Retail Sales Assistant

About the role

As a Sales Assistant, you’re the face of our brand on the shop floor—a true brand ambassador. Every day, you create moments that make our customers smile. Your mission is to deliver exceptional service, spark brilliant conversations, and help customers with their shopping missions—whether they’re discovering new products they’ll love or finding the perfect gift for someone else.

Proactively approaching and engaging with customers is an essential part of this role. You’ll start friendly conversations to understand what each customer is looking for and make helpful recommendations from our product ranges. You’ll also play a key role in keeping the store well-stocked, tidy, safe, and welcoming. Alongside your teammates, you’ll help create an environment where everything runs smoothly and everyone feels supported and included.

In this role, every interaction, every conversation, and every thoughtful recommendation helps bring our brand purpose, values, and behaviors to life.

Responsibilities

• Proactively approach and engage with customers, start friendly conversations to understand what they’re looking for, and make helpful recommendations from our product range.
• Deliver a friendly, knowledgeable, and consistently amazing customer experience.
• Stay informed about our products, promotions, and services so you can help customers make informed choices.
• Maintain excellent store standards, including merchandising, cleanliness, and stock replenishment.
• Operate tills accurately and handle transactions with care.
• Support with deliveries, stockroom organization, and product availability.
• Follow all operational procedures, including health and safety and loss prevention.
• Work collaboratively with your team to meet store targets and KPIs.
• Be a brilliant brand ambassador—positive, professional, and passionate about what we do.

This is an active role that involves working across different areas of the store, using stairs, handling deliveries, and moving stock.

Keyholder Responsibilities

If you’re aged 18 or over, you’ll be trained as a Keyholder, with all the support you need to take on additional responsibility and build valuable experience. With the appropriate training and support, your Keyholder responsibilities will include:

• Opening and closing the store safely and securely.
• Completing cashing-up and other end-of-day procedures accurately.
• Taking responsibility for the smooth running of the store when a manager isn’t present.
• Supporting colleagues and responding to customer or operational issues.
• Following store security, health and safety, and loss-prevention procedures.

Whenever you’re assigned Keyholder responsibilities, you’ll receive an enhanced rate of pay for the time you carry them out.

Skills

• Willing and able to proactively approach customers, start friendly conversations, understand what they’re looking for, and make helpful recommendations from our product range—this is an essential part of the role.
• Passionate about creating a brilliant customer experience.
• Supportive team player with a positive, can-do attitude.
• Reliable, punctual, and able to work a variety of shifts.
• Comfortable learning to use tills and handle transactions accurately.
• Able to stay organized and contribute positively in a busy, fast-paced store environment.

Previous experience in retail, customer service, or hospitality would be helpful, but it isn’t essential—what matters most is your willingness to learn and get involved to create an amazing customer experience.

Benefits

• 25% colleague discount, plus exclusive Double Discount days.
• MyWorks—access exclusive online discounts across hundreds of retailers, holidays, utilities, tech, and more.
• Family-friendly leave—enhanced maternity, paternity, and adoption pay.
• Holiday—28 days including bank holidays, or 33 days including bank holidays for Deputy and Store Managers.
• Can-Do Academy—grow your skills and career with instant access to further training and development in areas that interest you.
• Stream—claim early access to 50% of your wages as you earn them for when ‘life’ happens.
• Share Scheme—own a piece of The Works.
• 24/7 support for you and your family through our partnership with Retail Trust Charity, including an Employee Assistance Programme.
• Healthcare Cash Plan to support your everyday healthcare costs.
• Long service awards, pension, life assurance, Cycle to Work scheme, and optional charity giving.

About Us

We don’t just sell products. We inspire reading, learning, creativity, and play. You could recommend the paint set that helps someone discover their inner artist, the book that inspires a future author, the game that brings a family together, or the puzzle book that reconnects someone with a treasured memory. The unseen possibilities are limitless—and it all starts with you.

Our purpose: To inspire reading, learning, creativity, and play.

Our values:

• Crafty – Smart with what we’ve got.
• Caring – Heart in every action.
• Can-do – Energy that gets it done.