Whether you’re hiring retail associates with strong customer focus and teamwork, or deciding who is ready to lead, measure the skills that predict performance on the job with a short assessment associates can complete on their phone in just 6 minutes.
✔ 2 million store associates assessed by SHL every year
Clearer Decisions for Hiring Teams and Store Managers
Store managers hire between serving customers and managing deliveries. Better decisions start well before that.
Consistent screening
SHL assesses every candidate on the skills that predict success in store roles, so hiring teams decide who moves forward based on the same evidence, whichever store they apply to.
Informed interviews
SHL assessment results guide store managers what to ask next, so even a quick interview between rushes covers what matters. The final decision stays with them.
Decisions you can stand behind
SHL shows leaders what the process measures and why, so every hire, from seasonal associate to store manager, rests on evidence you can explain.
Retail Hiring Assessments, Interviews, and Reporting in One Workflow
Assess the Skills That Matter in Store Roles
Interview at Scale, Without the Scheduling
Candidates record their answers when it suits them, so nobody has to coordinate a time to talk. Recruiters watch responses directly or use AI-assisted scoring. Your team makes every decision.
Keep Candidates Moving from Start to Finish
Scheduling, the assessment, and the interview all live in one place, so candidates always know what happens next. Your recruiters send fewer chasing emails, and candidates spend less time waiting.
See Results in the Tools You Already Use
Store managers get plain-language results and interview guides that show what to ask. Leaders see how stores and regions compare. Everything lands in your ATS, so your team never has to switch systems.
Retail Hiring Solution: Demo Hub
See how SHL helps retailers engage candidates and identify the skills that drive success in customer-facing roles.
Scaling Store Leadership With SHL
SHL helps retailers hire and grow store leaders. See how one leading restaurant chain made manager hiring faster and more objective.
50% fewer interview rounds
Early assessment data replaced extra steps and freed up hiring manager time.
<1 week from interview to offer
Candidates can now interview on a Monday and start training the following week.
1 in 2 manager promotions now internal
Assessment data targets leadership development and builds the pipeline from within.
Retail Hiring
Frequently Asked Questions
What does a retail hiring assessment add to our hiring process?
A retail hiring assessment gives you the same job-relevant picture of every candidate, early in the process. So you can screen earlier and spend interview time on the people who fit best, help your managers know what to ask when they meet them, and ensure every store measures candidates in the same way.
SHL’s retail assessment helps you shortlist candidates who will show up reliably, handle customers well, and keep up once it's busy. Suitable across roles in retail, hospitality, and restaurants. It works alongside your interviews, not in place of them.
How does a retail hiring assessment fit into a fast-paced hiring process?
SHL’s retail assessment is designed to be quick. It takes just 8 minutes and works on a phone, so candidates can finish it in a single session. Results go directly to your applicant tracking system, so hiring teams can use them immediately to advance candidates before they are hired somewhere else.
You can also add on-demand interviewing, where candidates record answers at a time that suits them. 89% of candidates rate it excellent.
How do store managers use retail hiring assessment results?
Managers get results in plain language, plus an interview guide with suggested questions. Because every store works from the same skills framework, a manager in one location can make decisions on the same basis as a manager in another.
The decision always stays with the manager. If your managers want support, SHL offers training to help them use results with confidence.
Is a retail pre-employment assessment fair for entry-level candidates?
Yes, when it’s based on the job and applied the same way to every candidate. Everyone answers the same job-relevant questions and is scored in the same way, in any store. That makes the process more objective and consistent than traditional unstructured interviews that vary from manager to manager.
SHL develops its assessments to recognized scientific standards and publishes technical manuals covering reliability, validity, and adverse impact (whether results differ unfairly between groups of people). Your team still makes every hiring decision.
Can a retail hiring solution scale across hundreds of locations?
Yes. SHL solutions are built for large numbers of candidates, including seasonal workers. Assessment delivery, scoring, and shortlisting can be automated, so you can handle high volumes without lowering quality or the candidate experience.
It also works across many locations. Every store uses the same assessment, and operations leaders can see results by store and region. Everything flows into your ATS, which SHL integrates with rather than replaces.
How do you approach store manager hiring?
Look at how someone is likely to lead, not just how well they did as an associate. Serving customers and leading a team requires different skills.
SHL’s retail leader assessment is designed for team leaders, shift leaders, department managers, and store managers. It measures the behaviors behind success as a people leader and takes 16 minutes.
For store manager roles, you can also add a cognitive ability measure that shows how someone reasons with numbers, language, and new problems. The two together give you a fuller picture and stronger signal. Behaviors show how a person is likely to lead, and reasoning shows how they work through complex information.
How do I make the business case for a retail hiring assessment?
Start with a real example, then test the numbers for your own business.
A leading North American restaurant chain with 300+ locations moved to an assessment-led process for its manager hiring. It cut its interview rounds in half, brought the time from interview to job offer to under a week, and reported record staff retention over the last two years. Read the full story.
To see what it could mean for you, try SHL’s Turnover ROI calculator and Performance ROI calculator.
Build a Candidate Shortlist You Can Trust
Talk to SHL about your retail recruitment roles, your hiring volumes, and the systems you already have in place.
Speak to an Expert Try the Interactive Demo
