In short: below is a one-page resume for a retail job, written for a made-up person. Each section has notes on why it’s written that way, common mistakes and how to adjust it for a particular ad. The same layout is available as a Word template you can fill in.
The template is a Word file we made ourselves. It contains no personal data, just headings and placeholders in square brackets, like [Your name]. Three shaded notes in the file cover the parts people get wrong most often; delete them, and any section you don’t need, before you send it.
What should a resume for a shop job include?
The Queensland Government’s job-seeker guide lists what employers will be looking for: your contact details, career strengths, employment history, education and training achievements, and referees. It advises: “Aim for 1–3 pages, depending on how long you have been in the workforce”, and to “use headings and dot points to make your resume easy to read”.
Source: How to write a resume and cover letter, Queensland Government (page last updated 27 April 2022). Checked 13 October 2026.
The Australian Government’s Study Australia guide for international students suggests listing work experience “in chronological order (from most recent to oldest)”. If you haven’t had a paid job, it suggests including work experience, internships or volunteer work, academic projects or group assignments, and clubs or student unions. It also says to include your visa type, its expiry and any work restrictions, and that for part-time jobs “it can help to include your available days and hours”.
Source: The international student’s guide to writing a great resume, Study Australia, Australian Government (published 20 March 2024). Checked 13 October 2026.
For an entry-level retail job, one page is usually plenty. That’s our view, and it sits at the short end of the Queensland range. The template follows that order: contact details, a short summary, skills, experience, education, availability and referees.
The example resume
Fictional example. Alex Sample is not a real person. We wrote this resume to show the layout; the employers are generic descriptions and none of the experience below happened. Don’t copy the wording as your own. Use it to see how a section can look, then write about what you’ve actually done.
ALEX SAMPLE
[Suburb], [State] · 04XX XXX XXX · alex.sample@example.com
Summary
University student looking for a casual retail role. Comfortable handling payments and busy queues from two years of café work. Available weekends and three weekday evenings.
Skills
- Customer service: served customers at the counter during morning rush periods
- Cash and card payments: balanced the till at close of shift
- Stock: unpacked deliveries and rotated stock by use-by date
- Languages: English and Spanish
Work experience
Counter staff (casual), a local café, [Suburb] · Sep 2024 – present
- Take orders and payments at the counter, often with a queue out the door on Saturday mornings
- Restock the drinks fridge and display cabinet before opening
- Trained two new casual staff on the register
Volunteer, a community op shop, [Suburb] · Jun 2023 – Dec 2023
- Sorted, priced and hung donated clothing; kept the racks tidy by size
Education
Bachelor of Business (in progress), [University] · 2025 – present
Year 12, [School], 2024
Availability
Saturday and Sunday, any hours. Monday, Wednesday and Thursday from 4 pm.
Referees
Available on request.
Section by section: why it’s written this way
The notes below are our own advice unless they name a source.
Contact details
Why: name, suburb, mobile and email are all a store manager needs to call you in for a chat. The suburb tells them roughly how far you are from the store. A full street address isn’t needed at this stage.
Common mistakes: an old email address you no longer check, or one you’d be embarrassed to read aloud. A number with a typo. Adding your date of birth, a photo or your marital status, which says nothing about how well you’d do the job.
Adapt it: if the ad is for a particular store, check that your suburb makes the commute look realistic. If it doesn’t, say in your cover letter how you’ll get there.
Summary
Why: three lines that answer the manager’s first question, “why should I keep reading?” Study Australia suggests keeping this kind of opening to 2–3 sentences or 3–4 bullet points. Alex’s version says who they are, what they can already do and when they can work.
Common mistakes: stacking adjectives with nothing behind them (“passionate, motivated team player”). Writing about what you want from the job instead of what you’d bring. Going past four lines.
Adapt it: swap the middle sentence for the experience that best matches the ad. If the ad mentions stock or deliveries, lead with that rather than payments.
Skills
Why: each skill comes with a short piece of proof after the colon. A list of bare words like “communication” or “teamwork” is easy to write and easy to ignore. A second language is worth listing in a customer-facing job, as long as you can actually hold a conversation in it.
Common mistakes: ten skills when four strong ones would do. Listing software no shop will ask about. Claiming a skill you couldn’t talk about for a minute in an interview.
Adapt it: use the ad’s own words where they’re true for you. If it says “merchandising”, and you’ve arranged displays, say “merchandising” rather than “making shelves look nice”. Our retail assistant guide has a 10-minute exercise for finding these skills in school, sport, volunteering or family work.
Work experience
Why: most recent first, following the order in the Study Australia guide. Each line starts with a verb and includes one concrete detail: a busy Saturday, the drinks fridge, two new staff. Volunteering sits in the same section because it is real work, even though it’s unpaid.
Common mistakes: copying a duty list (“responsible for customer service”) instead of saying what you did. Leaving out unpaid work because it “doesn’t count”. Gaps in dates with no explanation; a short note such as “travelling” or “full-time study” is fine.
Adapt it: reorder the dot points under each job so the ones that match the ad come first. If you worked overseas, describe the job in plain words rather than relying on a title that may not mean much here.
Education
Why: it’s short because, for a casual retail job, education mostly shows what you’re doing with the rest of your week. Put current study first.
Common mistakes: listing every subject and mark. Leaving out short courses that are relevant. If you’ve done a retail course or a food-handling course, for example, include it.
Adapt it: if you studied overseas, give the name of the qualification and the country. You don’t need to explain the whole education system.
Availability
Why: rosters are built around who can work when. Study Australia notes that listing your available days and hours can help for part-time jobs, and in our view it’s one of the first things a store manager checks.
Common mistakes: writing “flexible” and then turning down the first shift offered. Promising hours you can’t keep once semester starts.
Adapt it: be specific and honest. If you hold a visa, Study Australia suggests stating its type, expiry and any work restrictions. Our tip: that’s enough on the resume. Keep passport and visa grant numbers off it until the employer asks through its formal hiring process.
Referees
Why: referees are on the Queensland Government’s list of things employers look for. Alex writes “Available on request”, which keeps two people’s phone numbers off a document that may be passed around. Listing names and contact details is also common. Either way, have the details ready to send the same day you’re asked.
Common mistakes: naming someone who hasn’t agreed to it, or who has never seen you work. Family members are a weak choice too.
Adapt it: if the ad or the application form asks for referees, give them. Pick people who have seen you work or volunteer, such as a supervisor, a coach or a teacher. Ask them first, and tell them which job you’ve applied for.
Tailor it to the ad in 10 minutes
- Minutes 0–3: read the ad and note every task and quality it mentions. Stocking shelves, serving customers, weekend work, whatever is there.
- Minutes 3–6: for each item you noted, find the line on your resume that proves it. Mark any item with no matching line.
- Minutes 6–9: move the matching lines to the top of their section. For each marked item, add a true line if you have one. If you don’t, leave it; you can talk about it in the interview.
- Minute 10: rewrite the middle sentence of your summary so it echoes the ad’s main task.
Our tip: save each version with the employer’s name in the file name, such as “Alex-Sample-resume-storename.docx”. When a manager calls you a week later, you’ll know exactly what you sent them.
Want to see how one employer describes the role before you tailor? Our guide to the ALDI Retail Assistant role is a worked example.
Final checks before you send it
- Every [placeholder] from the template is gone.
- My phone number and email are correct; I’ve tested the email by sending myself a message.
- Dates line up and the most recent job is first.
- Someone else has read it. Study Australia suggests asking a friend, family member or teacher.
- The fonts match all the way through, and it fits on one page, two at most.
- I’ve saved it in the format the application asks for (often .docx or PDF).
OzWorkly is independent and is not an employer or a recruiter. This page is general information, not career, legal or migration advice, and a resume built from it won’t guarantee an interview or a job. Facts are labelled with their official source and the date we checked them; everything else is our own advice. Read how we work in our editorial policy.