for a person in this position. We discovered that a lot of resumes listed interpersonal skills, math skills and selling skills.
How To Become a Sales Associate
If you're interested in becoming a sales associate, one of the first things to consider is how much education you need. We've determined that 38.1% of sales associates have a bachelor's degree. In terms of higher education levels, we found that 2.3% of sales associates have master's degrees. Even though some sales associates have a college degree, it's possible to become one with only a high school degree or GED.
Choosing the right major is always an important step when researching how to become a sales associate. When we researched the most common majors for a sales associate, we found that they most commonly earn bachelor's degree degrees or high school diploma degrees. Other degrees that we often see on sales associate resumes include associate degree degrees or diploma degrees.
You may find that experience in other jobs will help you become a sales associate. In fact, many sales associate jobs require experience in a role such as cashier. Meanwhile, many sales associates also have previous career experience in roles such as customer service representative or internship.
Sales Associate Career Paths
In addition to switching up your job search, it might prove helpful to look at a career path for your specific job. Now, what's a career path you ask? Well, it's practically a map that shows how you might advance from one job title to another. Our career paths are especially detailed with salary changes. So, for example, if you started out with the role of account executive you might progress to a role such as sales manager eventually. Later on in your career, you could end up with the title general manager.
Sales Associate
General Manager
6 Years
District Manager
7 Years
Operations Manager
7 Years
Regional Sales Manager
9 Years
Branch Manager
6 Years
Area Manager
7 Years
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Average Salary for a Sales Associate
Sales Associates in America make an average salary of $29,949 per year or $14 per hour. The top 10 percent makes over $43,000 per year, while the bottom 10 percent under $20,000 per year.
Average Sales Associate Salary
$29,949 Yearly$14.40 hourly
$20,000
10 %
$29,000
Median
$43,000
90 %
What Am I Worth?
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Top Skills For a Sales Associate
The skills section on your resume can be almost as important as the experience section, so you want it to be an accurate portrayal of what you can do. Luckily, we've found all of the skills you'll need so even if you don't have these skills yet, you know what you need to work on. Out of all the resumes we looked through, 18.5% of sales associates listed customer service on their resume, but soft skills such as interpersonal skills and math skills are important as well.
Choose From 10+ Customizable Sales Associate Resume templates
Zippia allows you to choose from different easy-to-use Sales Associate templates, and provides you with expert advice. Using the templates, you can rest assured that the structure and format of your Sales Associate resume is top notch. Choose a template with the colors, fonts & text sizes that are appropriate for your industry.
Sales Associate Demographics
Sales Associate Gender Distribution
Female
62%
Male
38%
After extensive research and analysis, Zippia's data science team found that:
- Among sales associates, 61.6% of them are women, while 38.4% are men.
- The most common race/ethnicity among sales associates is White, which makes up 59.4% of all sales associates.
- The most common foreign language among sales associates is Spanish at 66.5%.
Online Courses For Sales Associate That You May Like
Advertising Disclosure The courses listed below are affiliate links. This means if you click on the link and purchase the course, we may receive a commission.
Sales Training: Practical Sales Techniques
Sales Hacking: Essential sales skills, sales strategies and sales techniques to sell just about anything!...
Pre-sales Skills: Prospecting, Lead Generation, Qualifying
Lead Generation and pre-sales skills: Learn lead generation, introducing yourself & qualifying your lead in 3 hours...
PHP for Beginners to Inventory POS Sales Project - AdminLTE
Create Inventory POS System Project With Billing by use of Bootstrap Responsive AdminLTE Dashboard With PHP PHP7 MYSQL...
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Best States For a Sales Associate
Some places are better than others when it comes to starting a career as a sales associate. The best states for people in this position are New York, Rhode Island, Nebraska, and California. Sales associates make the most in New York with an average salary of $37,146. Whereas in Rhode Island and Nebraska, they would average $34,046 and $33,842, respectively. While sales associates would only make an average of $33,695 in California, you would still make more there than in the rest of the country. We determined these as the best states based on job availability and pay. By finding the median salary, cost of living, and using the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Location Quotient, we narrowed down our list of states to these four.
1. New York
Total Sales Associate Jobs:
8,769
Highest 10% Earn:
$53,000
Location Quotient:
1.13 Location Quotient is a measure used by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) to determine how concentrated a certain industry is in a single state compared to the nation as a whole. You can read more about how BLS calculates location quotients here
$37,146
Avg. Salary
2. Michigan
Total Sales Associate Jobs:
5,541
Highest 10% Earn:
$43,000
Location Quotient:
1.18 Location Quotient is a measure used by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) to determine how concentrated a certain industry is in a single state compared to the nation as a whole. You can read more about how BLS calculates location quotients here
$29,853
Avg. Salary
3. Rhode Island
Total Sales Associate Jobs:
659
Highest 10% Earn:
$47,000
Location Quotient:
0.89 Location Quotient is a measure used by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) to determine how concentrated a certain industry is in a single state compared to the nation as a whole. You can read more about how BLS calculates location quotients here
$34,046
Avg. Salary
How Do Sales Associate Rate Their Jobs?
Top Sales Associate Employers
Most Common Employers For Sales Associate
| Rank | Company | Average Salary | Hourly Rate | Job Openings |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | T-Mobile | $37,684 | $18.12 | 9,503 |
| 2 | Gap Inc. | $32,608 | $15.68 | 13,079 |
| 3 | Victoria's Secret | $29,949 | $14.40 | 18,620 |
| 4 | Bath & Body Works | $29,949 | $14.40 | 17,226 |
| 5 | Ross Stores | $29,371 | $14.12 | 10,884 |
| 6 | Aeropostale | $29,263 | $14.07 | 9,995 |
| 7 | Macy's | $29,225 | $14.05 | 61,448 |
| 8 | Dillard's | $29,196 | $14.04 | 15,632 |
| 9 | Best Buy | $29,106 | $13.99 | 13,191 |
| 10 | The Home Depot | $29,021 | $13.95 | 24,385 |
Sales Associate Videos
Life Of A Macy's Associate
Foot Locker Sales Associate Job
Becoming a Sales Associate FAQs
How long does it take to become a Sales Associate?
It takes 2 years of professional experience to become a sales associate. That is the time it takes to learn specific sales associate skills, but does not account for time spent in formal education.
Do sales associates get paid well?
No, sales associates do not get paid well. The average hourly pay for a sales associate is $11.19. In fact, over 28% of sales associates in the United States think their salaries are enough for the cost of living in their area.
Is a sales associate a cashier?
No, a sales associate is not a cashier. A sales associate deals more with maintaining products and initializing the sale of an item. Cashiers focus more on finalizing these sales and handling money.
Have more questions? See all answers to common sales questions.
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