RESUME QUESTIONNAIRE Mike Howard, Professional Resume Writer

IMPORTANT – READ THIS FIRST:

The purpose of this questionnaire is to uncover all the details I need to create the best resume I can. Remember, my job is to show your work history and other qualifications in the best light, not make it up. Therefore, answer as many questions as you can and type all your answers on this document. (Please don’t print it and handwrite your answers, or provide your answers on a separate document. Just type your answers here under each question.)

Here are some things to think about as you work through it:

Any information is better than no information. I provide sample answers for some questions but those are just examples – your answers don’t need to match those. Please provide any details you can, especially with regards to KPIs and other achievements. If you don’t provide any answer to KPI questions, I can only assume you didn’t meet your goals. Here’s an example of what I mean:

oBeat the sales goal every year. (Okay)

oBeat the sales goal every year by at least 5%. (Good)

oBeat the sales goal every year by 5-10% and consistently ranked in the top 5 in the company. (Better)

oBeat the sales goal by 6% in 20XX (2nd in the company), 4% in 20XX (4th in the company), and 8% in 20XX (1st in the company). (Best)

Does that make sense? So even if you don't have exact numbers, I'd still encourage you to tell me what you can. (Ex: if you know you beat the sales plan every year but don’t have exact numbers, just say that.)

Estimate if you can. Exact numbers are best if you have them and can share them but if you can’t remember or don’t have access to them, estimate if you feel comfortable. There’s nothing wrong with saying approximately, more than, less than, or providing a range, such as 5-10%. For example:

oIncreased sales each year by approximately 8%.

oSurpassed the sales target each year by at least 5%.

oHired approximately 15 new sales associates.

oPromoted more than 10 associates to leadership positions.

Include where you ranked whenever possible. Internal rankings are often more impressive than actual numbers. For example, 2% comp growth may impress some recruiters but not others, but ranking 1st in a district, region, or the entire country would impress everyone. So please include where you ranked when you started and how high you got in all relevant categories. (Always include how many you were ranked against – it provides context. After all, ranking 5th in the region doesn’t mean much if the reader doesn’t know how many others were in the region.)

Delete questions you can’t answer. If you can’t answer something because it’s confidential, irrelevant, or you don’t have the information, just delete it – I don’t expect you to answer everything and it’s better to delete questions you can’t answer than to write N/A or leave them blank. (To be clear: If you believe something is confidential, such as sales volumes, profit results, or anything else, please don’t answer those questions.)

Don’t use acronyms, abbreviations, or company-specific terminology. Different retailers use different jargon; it’s not the same everywhere and it’s important that I (and recruiters) understand what you mean.

If you have any questions, email me before you go any further – I’d be happy to make sure you’re on track:

adxkh0@r.postjobfree.com

CONTACT & MISCELLANEOUS INFORMATION

Please list your name, city, state/province, phone number, and email address. You can also include your mailing address and zip/postal code if you like, but it’s not necessary.

Name: Clayton Richards

City: Chesapeake

State: Virginia

Zip Code: 23322

Phone Number: 304-***-****

Do you want to include a link to your LinkedIn profile? I recommend it if you’re on there so recruiters can connect with you. If so, please provide a link to your LinkedIn profile (create a custom URL if you haven’t already):

linkedin.com/in/clayton-richards-8053a286

Do you have any written testimonials/recommendations from former supervisors or colleagues? These could come from LinkedIn, past performance reviews, reference letters, etc. If so, copy and paste it here. If you have LinkedIn recommendations, let me know and I’ll get them from your profile. (I recommend getting as many recommendations as you can on LinkedIn – they can be very helpful for your resume and job search. Here is more information: www.linkedin.com/help/linkedin/answer/a541653/recommendations-on-linkedin.)

Do you want to continue in retail or move on to a different industry?

Retail

Commercial Real Estate, Facilities/Property Management

Hospitality

Are you looking for a general resume or a tailored one that is focused on a specific type of position or job function? Keep in mind, if a resume is tailored to one specific type of position, it will likely be less effective for other roles.

I would like a more general resume. I am posting to multiple industries.

Do you have any volunteer experience? If so, what organization did you volunteer with? When did you start and end? What did you do? (Note: this refers to volunteer work you did on your own, not through the company you worked for – that experience can be included in the work history sections.)

I am a youth volleyball and football coach.

Club 757 women’s volleyball: 09/22-present

Chesapeake Parks and Recreation- Volleyball League: Fall League 2022

Chesapeake Parks and Recreation: Football League: Fall League: 2019, 2020, 2021

List all academic degrees, diplomas, and certificates, including the school you attended and dates. If you haven’t finished a degree but have some college/university, list the school, what you studied (business, marketing, etc.), and the dates or number of years you attended.

Monongalia County Technical School: Morgantown, WV: GED- June 1998.

Fairmont State University: Fairmont, WV: Accounting: 2009, 2010

List any additional training or professional development you have taken including relevant certificates, courses, workshops, and programs. Also include where and when you took this training.

Real Estate License: Fairmont, WV- Floyd Real Estate Inc.: 1999

List your technical/computer skills that are relevant to the type of job you’re targeting.

I am highly fluent in all Microsoft Office products: Word, Excel, Power Point, Teams, Publisher, Access

Which languages are you fluent in? English

Which languages are you conversant in, but not fluent?

EMPLOYMENT HISTORY

I will likely break down your work history with separate dates for each position you held and each store location or geographic area you managed (depending on how often you changed positions or locations). Therefore, if you changed positions or locations at any point with the same company, use separate sections below for each different position you held and each different location or geographic area you managed. If you’re not sure what I mean, here’s an example. Say you’ve been with the same company for 15 years and your path looks like this:

District Manager – East Pennsylvania – Jun 20XX to Present

District Manager – Southern Florida – Mar 20XX to Jun 20XX

Store Manager – Miami, Florida – Jan 20XX to Mar 20XX

Store Manager – Brooklyn, New York – Apr 20XX to Jan 20XX

Store Manager – Newark, New Jersey – Sep 20XX to Apr 20XX

Use a different section below for each time you changed positions and locations. So in this example, you would use Section 1 for District Manager in East Pennsylvania and Section 2 for District Manager in Southern Florida. The reason we need them separate is because you’ll have different store counts, sales volumes, obstacles, and achievements in each one. Likewise, Section 3 would be Store Manager in Miami, Section 4 would be Store Manager in Brooklyn, and Section 5 would be Store Manager in Newark. Make sense?

Don’t combine different positions or different locations into the same section unless you moved around A LOT. (For example, if you’re a store manager and you changed locations every few months with the same company, then combine all those stores into one section for that company. Otherwise, please keep them separate.)

If you have any questions about how to separate your work history, please ask me first before you go further.

SECTION 1: Most recent position/location

JOB TITLE: Store Leader

COMPANY NAME: Kroger

IF this was a single-unit role, which location did you manage during this time?

3901 Holland Road, Virginia Beach, VA 23452

Start date in this position and this location (month/year):

8/19: Holland Road, Virginia Beach, VA

4/20: Frederick Blvd., Portsmouth, VA

10/21: Holland Road, Virginia Beach, VA

End date in this position and this location (month/year):

Current: Holland Road, Virginia Beach, Virginia

IF this was a SINGLE-UNIT position (store manager, assistant manager, department manager), answer these:

What brand was this store? (The actual name of the store, not the parent company.)

oKroger

Anything special about your store? Ex: flagship, biggest size, highest volume, new concept, outlet, etc.

oThis was a Marketplace Store that had both grocery and general merchandise

What was the size of your store in square feet?

o113,000 sq. ft.

How many floors?

o1

How many employees worked under you in each position (ie. how many managers, how many associates)?

o6 Assistant Store Leaders, 13 Department Leaders, 211 hourly associates

How many stores were in your district?

o10

How many stores were in your region/zone?

o110

How many stores were in the entire country/company?

o2726

If this was your first position with this company, were you recruited? If so, what was the job title of the person who recruited you?

I was recruited.

What were you directly accountable for? I am a store manager

Briefly describe the situation you walked into when you started. For example, were sales down? Were targets being met before you arrived? Were staffing levels low? Was it operating efficiently? Was morale good or bad? Give me an idea of the obstacles you faced. (Please don’t list achievements here – that will be below. I just want to know how the business was performing upon arrival.)

KEY PERFORMANCE METRICS

The questions below are important because they show how well you performed. Remember, any information is better than no information so if you don’t have exact numbers, estimate or provide a range. If you can’t, at least tell me if you achieved your goals – it’s better than nothing. Delete questions that are confidential or irrelevant.

Overall performance scorecard

If your company used an overall scorecard (all performance metrics combined), what was your score when you started? If you improved, what was your highest score and when? Ex: “Improved the overall scorecard from 74% to 89%.” (NOTE: This is only if your company used an overall scorecard that combined metrics together. Don’t list individual metrics here – they’re below.)

Where did you rank on the overall scorecard when you started? Did you improve that ranking? If so, what was the highest you ranked, when, and out of how many? Ex: “Improved from 8th to 1st out of 10 in the region and from 30th to 9th out of 36 company-wide on the overall performance scorecard.”

Sales volume

What was the annual sales volume under your control when you started and how high did you get? Ex: If you were a store manager or assistant manager, what were your store’s sales when you started and what did you increase it to? If you were a district manager, what were your district’s total sales when you started and what did you increase it to? If you were a department manager, what were your department’s sales when you started and what did you increase it to?

Where did you rank in sales volume when you started? Did you improve that ranking? If so, what was the highest you ranked, when, and out of how many? Ex: “Improved from 9th to 2nd out of 16 in the division and from 32nd to 11th out of 44 company-wide for sales volume.”

Sales results vs. budget

Did you surpass your sales budgets? If so, how often and by how much? Ex: “Achieved 110% of the sales plan in 20XX, 113% in 20XX, and 115% in 20XX.” “Surpassed the sales plan every year by an average of 5%.”

Where did you rank for sales vs. budget (not sales volume) when you started? Did you improve that ranking? If so, what was the highest you ranked, when, and out of how many? Ex: “Ranked 2nd out of 8 in the zone for sales vs. budget in 20XX and 3rd in 20XX. Ranked 7th prior to arrival.”

Comp sales vs. last year

Did you increase sales over LY? If so, how often and by how much? Ex: “Surpassed LY sales by 8% in 20XX and 6% in 20XX.” “Grew sales by an average of 7% each year.”

Where did you rank for sales vs. LY (not sales volume) when you started? Did you improve that ranking? If so, what was the highest you ranked, when, and out of how many? Ex: “Ranked 2nd out of 7 in the division for comp sales growth every year from 20XX-20XX. Ranked 6th prior to arrival.”

Omni-channel fulfillment

Did you have omni-channel or ecommerce targets? If so, what were you measured on? What were your results when you started and how much did you improve? Ex: “Increased the omni-channel fulfillment rate from 89% to 97%.” “Achieved all omni-channel targets every year.”

Where did you rank for omni-channel results when you started? Did you improve that ranking? If so, what was the highest you ranked, when, and out of how many? Ex: “Improved from 13th to 3rd out of 15 in the district.”

Customer satisfaction

Did your company conduct customer surveys? What were your results? Ex: “Increased customer satisfaction scores from 54% to 75%.” “Improved customer satisfaction scores every year from 20XX-20XX.”

Where did you rank for customer survey scores when you started? Did you improve that ranking? If so, what was the highest you ranked, when, and out of how many? Ex: “Improved from 7th to 3rd out of 9 in the region.”

Profit

Did you meet targets for profit contribution, profit margin, or profit growth over LY? If so, how often and by how much? Ex: “Exceeded the profit budget every year by 7-10%.” “Increased profit by 5-8% each year.”

Where did you rank for profit results when you started? Did you improve that ranking? If so, what was the highest you ranked, when, and out of how many? Ex: “Improved from 11th to 1st out of 20 in the region.”

Inventory shrink

Did you meet inventory shrink budgets? What were your results? Ex: “Lowered shrink from 2.8% to 2% in the first year and kept below 2% every year after.” “Kept shrink under budget every year.”

Where did you rank for shrink results when you started? Did you improve that ranking? If so, what was the highest you ranked, when, and out of how many? Ex: “Improved from 13th to 3rd out of 15 in the district.”

Employee engagement & satisfaction

Did your company conduct employee surveys? What were your results? Ex: “Increased employee satisfaction scores from 68% to 93%.”

Where did you rank for employee survey scores when you started? Did you improve that ranking? If so, what was the highest you ranked, when, and out of how many? Ex: “Improved from 9th to 1st out of 12 in the zone.”

Other key performance indicators

For each KPI below, include the same information as above – your results at the beginning (or prior to arrival) and your best result. Also include where you ranked vs. peers at the start and how high you got. Again, metrics are important because they’re tangible so be as detailed as you can and delete the ones that aren’t applicable.

Mystery shop scores:

Dollars-per-sale:

Units-per-transaction:

Customer conversion:

Customer data capture:

Loyalty program signups:

Private-label credit card applications:

Charitable fundraising:

Warranty attachment:

Operational audit scores:

Loss prevention audit scores:

Visual merchandising audit scores:

Safety audit scores:

Workers’ compensation claims:

Payroll control:

Employee retention:

Other:

OTHER ACHIEVEMENTS & IMPACT ON THE COMPANY

Did you open, close, relocate, or remodel any stores during this time? How many? Where? What was your role in the process? Did you complete these projects on time and on budget? Did the new stores exceed opening targets and expectations?

Describe any responsibilities or appointments you had at higher levels during this time. For example, were you appointed district trainer or regional recruiting captain? If so, how many people did you train or recruit? Were you asked to on-board or mentor new managers? If so, how many? Were you asked to lead inventory counts in other areas? If so, how many? Were you asked to participate in strategic planning sessions? How often? (These are just examples – please include any peer leadership roles you held.)

If not listed above, were you a member of any committees or project teams during this time? Who selected you? What were you working on, what was your involvement, and what were the results?

Did you create any new tools, programs, systems, or processes? Did they roll out to other stores, districts, regions, or company-wide? If so, what was it and how far did it roll out?

List all other achievements here. For example, specific category sales you increased, costs you reduced, systems you implemented, partnerships you developed, crisis situations you managed, news articles you were featured in, etc.

Did you win any company, industry, or community awards in this position? If so, what was it and when did you win it? What was the award for? Was it a company-wide award? How many others did you beat out?

How many people did you recruit or hire externally and in what positions? Estimate if you don’t recall exact numbers.

How many people did you promote internally during this time? From what position to what position? Estimate if you don’t recall exact numbers.

Did you receive performance reviews while in this position? If so, what rating/score did you receive on each one (exceeds expectations, meets expectations, etc)? Was that the highest rating offered by the company?

Is there anything else about this company, position, or location you think I should know?

SECTION 2: Previous position/location

JOB TITLE:

COMPANY NAME:

IF this was a single-unit role, which location did you manage during this time?

IF this was a multi-unit role, what geographic area did you cover during this time?

Start date in this position and this location (month/year):

End date in this position and this location (month/year):

IF this was a SINGLE-UNIT position (store manager, assistant manager, department manager), answer these:

What brand was this store? (The actual name of the store, not the parent company.)

Anything special about your store? Ex: flagship, biggest size, highest volume, new concept, outlet, etc.

What was the size of your store in square feet?

How many floors?

How many employees worked under you in each position (ie. how many managers, how many associates)?

How many stores were in your district?

How many stores were in your region/zone?

How many stores were in the entire country/company?

IF this was a MULTI-UNIT position (area manager, district manager, regional manager), answer these:

−How many stores did you have when you started?

−How many stores did you have when you left?

−What was the highest number of stores you had in this position and when?

−Did you manage your own home store? (Ex: area managers usually manage a home store.)

−Were all your stores under the same banner/brand? How many of each?

−Were they full-price stores or outlet stores? How many of each?

−Anything special about your territory? Ex: largest geographic area, highest store count, highest volume, etc.

−Did you have any flagship or high-profile stores in your territory? How many and where?

−What was the size of your biggest store in square feet?

−How many employees worked under you in total (all managers and associates combined)?

−How many people reported directly to you and what were their titles?

−If you were a district manager, how many districts were in your region?

−If you were a district manager, how many districts were in the entire country/company?

−If you were a regional manager, how many regions were in the entire country/company?

If this was your first position with this company, were you recruited? If so, what was the job title of the person who recruited you?

What were you directly accountable for? If this was a normal role in retail, just say that – I know what assistant store managers, store managers, district managers, etc. are typically responsible for, so no need to explain it. However, if there was anything different or unique in terms of your accountability, or just something I wouldn’t know, please explain. (Ex: If you were a department manager, what department did you manage?)

Briefly describe the situation you walked into when you started. For example, were sales down? Were targets being met before you arrived? Were staffing levels low? Was it operating efficiently? Was morale good or bad? Give me an idea of the obstacles you faced. (Please don’t list achievements here – that will be below. I just want to know how the business was performing upon arrival.)

KEY PERFORMANCE METRICS

The questions below are important because they show how well you performed. Remember, any information is better than no information so if you don’t have exact numbers, estimate or provide a range. If you can’t, at least tell me if you achieved your goals – it’s better than nothing. Delete questions that are confidential or irrelevant.

Overall performance scorecard

If your company used an overall scorecard (all performance metrics combined), what was your score when you started? If you improved, what was your highest score and when? Ex: “Improved the overall scorecard from 74% to 89%.” (NOTE: This is only if your company used an overall scorecard that combined metrics together. Don’t list individual metrics here – they’re below.)

Where did you rank on the overall scorecard when you started? Did you improve that ranking? If so, what was the highest you ranked, when, and out of how many? Ex: “Improved from 8th to 1st out of 10 in the region and from 30th to 9th out of 36 company-wide on the overall performance scorecard.”

Sales volume

What was the annual sales volume under your control when you started and how high did you get? Ex: If you were a store manager or assistant manager, what were your store’s sales when you started and what did you increase it to? If you were a district manager, what were your district’s total sales when you started and what did you increase it to? If you were a department manager, what were your department’s sales when you started and what did you increase it to?

Where did you rank in sales volume when you started? Did you improve that ranking? If so, what was the highest you ranked, when, and out of how many? Ex: “Improved from 9th to 2nd out of 16 in the division and from 32nd to 11th out of 44 company-wide for sales volume.”

Sales results vs. budget

Did you surpass your sales budgets? If so, how often and by how much? Ex: “Achieved 110% of the sales plan in 20XX, 113% in 20XX, and 115% in 20XX.” “Surpassed the sales plan every year by an average of 5%.”

Where did you rank for sales vs. budget (not sales volume) when you started? Did you improve that ranking? If so, what was the highest you ranked, when, and out of how many? Ex: “Ranked 2nd out of 8 in the zone for sales vs. budget in 20XX and 3rd in 20XX. Ranked 7th prior to arrival.”

Comp sales vs. last year

Did you increase sales over LY? If so, how often and by how much? Ex: “Surpassed LY sales by 8% in 20XX and 6% in 20XX.” “Grew sales by an average of 7% each year.”

Where did you rank for sales vs. LY (not sales volume) when you started? Did you improve that ranking? If so, what was the highest you ranked, when, and out of how many? Ex: “Ranked 2nd out of 7 in the division for comp sales growth every year from 20XX-20XX. Ranked 6th prior to arrival.”

Omni-channel fulfillment

Did you have omni-channel or ecommerce targets? If so, what were you measured on? What were your results when you started and how much did you improve? Ex: “Increased the omni-channel fulfillment rate from 89% to 97%.” “Achieved all omni-channel targets every year.”

Where did you rank for omni-channel results when you started? Did you improve that ranking? If so, what was the highest you ranked, when, and out of how many? Ex: “Improved from 13th to 3rd out of 15 in the district.”

Customer satisfaction

Did your company conduct customer surveys? What were your results? Ex: “Increased customer satisfaction scores from 54% to 75%.” “Improved customer satisfaction scores every year from 20XX-20XX.”

Where did you rank for customer survey scores when you started? Did you improve that ranking? If so, what was the highest you ranked, when, and out of how many? Ex: “Improved from 7th to 3rd out of 9 in the region.”

Profit

Did you meet targets for profit contribution, profit margin, or profit growth over LY? If so, how often and by how much? Ex: “Exceeded the profit budget every year by 7-10%.” “Increased profit by 5-8% each year.”

Where did you rank for profit results when you started? Did you improve that ranking? If so, what was the highest you ranked, when, and out of how many? Ex: “Improved from 11th to 1st out of 20 in the region.”

Inventory shrink

Did you meet inventory shrink budgets? What were your results? Ex: “Lowered shrink from 2.8% to 2% in the first year and kept below 2% every year after.” “Kept shrink under budget every year.”

Where did you rank for shrink results when you started? Did you improve that ranking? If so, what was the highest you ranked, when, and out of how many? Ex: “Improved from 13th to 3rd out of 15 in the district.”

Employee engagement & satisfaction

Did your company conduct employee surveys? What were your results? Ex: “Increased employee satisfaction scores from 68% to 93%.”

Where did you rank for employee survey scores when you started? Did you improve that ranking? If so, what was the highest you ranked, when, and out of how many? Ex: “Improved from 9th to 1st out of 12 in the zone.”

Other key performance indicators

For each KPI below, include the same information as above – your results at the beginning (or prior to arrival) and your best result. Also include where you ranked vs. peers at the start and how high you got. Again, metrics are important because they’re tangible so be as detailed as you can and delete the ones that aren’t applicable.

Mystery shop scores:

Dollars-per-sale:

Units-per-transaction:

Customer conversion:

Customer data capture:

Loyalty program signups:

Private-label credit card applications:

Charitable fundraising:

Warranty attachment:

Operational audit scores:

Loss prevention audit scores:

Visual merchandising audit scores:

Safety audit scores:

Workers’ compensation claims:

Payroll control:

Employee retention:

Other:

OTHER ACHIEVEMENTS & IMPACT ON THE COMPANY

Did you open, close, relocate, or remodel any stores during this time? How many? Where? What was your role in the process? Did you complete these projects on time and on budget? Did the new stores exceed opening targets and expectations?

Describe any responsibilities or appointments you had at higher levels during this time. For example, were you appointed district trainer or regional recruiting captain? If so, how many people did you train or recruit? Were you asked to on-board or mentor new managers? If so, how many? Were you asked to lead inventory counts in other areas? If so, how many? Were you asked to participate in strategic planning sessions? How often? (These are just examples – please include any peer leadership roles you held.)

If not listed above, were you a member of any committees or project teams during this time? Who selected you? What were you working on, what was your involvement, and what were the results?

Did you create any new tools, programs, systems, or processes? Did they roll out to other stores, districts, regions, or company-wide? If so, what was it and how far did it roll out?

List all other achievements here. For example, specific category sales you increased, costs you reduced, systems you implemented, partnerships you developed, crisis situations you managed, news articles you were featured in, etc.

Did you win any company, industry, or community awards in this position? If so, what was it and when did you win it? What was the award for? Was it a company-wide award? How many others did you beat out?

How many people did you recruit or hire externally and in what positions? Estimate if you don’t recall exact numbers.

How many people did you promote internally during this time? From what position to what position? Estimate if you don’t recall exact numbers.

Did you receive performance reviews while in this position? If so, what rating/score did you receive on each one (exceeds expectations, meets expectations, etc)? Was that the highest rating offered by the company?

Is there anything else about this company, position, or location you think I should know?

SECTION 3: Previous position/location

JOB TITLE:

COMPANY NAME:

IF this was a single-unit role, which location did you manage during this time?

IF this was a multi-unit role, what geographic area did you cover during this time?

Start date in this position and this location (month/year):

End date in this position and this location (month/year):

IF this was a SINGLE-UNIT position (store manager, assistant manager, department manager), answer these:

What brand was this store? (The actual name of the store, not the parent company.)

Anything special about

Contact this candidate