How To Hire a Cashier

While self-checkouts improve operational efficiency in the hospitality industry, a Cashier’s personal interaction adds a friendly, human touch to the customer experience.

If you’re looking to hire a Cashier for your restaurant or hotel, here’s a five-step guide to help you find one who’ll help make your business stand out. 

Step 1: Identify the Type of Cashier You Need

Do you need a part-time or a full-time Cashier? Are you looking for someone to manage a team or someone to focus solely on the duties? Being clear about these details will help you create a candidate profile that aligns with your business needs and ensures you find the right fit. 

Work arrangement

Your budget plays a significant role in determining whether you need a part-time or a full-time employee. Hiring full-time staff means you have the resources to offer benefits and pay for 40 hours of work each week.

Customer traffic is another key factor. For example, if you’re managing a high-traffic restaurant, a full-time Cashier may be necessary to maintain the level of service needed during busy hours.

Additionally, the complexity of the tasks involved should be considered when deciding between a part-time or a full-time role. For instance, in a luxury retail setting, you may prefer a full-time Cashier who can consistently provide personalized services, such as styling advice or detailed product explanations.

While part-time employees with a passion for luxury goods can learn these details, full-time staff are often better equipped to handle complex customer needs and provide the consistent service your business requires.

Kind of establishment

While the key responsibilities of a Cashier, such as handling customer inquiries at the counter, processing orders and handling payments, remain the same regardless of the establishment, it’s important to specify where they’ll work, as this often entails additional duties tied to the environment.

For example, a Restaurant Cashier handles more than just transactions. They take orders from Servers or directly from customers, input them into the POS system and ensure any special requests are communicated to the kitchen. 

In contrast, Hotel Cashiers focus more on room charges, handling customer complaints and checking guests in and out. Unlike Restaurant Cashiers, Hotel Cashiers don’t take food or drink orders but ensure guest bills are accurate and processed efficiently.

Types of Cashiers

Cashiers can be classified according to their workplace and level of seniority. Below, we’ve listed six basic types of Cashiers and identified each of their key duties.

Cashier Type	Duties
Entry-level Cashier	Handle basic transactions
	Provide change and receipts
	Assist with customer inquiries
Grocery Cashier	Scan groceries, bag items and process payments
	Handle coupons, loyalty programs and discounts
	Manage returns and exchanges
Retail Cashier	Scan products, process payments and issue receipts
	Upsell or cross-sell products
	Handle returns, exchanges and customer inquiries
Ticketing Cashier	Sell tickets for events, travel or attractions
	Process payments and issue tickets
	Answer customer questions about schedules, pricing and availability
Gas Station Cashier	Process fuel and in-store purchases
	Handle payments for fuel and store items
	Monitor fuel pumps and assist customers with refueling if needed
Head Cashier	Oversee cashier team
	Handle complex customer issues or complaints
	Manage cash register operations and balance cash drawers

Understanding the duties of the role helps create a clear job description that attracts candidates with the right skills.

For example, a Retail Cashier needs strong upselling skills and product knowledge, while a Grocery Store Cashier must possess accuracy in processing high-volume transactions and proficiency in handling various payment methods.

Step 2: Create an Attractive Cashier Job Description

Now that you know the type of Cashier you need, along with the duties and skills required, it’s time to write the job description. Focus on making it attractive, as you’re competing for talent that is sought by many establishments. 

To make your listing stand out, consider offering the following benefits in addition to a competitive salary.

• Flexible scheduling
• Performance bonuses
• Discounts or free services
• Additional paid time off
• Health insurance

These benefits enhance employee satisfaction, loyalty and productivity. If you can’t afford to offer comprehensive benefits or a salary above the market rate, focus on building a supportive company culture that values contributions and respects employees. 

Research shows that companies with strong, positive work cultures enjoy four times the revenue growth. When employees feel appreciated, they’re more engaged, motivated and likely to remain loyal to your company, ultimately reducing turnover rates.

Step 3: Know the Top Places To Source the Best Cashiers

Advertising your job opening across multiple platforms maximizes your reach, improves applicant diversity and boosts your employer branding.

Below are some places where you can post your job ad.

Team communication app

Use your team communication app to share your job description and see if any of your staff would like to recommend someone for the role. Offering an incentive for successful referrals encourages employee engagement and taps into your team’s existing network.

Job boards

Create a hospitality job post on industry-specific platforms like OysterLink. OysterLink gives you FREE access to more than 180,000 hospitality and restaurant job seekers. Its intuitive design and user-friendly features allow you to post multiple job openings within minutes. It also offers FREE job description templates you can customize for 39 positions to expedite your recruitment process. 

Social media

Posting on your social media pages is an excellent way to engage with your community, showcase your business culture and tap into your followers’ networks for potential candidates. When posting a job on social media, make sure to pair it with an eye-catching image or graphic to increase engagement. 

Inside your store

Posting a hiring sign inside your store, handing out flyers or displaying your job opening on a bulletin board is a powerful, yet often overlooked, way to advertise openings. These traditional, physical methods of recruitment serve as an effective complement to your online job postings and can help you reach candidates who may not be active on online platforms. 

Step 4: Screen and Interview Your Cashier Candidates

Once you’ve gathered enough applicants from your job posting, start screening them either manually or through an Applicant Tracking System to keep only those who meet the minimum qualifications for the position.

If needed, you can also conduct a brief phone screening to clarify any important details before moving forward, such as their availability or work schedule preferences.

After the screening process, you can now schedule an interview with candidates who appear to be a good fit. The interview is your opportunity to assess not only their technical skills but also their soft skills, such as communication, problem-solving and their ability to handle customer interactions.

You can ask behavioral and situational questions to understand how they’d respond to real-world challenges, like handling an unhappy customer or managing busy periods during peak hours.

Make sure to ask the same questions to all your candidates to ensure a fair assessment of skills, qualifications and cultural fit. 

Step 5: Plan a Proper Onboarding 

According to Gallup’s latest report, only 12% of new hires said their company offered a good onboarding experience. 

With that said, make sure you’re ready to conduct an onboarding session as soon as you’ve identified the best candidate. This can include a brief introduction to your company’s core values. Since Cashiers directly interact with customers, they need to understand the company’s brand and customer service standards. 

Once the general onboarding is done, you can now do role-specific training which can include how to operate the POS system, process transactions and issue receipts. 

Finally, set clear expectations and goals by sharing the key performance indicators you’ll be measuring their performance against. This helps employees know what they need to succeed in their roles. 

More Tips on How To Hire a Cashier

Below are more tips to help you find your ideal candidate.

Pre-screen applicants through a series of questions

Since this is an entry-level position with, more often than not, no prior experience required, you’ll likely receive many applications. You can immediately sift through unqualified candidates to reduce the work involved in screening resumes by asking questions about their ability to commute, availability for your working schedule and fit for your work environment. Below are sample questions that you can ask:

• Can you commute easily to the restaurant?
• Are you available to work varying hours based on business needs?
• Do you enjoy repetitive tasks like scanning items and handling transactions?
• How do you feel about being the face of the company?
• How do you handle situations when you’re asked about a product or promotion you’re not familiar with?

Do a paid trial run

Although not necessarily a common part of the hiring process, a trial run can help determine if the candidate is the right fit without a long-term commitment. After the interview, select two to three candidates who have passed the background check and invite them to do a trial run for a week. This will let you see if they demonstrate the necessary skills, show reliability and punctuality and blend well with the team. 

Monitor performance 

During the paid trial run or even once you’ve selected an applicant, make sure to monitor their performance. If they’re not meeting your standards, you can address this early by offering additional training or support. But if performance still doesn’t improve after mentorship, you may need to let them go rather than prolong the situation. As a Hiring Manager, your goal is to build a competitive and productive team, not to let underperformance hold others back and cause unnecessary stress.

The top skills to look for in a Cashier’s resume include customer service, attention to detail and time management skills. Experience with POS terminals is also a plus.