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.
- Median pay
- $48,520
- Doing it now
- 1,419,800
- By 2035
- Down 3.7%
- Usually needs
- High school diploma or equivalent
a year
across the country
113,500 openings a year
to get in
What the work involves
- Provide customer service by greeting and assisting customers and responding to customer inquiries and complaints.
- Monitor sales activities to ensure that customers receive satisfactory service and quality goods.
- Assign employees to specific duties.
- Direct and supervise employees engaged in sales, inventory-taking, reconciling cash receipts, or in performing services for customers.
- Inventory stock and reorder when inventory drops to a specified level.
- Keep records of purchases, sales, and requisitions.
- Enforce safety, health, and security rules.
What to study
The fields of study the Department of Education links to this occupation, most widely taught first.
- Specialized Sales, Merchandising and Marketing OperationsSee 93 colleges that teach it
- General Sales, Merchandising and Related Marketing OperationsSee 88 colleges that teach it
- Business Administration, Management and OperationsSee 1,587 colleges that teach it
- Applied Horticulture and Horticultural Business ServicesSee 42 colleges that teach it
Who it suits
O*NET scores every occupation on six interest dimensions. This one leans hardest on these three.
Leading and persuading
Organised and precise
Helping and teaching
Careers like this one
- General and Operations Managers$105,770
- First-Line Supervisors of Office and Administrative Support Workers$69,500
- First-Line Supervisors of Non-Retail Sales Workers$87,520
- Entertainment and Recreation Managers, Except Gambling$79,520
- Sales Representatives, Wholesale and Manufacturing, Except Technical and Scientific Products$72,080
- Sales Managers$148,270
Where this comes from: the description and the task list are O*NET, which the Department of Labor maintains. Pay, workforce size, outlook and the education normally needed are the Bureau of Labor Statistics Employment Projections programme, 2025 wages and 2025 to 2035 projections. Half of them earn more than $48,520 a year, which means half earn less, and what you would earn depends on where you work and how long you have been doing it. The fields of study come from the National Center for Education Statistics crosswalk.