Transferable Skills Gained in Retail & Industries You Can Pivot Into
Working in retail can build skills that may be easy to overlook but can actually provide a foundation for pivoting into another industry.
Soft skills that can be developed through retail positions include customer service, empathy, patience, collaboration, interpersonal skills, problem-solving, and attention to detail.
In addition, industry knowledge, business knowledge, time management and the ability to understand and work with numbers are all proficiencies that can come in handy in other lines of work.
Here are careers and industries you may consider stepping into utilizing skills gained from your retail experience:
Administrative Positions (ex: administrative or executive assistants, office managers): These roles us customer service, collaboration, and interpersonal skills regularly.
Product Buyer: Industry and business knowledge are essential to helping a company conduct market research, negotiate prices and track and oversee inventory.
Computer Technician: Customer service and attention to detail skills gained from retail experiences “can be applied to this position since you’ll be tasked in providing technical support and troubleshooting services to end-users so that they're up-and-running again.”
Healthcare (ex: dental hygienists, registered nurses, and massage therapists): The healthcare industry needs individuals who are empathetic with strong interpersonal skills.
Insurance Agent: Interpersonal skills, communicating with customers, and attention to detail will be helpful to those interested in being an insurance agent.
Real Estate (ex: real estate agent or broker): This industry benefits from individuals with strong communication and problem-solving skills.
Sales (ex: health care insurance, sales engineer, software sales, book publishers and marketing companies): There are many hiring managers in the sales industry that consider candidates with retail sales experience and business or industry knowledge for entry-level positions.