Cashier skills guide for retail hiring managers

Fifty-two million Americans are employed in the retail industry. Six in ten Americans have worked retail at one point in their lives. But despite the fact it’s one of the largest job markets in the U.S., lately it seems it’s not big enough.

Why is retail hiring so hard?

For starters, retail is traditionally a high employee turnover industry. And since the pandemic, it’s only escalated. Now, turnover for hourly in-store positions sits at a whopping 75.8%.

This revolving door of employees has talent teams working overtime just to sift through applications, trying to replace the people who leave.

To add to this hiring conundrum, the economics of retail have changed. Cashiers make an average of just $13.81 an hour, which is not competitive in today’s job market. Yet with other operating costs rising as well, it’s a challenge for employers to pay enough to attract the best talent.

Thankfully, change is on the horizon. We’re seeing retail managers revamping their hiring policies and work environment so the people they hire want to come, and want to stay.

Specifically, hiring managers are finding better, faster ways to judge job fit so their top-choice candidates are more likely to stay long-term. Relying on resume qualifications is no longer the go-to method, especially since 30% of candidates admit to not being entirely honest on their resumes. Instead, the most successful retail managers are assessing skills to land the best talent.

In this guide, we’re going to focus on some of the most undervalued workers in the retail industry: cashiers. And more specifically, we’ll dive into cashier skills every hiring manager needs to consider and how to assess these skills successfully.

Skills and qualifications for cashiers in the retail industry

The role of the cashier is so much more than the processing of payments. They’re also required to handle money transactions correctly, make sure customers are happy, and prevent fraud.

To be successful, the best cashier will possess the right balance of hard and soft skills. Hard skills are more tangible, like working a cash register while soft skills are qualities or characteristics, like a good work ethic. Both are critical.

When hiring for skills is a primary focus, retail managers are much more likely to find employees who enjoy the job and want to stick around. But where do they begin?

Cashier Technical Skills

Let’s start with the hard skills. These skills are generally more quantifiable and can easily be measured. For example, the candidate either knows how to use a cash register or doesn’t know how to. For cashiers, hard skills are necessary but can be trained.

Here are some common hard skills to look for in cashier candidates:

Cashier Soft Skills

While hard skills can be trained, there’s another set of skills that are not as easily taught — soft skills. These skills are personal attributes, like punctuality and communication skills, and are absolutely essential for success.

In fact, in the 2019 Global Talent Trends report, 89% of recruiters say that employees typically don’t work out due to the lack of soft skills needed for the job. Knowing this, it’s important for retail managers to understand which skills boost job productivity and retention.

Training and developing skills

What if a cashier candidate displays the soft skills you need, but the hard skills are lacking? There’s an easy solution: train them.

And a well-developed training and development program goes a long way. Not only does it help the new employee develop the right skills, it also gives current employees the opportunity to climb the ladder.

LinkedIn’s WorkPlace Learning Report shows that companies are twice as likely to retain employees when they offer training and development programs. And Gallup reports that 48% of American workers would change jobs if it offered opportunities to develop skills.

In other words, a training and development program gives employees room to grow and progress so they are less likely to leave.

Here are just some of the benefits retail managers can reap from a training and development program:

Automated screening and assessments

What if you could invite top retail candidates to complete an assessment within minutes of applying? That’s exactly what recruitment teams can do with Hirevue’s automated assessment software. Using online skills assessments and tests, talent teams can quickly evaluate who’s a good fit for the role. Then, invite the best candidates to interview.

Structured interviews

Hirevue’s comprehensive hiring solution also offers a structured interview tool, which gives talent teams validated behavior-based questions, tied to competencies. Built directly into the interview experience, these structured interviews arm talent teams with the questions they need to interview and assess candidates properly.