Retail Store Manager Question:

Totally standard question, but you want to look for people who are comfortable working in an extremely fast paced environment and enjoy helping people. You should also look for people with standard computer skills. (I say this because, even though basic computer skills seem like basic motor skills these days, you wouldn’t believe how many coworkers I had who did not understand how to work any of our point of sale software for the duration of their employment.)

For most sales associate positions, I don’t think those you hire need to have any previous experience in retail. I also don’t think, depending on your brand, they even necessarily have to have any real experience. We all start somewhere, and if the person you hire has the right natural abilities, it doesn’t matter what they did beforehand; you were going to train them anyway. Sometimes it’s even a bonus to hire raw talent because you can mold them into the perfect employee for your brand.

Regardless, though, you need to be looking for people who can multitask, move and think quickly, and are willing to do as much as it takes to please a customer. These are three critical features to a good retail worker. You cannot hire someone who doesn’t have all three of these.