How to Hire and Train Sales Assistants: Assessing Skills in Store Operations

To choose a sales assistant, check how the candidate identifies a customer’s needs, handles products, verifies payment, and follows tasks through to completion. Store work requires empathy, accuracy, self-control, and accountability for results. Assess specific actions against the same criteria for every candidate, avoiding psychological diagnoses and personality typing.

Start by outlining duties and limits of authority, then prepare consistent questions and short exercises using fictional data. After hiring, assign a mentor, demonstrate the correct procedures, and regularly discuss observable actions. You can adapt the process below to your store; the legal requirements apply to employment relationships in Ukraine, including special rules in force during martial law.

Define what the sales assistant should handle independently

Before posting a vacancy, prepare a short list of the role’s tasks. For each task, specify the expected result, available tools, and situations in which the employee should contact a manager. This helps candidates understand the work and lets mentors focus training on the actions the store needs.

• Product handling. The sales assistant finds the requested item and checks its SKU, size, contents, and price. If actual stock differs from the inventory record, they notify the responsible employee and do not promise the customer an item whose availability has not been verified.
• Customer communication. The employee clarifies the customer’s request, explains confirmed product features and purchase terms, and suggests relevant options. They refer questions outside their authority to the designated person.
• Payment and reconciliation. The sales assistant checks the purchase contents, amount, and transaction confirmation using the tools available to them. They record discrepancies and pass them on according to the agreed procedure, without making unauthorized changes.
• Following up on a request. The employee tells the customer what happens next and the agreed response time. If they hand the matter to a colleague, they explain what has already been checked and what remains to be done.

Also define who approves discounts, corrections to accounting transactions, and decisions on complaints. Employees should know whom to contact if the shift manager is unavailable. When assessing independence, account for these boundaries: asking for help at the right time can be the correct action.

Use the same interview plan for every candidate

Ask all candidates for the same role the same core questions in the same order. Ask what the person did themselves, what information they checked, and how they followed the matter through to completion. If a candidate has not worked in retail, ask them to describe a similar experience from training or explain how they would act in a practice scenario.

1. “Tell me about a time when someone’s request was unclear at first. What did you clarify, and how did you make sure you understood it correctly?”
2. “What would you do if a customer asked for a product that appears in inventory records but you cannot find it on the shelf?”
3. “A customer speaks sharply and demands a decision you are not authorized to make. How would you handle the conversation?”
4. “You notice a discrepancy between the expected amount and the payment information. What would you check, and who would you tell?”
5. “You promised to check some information for a customer, but your shift is ending. How would you make sure they get a response?”

Record the substance of the answers and observable actions. A note such as “described the verification process and identified the responsible employee” helps support an assessment. An impression such as “a pleasant person” does not explain how the candidate will perform the job. Do not draw conclusions about professional suitability from assumptions about character, personal life, or psychological state.

Assess skills with a short practice scenario

For candidate selection, prepare fictional product cards, stock records, receipts, and payment notifications. Explain the task, time limit, criteria, and opportunity to ask clarifying questions in advance. Give every candidate the same starting information; access to a live register or customer database is unnecessary.

The practice exercise should end with the candidate demonstrating how they would act. Do not ask a candidate to serve actual customers, accept payments, stock shelves, or cover for an employee under the guise of an unpaid trial shift. Performing actual work requires employment to be properly formalized.

Scenario 1. The product cannot be found

In the exercise, a customer asks for a specific model and size. The training inventory lists one unit, but it is missing from the mock shelf. Give the candidate a card for a similar product with a different SKU and the procedure for contacting the employee responsible for stock.

Observe whether the candidate checks the SKU and size, explains why they need to verify the information, and gives the customer a clear next step. If they suggest an alternative, ask them to describe how it differs. The key is to see whether they use the information provided and avoid unverified promises.

Scenario 2. The customer reports a duplicate charge

Illustrative numerical example. The purchase costs UAH 840, and the customer shows two notifications for UAH 840 each. If both transactions were confirmed, the total would be UAH 1,680, which is UAH 840 more than the purchase price. However, in this exercise, the notifications alone do not confirm the final status of the transactions.

Give the candidate a practice receipt, fictional transaction details, and the procedure for referring payment discrepancies to a manager. The expected sequence is to listen to the customer, clarify the time and amount, compare the available information, record the discrepancy, and involve an authorized person. The employee should explain the next step without blaming the customer or promising a refund before the matter is checked.

An appropriate response in this exercise could be: “I understand why two notifications would concern you. I’ll check the information available for this purchase and ask the shift manager to look into it further.” Also assess whether the candidate follows through on the handoff and tells the customer who will continue reviewing the matter.

Use a scale that describes behavior

Below is an illustrative assessment scale. Apply it to all candidates for the same role, and note a brief observation beside each score. If an exercise did not allow you to assess a skill, mark it “not observed” and offer the same additional task to candidates in that situation.

Illustrative decision example. Before starting recruitment, a store sets a benchmark of at least 9 out of 12 points and no less than 2 points for each skill. A result of 3 + 2 + 2 + 3 = 10 meets this benchmark. A result of 3 + 1 + 3 + 3 = 10 calls for an additional accuracy check, because a high total does not eliminate the risk of transaction errors.

This threshold is an internal selection tool and does not guarantee successful job performance. If two managers make the decision, have them score candidates independently first, then discuss differences using specific examples. If candidates receive the same score, use an additional exercise based on a job task.

Formalize employment and agree on probation terms

Under Article 24 of the Labor Code of Ukraine (Кодекс законів про працю України, or KZpP), an employee may not start work without an employment contract formalized by an employer’s order or directive and proper notification of the hire. This also applies to work under a mentor’s supervision once the new employee is performing job duties.

While martial law is in effect, Part 1 of Article 2 of Ukrainian Law No. 2136-IX of March 15, 2022, “On the Organization of Labor Relations under Martial Law” allows the parties to agree on the form of the employment contract. The general written-form rules in Article 24 of the Labor Code of Ukraine should therefore be applied with this special provision in mind. In practice, it is useful to record duties, pay, schedule, authority, and probation terms in writing so both parties understand them in the same way.

Probation is agreed at the time the employment contract is concluded, and the relevant condition is included in the hiring order. Under Article 26 of the Labor Code of Ukraine, labor legislation applies to the employee during this period; probation does not create grounds for unpaid work. At the same time, Part 2 of Article 2 of Law No. 2136-IX allows probation to be set for any category of employee during martial law, so the general list of exceptions in Article 26 must be applied with this provision in mind.

For an ordinary store, the duration is set under Article 27 of the Labor Code of Ukraine: generally up to three months, and for manual workers up to one month. A six-month period is possible only in the case provided for in this article, with the agreement of the relevant elected trade union body. Check the category of the specific role before setting a probation period. Days on which the employee did not actually work do not count toward it.

Assessment during probation should be based on the role’s tasks, the training provided, and documented results. Article 28 of the Labor Code of Ukraine requires three days’ written notice if, during the probation period, the employer finds that the employee is unsuitable for the work and decides to terminate the contract on that basis. A score in an internal assessment table does not replace the proper procedure or a review of the employee’s applicable protections. If the probation period ends and the person continues working, they are considered to have passed probation.

Train through demonstrations, practice, and feedback

After formalizing the employment, assign one responsible mentor and agree on the training sequence. First, the mentor explains the rule and demonstrates the task; then the employee repeats it with support; finally, they perform it independently within their authority. Before assessing the new employee, make sure they have received the required instructions and access and have had a chance to practice.

• Start of training. Cover how to find a product, check its features and price, clarify the customer’s needs, and ask for help.
• Next stage. Add payment checks, recording discrepancies, handling complaints, and handing over unresolved requests.
• Independent work. Check several different tasks during real shifts and agree which actions the employee can now perform without support and which require more training.

Hold brief one-to-one reviews using this structure: observation, consequence, next action. For example: “When selecting the product, you checked the size but missed the SKU, so you offered a different model. For the next selections, check both fields; then we’ll review the result together.” Give the employee a chance to explain the circumstances and ask about any unclear rule.

Assess work under comparable conditions. Account for shift length, product availability, number of customer interactions, task difficulty, and help from colleagues. If an employee makes a mistake, also review the instructions and work setup: conflicting rules or missing access need to be corrected by the manager.

Do not impose automatic fines for every complaint, return, or discrepancy. First establish the facts, cause, employee’s authority, and actions. Check any decision to deduct money against a separate legal basis and proper procedure. To develop skills, set a specific practice exercise and a date for reassessment.

Use personal sales data in Torgsoft with configuration in mind

If the store uses Torgsoft’s additional “Зарплата та мотивація” (“Salary and Motivation”) feature, check how sales staff are recorded before comparing results. According to the official setup guide, standard team-based work records sales against the team. The “Бригадна робота з урахуванням особистих продажів” (“Team-based work accounting for individual sales”) mode requires scanning the salesperson’s badge for each sale and allows the store to rank sales staff within the team. For work at a point of sale, the employee’s role and permission to participate in a team must also be configured.

Use this data as a reason to check the specific circumstances of the work. Before comparing results, make sure sales are correctly linked to employees and that shifts and tasks are comparable. Individual turnover alone does not show how a salesperson listened to a complaint, checked a payment error, or handed a customer request to a colleague, so supplement it with mentor observations. The presence of a deduction tool in the software does not establish a legal basis for applying deductions.

Keep assessment records with restricted access

An assessment record needs only the date, task, observed action, score, and agreed next step. Do not include assumptions about a person’s health, character, or private life. For group training, use an anonymized account of the situation without names, phone numbers, payment details, or other information that could identify a customer or employee.

Articles 6 and 11 of Ukrainian Law No. 2297-VI of June 1, 2010, “On Personal Data Protection” require a specific lawful purpose and appropriate legal basis for processing, a relevant and non-excessive set of data, and retention only for as long as needed for that purpose. Define who can access the records, how the information will be used, and when it should be deleted. Explain the assessment process and how their data is handled to candidates and employees.

Organize assessment through agreed workplace observations, reviews of completed tasks, and one-to-one discussions. Do not conduct covert surveillance or post personal error rankings in a group chat. After each review, the employee should understand what they are already doing correctly, what needs to change, and when the mentor will check their progress.