What do they do?
Sell merchandise, such as furniture, motor vehicles, appliances, or apparel to consumers.
Also known as:
Car Salesman, Car Salesperson, Customer Assistant, Design Consultant, Retail Salesperson, Sales Associate, Sales Clerk, Sales Consultant, Sales Person, Sales Professional, Sales Representative, Sales Specialist, Salesman, Salesperson
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Ranks #51 in job growth rate16,560Job Openings
Ranks #14 in net job growth
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- High school diploma equivalent (30%)
- Some college, no degree (27%)
- Bachelor's degree (22%)
- Associate's degree (10%)
- Less than high school diploma (6%)
- Master's degree (4%)
- Doctorate or Professional Degree (1%)
Most Popular Majors that prepare Retail Salespersons
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#1
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Degrees Granted
96
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Female Students
89
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Male Students
7
-
Median Starting Salary
$39,500
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#2
-
Degrees Granted
78
-
Female Students
50
-
Male Students
28
-
Median Starting Salary
$39,500
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-
#3
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Degrees Granted
20
-
Female Students
13
-
Male Students
7
-
Median Starting Salary
$35,825
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#4
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Degrees Granted
17
-
Female Students
8
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Male Students
9
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Median Starting Salary
$41,200
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#5
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Degrees Granted
9
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Female Students
6
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Male Students
3
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Median Starting Salary
$39,100
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People in this career often have these skills:
- Persuasion - Persuading others to change their minds or behavior.
- 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.
- Speaking - Talking to others to convey information effectively.
- Service Orientation - Actively looking for ways to help people.
- Social Perceptiveness - Being aware of others' reactions and understanding why they react as they do.
- Negotiation - Bringing others together and trying to reconcile differences.
People in this career often know a lot about:
- Sales and Marketing - Knowledge of principles and methods for showing, promoting, and selling products or services. This includes marketing strategy and tactics, product demonstration, sales techniques, and sales control systems.
- Customer and Personal Service - Knowledge of principles and processes for providing customer and personal services. This includes customer needs assessment, meeting quality standards for services, and evaluation of customer satisfaction.
- English Language - Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition, and grammar.
People in this career often have talent in:
- Oral Expression - The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.
- Oral Comprehension - The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
- Speech Recognition - The ability to identify and understand the speech of another person.
- Speech Clarity - The ability to speak clearly so others can understand you.
People in this career often do these activities:
- Gather customer or product information to determine customer needs.
- Greet customers, patrons, or visitors.
- Recommend products or services to customers.
- Maintain records of sales or other business transactions.
- Calculate costs of goods or services.
- Process sales or other transactions.
- Set up merchandise displays.
- Answer customer questions about goods or services.
- Review laws or regulations to maintain professional knowledge.
- Reconcile records of sales or other financial transactions.
- Prepare sales or other contracts.
- Demonstrate products to consumers.
- Explain technical product or service information to customers.
- Advise customers on the use of products or services.
- Purchase stocks of merchandise or supplies.
- Monitor inventories of products or materials.
- Estimate costs or terms of sales.
- Package materials or products.
- Assist customers with product selection.
- Monitor work areas to provide security.
- Sell products or services.
- Arrange delivery of goods or services.
- Clean work areas.
- Arrange services or reservations for patrons.
This page includes data from:
Career data: O*NET 28.3 Database
by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (“USDOL/ETA”). Used under the CC BY 4.0 license. O*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA
Occupation statistics: USDOL U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment Statistics
Videos: CareerOneStop, USDOL/ETA and the Minnesota Department of Employment & Economic Development
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