Retail Business Management Certificate of Achievement

Cost: $2,854
Length: 36 weeks
Working 6 months later: Not reported

Program names, program descriptions and occupation titles appear here in English, because that is the only language the federal and state records publish them in. Everything else on this page is translated.

What this work is

This describes the jobs people do, not the classes this program teaches. It comes from the U.S. Department of Labor, which asks people already doing the work. The Department publishes it in English only, so the job names and the sentences below stay in English on this page.

General and Operations Managers

Job ads may call this: Store Manager · Center Manager · Business Manager · District Manager

Some of what people in this job do. The Department rates how important each one is, and they appear in that order.

Review financial statements, sales or activity reports, or other performance data to measure productivity or goal achievement or to identify areas needing cost reduction or program improvement.
Direct and coordinate activities of businesses or departments concerned with the production, pricing, sales, or distribution of products.
Manage the movement of goods into and out of production facilities to ensure efficiency, effectiveness, or sustainability of operations.
Direct administrative activities directly related to making products or providing services.

Show 2 more things this job involves

Set prices or credit terms for goods or services, based on forecasts of customer demand.
Prepare staff work schedules and assign specific duties.

Sales Managers

Job ads may call this: Sales Manager · Sales Director · Sales Supervisor · District Sales Manager

Some of what people in this job do. The Department rates how important each one is, and they appear in that order.

Oversee regional and local sales managers and their staffs.
Resolve customer complaints regarding sales and service.
Monitor customer preferences to determine focus of sales efforts.
Confer with potential customers regarding equipment needs, and advise customers on types of equipment to purchase.

Show 3 more things this job involves

Review operational records and reports to project sales and determine profitability.
Plan and direct staffing, training, and performance evaluations to develop and control sales and service programs.
Direct and coordinate activities involving sales of manufactured products, services, commodities, real estate, or other subjects of sale.

First-Line Supervisors of Retail Sales Workers

Job ads may call this: Key Carrier · Shift Manager · Store Manager · Bakery Manager

Some of what people in this job do. The Department rates how important each one is, and they appear in that order.

Provide customer service by greeting and assisting customers and responding to customer inquiries and complaints.
Direct and supervise employees engaged in sales, inventory-taking, reconciling cash receipts, or in performing services for customers.
Formulate pricing policies for merchandise, according to profitability requirements.
Examine merchandise to ensure that it is correctly priced and displayed and that it functions as advertised.

Show 3 more things this job involves

Monitor sales activities to ensure that customers receive satisfactory service and quality goods.
Instruct staff on how to handle difficult and complicated sales.
Assign employees to specific duties.

What it costs and how long it takes

Cost: $2,854
Length: 36 weeks
People enrolled: 52

This is a hybrid or blended program providing both in-person and online instruction.

What happened to people who took this

Finished the program: 13%Based on 71 peopleTypical California program: 85% of 1,951 reportingThat median pools every California program that reported this measure, whatever its length, credential, or field, and leaves out the ones that reported nothing. It is a reference point, not a rating of this program.
Working 6 months later: Not reported
Earnings in one quarter after: Not reported

What the job pays, and who gets hired

Shrinking -3.4%
California projects this job will shrink over the next ten years. Fewer openings may mean a harder search.

Trains for more than one job. The outlook shown is the weakest of them.

No regional figures for this program's city

Lemoore is not one of the metropolitan or rural areas California names when it publishes wages and openings. A neighbouring area's figures would look exactly like a correct answer, so none are shown and the statewide figures stand alone. About half of California's programs are in this position.

General and Operations Managers

Typical pay in California: $126,477per year
Projected openings: 264,410
Projected change: +6.7%
Usually needs: Bachelor's degree

Getting in

Experience needed first: 5 years or more in a related job
Training after you are hired: None

Most people hired for this job have already spent 5 years or more in a related one. Finishing this program may not be enough on its own. Ask the provider who hires their graduates, and what those people did before.

These are the federal government's answers for the occupation, not rules this provider sets. California publishes the same two answers for every one of these jobs.

What people in this job actually studied

Most common: Four-year degree — 33% of the people doing this work.

California says this job usually needs: Bachelor's degree. 53% of the people doing it went less far than that.

No high school diploma: 3%
High school diploma: 17%
Started college, no degree: 23%
Two-year degree: 10%
Four-year degree: 33%
Master's degree: 12%
Doctorate or professional degree: 2%

This counts people already doing this job, across the whole United States. Every other figure on this page is California's, and the federal government publishes no state version of this one. It is what people happen to have, not a rule about who gets hired. A small row does not mean you would be turned away, and a large one is not a promise of a job.

Sales Managers

Typical pay in California: $137,173per year
Projected openings: 88,500
Projected change: +2.9%
Usually needs: Bachelor's degree

Getting in

Experience needed first: Under 5 years in a related job
Training after you are hired: None

Employers usually expect some time in a related job as well as the training. Ask the provider what their graduates did before they were hired.

These are the federal government's answers for the occupation, not rules this provider sets. California publishes the same two answers for every one of these jobs.

What people in this job actually studied

Most common: Four-year degree — 46% of the people doing this work.

California says this job usually needs: Bachelor's degree. 40% of the people doing it went less far than that.

No high school diploma: 2%
High school diploma: 11%
Started college, no degree: 19%
Two-year degree: 8%
Four-year degree: 46%
Master's degree: 13%
Doctorate or professional degree: 2%

First-Line Supervisors of Retail Sales Workers

Typical pay in California: $55,370per year
Projected openings: 126,230
Projected change: -3.4%
Usually needs: High school diploma or equivalent

Getting in

Experience needed first: Under 5 years in a related job
Training after you are hired: None

Employers usually expect some time in a related job as well as the training. Ask the provider what their graduates did before they were hired.

These are the federal government's answers for the occupation, not rules this provider sets. California publishes the same two answers for every one of these jobs.

What people in this job actually studied

Most common: High school diploma — 29% of the people doing this work.

California says this job usually needs: High school diploma or equivalent. 6% of the people doing it went less far than that.

No high school diploma: 6%
High school diploma: 29%
Started college, no degree: 27%
Two-year degree: 10%
Four-year degree: 22%
Master's degree: 5%
Doctorate or professional degree: 1%

Program details

A program that prepares individuals to manage the operations of a wide variety of retail businesses including department stores independent and chain stores fashion food and beverage and pharmaceutical establishments and online retail businesses. Includes instruction in retail management merchandise management customer service management marketing organizational behavior accounting finance business law and personnel management.

Provider's website →

Someone else may be able to pay for this

This program was on California's Eligible Training Provider List when the state last reported it to the U.S. Department of Labor (2026-08-04). Programs on that list can be paid for through an Individual Training Account. Listings are renewed periodically and can lapse, so a program listed when the state last reported may not be listed today. Ask before you rely on it.

Federal training money under the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act is paid through an Individual Training Account: an agreement between a local workforce board and a training provider, set up on behalf of one person. That money can only go to a provider on the state's Eligible Training Provider List, which is the list every program on this site comes from.

The rule: 20 CFR 680.300 — How are training services provided? · 20 CFR 680.410 — What is an eligible training provider? · California EDD — Eligible Training Provider List

The place to ask is an America's Job Center of California

A comprehensive center is where all the required partner programs can be reached; an affiliate site offers some of them. California's Employment Development Department directs people to CareerOneStop's finder to locate one. Contacting a center before traveling is worth it — the state notes that its own staff are not physically present at every location.

The rule: 20 CFR 678.305 — What is a comprehensive one-stop center? · 20 CFR 678.310 — What is an affiliated site? · California EDD — Office Locator

No America's Job Center is within about 25 miles of this program's city. There is one further away — the finder below searches the whole state.

Find a center anywhere in California, and check what is on the list today:
CareerOneStop — American Job Center Finder (U.S. DOL) · California EDD — Office Locator · California EDD — Eligible Training Provider List

Who can be served at all

California states the general criteria as three things: age, Selective Service registration where it applies, and authorization to work in the United States. Work authorization is checked when someone moves into a service that needs it, not at the door — career assessments, an employment plan, case management, basic skills and English instruction, help finishing work-authorization paperwork, and referrals for transport, childcare, food and housing are all listed as services a local area may deliver without verifying it first.

The rule: California EDD — WIOA Title I Eligibility Technical Assistance Guide (WSD24-04)

Say if you receive public assistance, are low income, or need basic skills help

For the adult funding stream, federal law requires priority to be given to recipients of public assistance, other low-income individuals, and individuals who are basic skills deficient. California instructs job center staff to work an explicit order: veterans and eligible spouses who are also in one of those groups, then the groups themselves, then other veterans and eligible spouses, then any populations the Governor or the local board has added, then everyone else. Priority does not exclude anyone else, and it does not apply to the dislocated worker stream. It only operates if the center is told, and California fixes a person's priority status at the moment eligibility is determined — so it is the first appointment that counts.

The rule: 20 CFR 680.600 — Priority for low-income adults and public assistance · 20 CFR 680.610 — Does the adult priority also apply to dislocated worker funds? · 20 CFR 1010.200 — Priority of service for veterans and eligible spouses · California EDD — Adult Program Priority of Service (WSD24-06)

Ask what else can be covered while you train

Supportive services — help with transport, child care and dependent care, and others — may be provided to people taking part in career or training services who cannot obtain them elsewhere. Adults who are unemployed, do not qualify for unemployment compensation, and are enrolled in training may be eligible for needs-related payments as well.

The rule: 20 CFR 680.900 — What are supportive services for adults? · 20 CFR 680.910 — When may supportive services be provided? · 20 CFR 680.940 — Eligibility for needs-related payments

The answer depends on the local area, and on the year

Once someone has been found eligible and has chosen a provider, the center must refer them and set up an account — unless the program has exhausted its training funds for the program year. How much an account is worth, which occupations a board will fund, what counts as employment that supports a person, and how priority is applied are all set locally, across California's 45 local workforce development areas. Meeting every rule here still does not secure a place. California's own guidance to job center staff says so plainly: WIOA is not an entitlement program, funding for it is not unlimited, and local boards offer services to eligible applicants when funding is available.

The rule: 20 CFR 680.340 — What are the requirements for consumer choice? · 20 CFR 680.310 — Can the duration and amount of ITAs be limited? · California EDD — WIOA Title I Eligibility Technical Assistance Guide (WSD24-04) · California EDD — Eligible Training Provider List

What to ask before you commit

Questions for the America's Job Center (9)

Which funding stream would I be served under — adult, dislocated worker, or youth?
They are different pots with different rules. The statutory priority for public assistance recipients, low-income individuals and people who are basic skills deficient applies to adult funds only. Out-of-school youth aged 16 to 24 can be served by Individual Training Accounts from youth funds.
The rule: 20 CFR 680.600 — Priority for low-income adults and public assistance · 20 CFR 680.610 — Does the adult priority also apply to dislocated worker funds? · 20 CFR 681.550 — Are Individual Training Accounts permitted for youth?
Is this occupation one this local area funds training for?
The program has to be linked to employment opportunities in the local area or one the person will commute to, and boards give priority to credentials aligned with in-demand sectors. A program can be on the state list and still not be one a particular board will pay for.
The rule: 20 CFR 680.210 — Who may receive training services? · 20 CFR 680.340 — What are the requirements for consumer choice?
What is the most this area will put into an Individual Training Account, and would that cover this program?
Caps and duration limits are local policy, not federal, so the same program can be fully funded in one county and partly funded in the next. A cap is also not necessarily the end of it: the rules allow someone to choose training that costs more than the maximum when other funds are available to make up the difference. Ask what the gap would be and what could close it.
The rule: 20 CFR 680.310 — Can the duration and amount of ITAs be limited? · 20 CFR 680.230 — Coordination of WIOA training funds and other grants
How does this area define employment that supports a person?
The determination turns on whether someone can reach self-sufficiency without training, and California requires each local board to set that threshold itself — at least the lower living standard income level for the area, and often higher. It is a local number, and it is the number the decision rests on.
The rule: 20 CFR 680.210 — Who may receive training services? · California EDD — WIOA Title I Eligibility Technical Assistance Guide (WSD24-04)
Can I use this for a program in another county, or another state?
Training outside the local area is allowed where the program is on the state list, and outside California where state and local policies permit — both subject to local procedure. Worth asking anywhere the nearest program is a long drive, which in this state is a lot of places.
The rule: 20 CFR 680.520 — May individuals choose providers outside the local area?
Are there training funds left for this program year?
The obligation to refer an eligible person and set up an account holds unless the program has exhausted its training funds for the year. That is the one answer a website can never know, and it decides everything.
The rule: 20 CFR 680.340 — What are the requirements for consumer choice?
What should I apply for first — a Pell Grant, or anything else?
WIOA funds are for people who cannot get grant assistance elsewhere or who need more than it covers, and centers must consider other sources first. Enrolling with a Pell application pending is allowed if arranged in advance.
The rule: 20 CFR 680.230 — Coordination of WIOA training funds and other grants
Can you help with transport, child care, or living costs while I train?
Supportive services and needs-related payments are separate from tuition, and are only available to people already taking part in career or training services who cannot get that help anywhere else. They are worth asking about in the same conversation, not a later one.
The rule: 20 CFR 680.900 — What are supportive services for adults? · 20 CFR 680.940 — Eligibility for needs-related payments
What should I bring, and how long does a determination take?
The determination rests on an interview, evaluation or assessment and career planning, and the center has to be able to document it. There is no federal minimum waiting period, so the answer is local and worth knowing before taking a day off work.
The rule: 20 CFR 680.220 — Are there particular career services an individual must receive before training?

Questions for the training provider (5)

Is this program on California's Eligible Training Provider List right now?
An Individual Training Account can only pay a provider on that list, and listings are granted per program rather than per school — a listed provider can have unlisted programs. Eligibility is also time-limited and renewed.
The rule: 20 CFR 680.410 — What is an eligible training provider? · California EDD — Eligible Training Provider List
What does the price include, and what will I still have to buy — books, tools, uniforms, exam fees, license fees?
Providers report tuition and supplies to the state as separate figures and either can be missing, so the cost shown here may be a floor rather than a total. Exam and licensing fees are often outside both.
The rule: 20 CFR 680.490 — Performance and cost information providers submit
What exactly do I hold at the end, who issues it, and does an employer or a licensing board recognize it?
A program on the list has to lead to a credential, employment, or measurable progress toward one — but 'certificate of completion' from a school and a license a state board recognizes are very different things to be holding.
The rule: 20 CFR 680.420 — What is a “program of training services”?
If I stop partway through, what do I owe, and what happens to funding already paid?
An Individual Training Account is a payment agreement with the provider and may be paid in instalments, so who is owed what on a withdrawal is a question for the provider and the center together, before enrolling rather than after.
The rule: 20 CFR 680.300 — How are training services provided?
When does the next cohort start, and how many hours a week is it?
The schedule decides whether someone can keep working while training, and needs-related payments are only for people who are unemployed and already enrolled — so the timetable and the money question are the same question.
The rule: 20 CFR 680.940 — Eligibility for needs-related payments

Whether a person can have a program paid for is decided by their local workforce development board and the America's Job Center staff who interview them — not by this site, and not by the training provider. California has 45 local workforce development areas and each sets its own policies, so the answer can differ between two people in neighboring counties. Nothing here is a promise of funding or a determination of eligibility.

The rules cited here, and the state and federal sites linked to, are published in English.

How this site gets its figures, and what they do not tell you →