First-Line Supervisors of Non-Retail Sales Workers
Directly supervise and coordinate activities of sales workers other than retail sales workers. May perform duties such as budgeting, accounting, and personnel work, in addition to supervisory duties.
Most important skills
- Active Listening
- Speaking
- Monitoring
- Management of Personnel Resources
- Social Perceptiveness
- Coordination
- Judgment and Decision Making
- Time Management
Key knowledge
- Customer and Personal Service
- Administration and Management
- English Language
- Personnel and Human Resources
- Economics and Accounting
- Sales and Marketing
- Mathematics
- Education and Training
What the work involves
- Listen to and resolve customer complaints regarding services, products, or personnel.
- Monitor sales staff performance to ensure that goals are met.
- Hire, train, and evaluate personnel.
- Confer with company officials to develop methods and procedures to increase sales, expand markets, and promote business.
- Provide staff with assistance in performing difficult or complicated duties.
- Plan and prepare work schedules, and assign employees to specific duties.
- Attend company meetings to exchange product information and coordinate work activities with other departments.
- Keep records pertaining to purchases, sales, and requisitions.
Strongest interest areas (O*NET): Enterprising, Conventional, Social.
Qualifications and licensing
- Most common education
- Bachelor's Degree (45% of respondents)
- Related experience
- Over 6 years, up to and including 8 years (36.1%)
- On-the-job training
- Over 3 months, up to and including 6 months (28.2%)
- Preparation level
- O*NET job zone 4: Job Zone Four: Considerable Preparation Needed
- Licensing
- Not yet verified. Check your state licensing board.
Check before planning
- Licensing for First-Line Supervisors of Non-Retail Sales Workers is not yet verified for any state: check the state licensing board before planning.
Limits
- Distributions show what current workers or occupational experts report, not legal minimums.
- Requirements vary by employer and state; time to qualify is not estimated.
Source: O*NET 31.0 Database (USDOL/ETA, CC BY 4.0); BLS Employment Projections · dataset 2026.10.8 · method e3-qualification-1.0.0
Work environment
How the typical conditions of this occupation compare with 911 occupations in O*NET (very low = the lowest fifth).
Levels are relative. Most occupations involve a lot of contact with people, for example, so “very low” can still mean regular contact; the last column shows what workers actually reported.
| Condition | Level | Compared with other occupations | Most common answer (O*NET survey) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Contact with others | High | Higher on contact with others than 77% of occupations compared | 73% of surveyed respondents chose “Constant contact with others” |
| Dealing with the public | Very high | Higher on dealing with the public than 81% of occupations compared | 62% of surveyed respondents chose “Extremely important” |
| Teamwork | Very high | Higher on teamwork than 86% of occupations compared | 68% of surveyed respondents chose “Extremely important” |
| Freedom to make decisions | Moderate | Lower on freedom to make decisions than 58% of occupations compared | 58% of surveyed respondents chose “Some freedom” |
| Time pressure | Very high | Higher on time pressure than 95% of occupations compared | 69% of surveyed respondents chose “Every day” |
| Conflict situations | Very high | Higher on conflict situations than 85% of occupations compared | 38% of surveyed respondents chose “Once a month or more but not every week” |
| Dealing with unpleasant or angry people | High | Higher on dealing with unpleasant or angry people than 68% of occupations compared | 36% of surveyed respondents chose “Once a month or more but not every week” |
| Consequence of error | Very low | Lower on consequence of error than 85% of occupations compared | 35% of surveyed respondents chose “Not serious at all” |
Work-pressure profile
- Time pressure: very high
- Conflict situations: very high
- Dealing with unpleasant or angry people: high
- Consequence of error: very low
Each part is shown on its own. There is no combined stress score, and conditions vary by employer and role.
Full answer distributions
Contact with others
- No contact with others: 0%
- Occasional contact with others: 0%
- Contact with others about half the time: 2.24%
- Contact with others most of the time: 25.15%
- Constant contact with others: 72.61%
n = 35, Incumbent 08/2020
Dealing with the public
- Not important at all: 0.09%
- Fairly important: 9.26%
- Important: 20.8%
- Very important: 7.51%
- Extremely important: 62.34%
n = 35, Incumbent 08/2020
Teamwork
- Not important at all: 0%
- Fairly important: 0%
- Important: 2.25%
- Very important: 29.6%
- Extremely important: 68.15%
n = 34, Incumbent 08/2020
Freedom to make decisions
- No freedom: 0%
- Very little freedom: 10.88%
- Limited freedom: 2.12%
- Some freedom: 58.1%
- A lot of freedom: 28.9%
n = 35, Incumbent 08/2020
Time pressure
- Never: 0%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 0%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 5.08%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 25.52%
- Every day: 69.4%
n = 35, Incumbent 08/2020
Conflict situations
- Never: 0%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 13%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 38.23%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 33.52%
- Every day: 15.25%
n = 35, Incumbent 08/2020
Dealing with unpleasant or angry people
- Never: 10.95%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 15.61%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 36.19%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 23.45%
- Every day: 13.79%
n = 34, Incumbent 08/2020
Consequence of error
- Not serious at all: 34.74%
- Fairly serious: 28.22%
- Serious: 26.02%
- Very serious: 0.03%
- Extremely serious: 10.98%
n = 34, Incumbent 08/2020
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O*NET-SOC 41-1012.00 · SOC 41-1012 (exact, high confidence) · dataset 2026.10.8