If you’ve landed on this article, you probably have tons of questions about working in the consumer non-durables industry and are wondering if this is a career path worth pursuing.
Good news – you have come to the right place! Whether you're an entry-level professional or well-established in another industry and looking for a career change, this article is for you!
In this article, we’ll be covering the following topics:
- What Is The Consumer Non-Durables Industry?
- What Companies Are In The Consumer Non-Durables Field?
- What Are The Job Options In Consumer Non-Durables?
- What Are The Skills Needed For Consumer Non-Durables?
- What Do Consumer Non-Durables Jobs Pay?
- Is Consumer Non-Durables A Good Career Path? (Our Verdict)
- How To Build A Job-Winning Consumer Non-Durables Resume
Let’s dig in!
What Is The Consumer Non-Durables Industry?
Consumer non-durables are products that are typically consumed or used quickly, such as food, beverages, cosmetics, cleaning supplies, and clothing. Unlike durable goods like cars and appliances, non-durables are generally bought frequently and have a short shelf life.
Companies in the consumer non-durables field are responsible for producing everyday essentials that people rely on regularly.
What Companies Are In The Consumer Non-Durables Field?
Many companies operate in the consumer non-durables industry. Here are some examples from different areas:
- Food & Beverage: Companies like Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, and Nestlé lead the way in producing beverages and packaged foods.
- Personal Care Products: Companies like Procter & Gamble, Unilever, and Colgate-Palmolive focus on producing personal hygiene and care items.
- Household Products: Firms like Clorox and Kimberly-Clark produce everyday household items like cleaning supplies and paper products.
- Apparel: Companies like Nike, Adidas, and Levi Strauss & Co. specialize in producing clothing and footwear for consumers.
These companies interact with various aspects of product development, marketing, and distribution to ensure that consumer non-durable goods are readily available to meet demand.
What Are The Job Options In Consumer Non-Durables?
When looking for jobs in the consumer non-durables industry, you can either work in roles within the sector – for example, taking a Finance position at a company that operates in the field – or take a position that directly contributes to product development, production, or distribution.
In this section, we’ll cover the most common job options in the field.
Jobs In Product Development
Product development roles focus on the creation and improvement of consumer non-durable goods. The most common roles in this area are:
- Product Manager: Oversees the development and lifecycle of consumer products from concept to market.
- R&D Scientist: Works on creating new products or improving existing products through research and testing.
- Packaging Designer: Focuses on designing packaging that is both functional and appealing to consumers.
Jobs In Manufacturing
Roles in manufacturing ensure that consumer non-durable goods are produced efficiently and at scale. The most common roles in this area are:
- Production Supervisor: Manages daily operations in manufacturing facilities to ensure that production goals are met.
- Quality Assurance Specialist: Ensures that products meet quality standards before they are distributed to consumers.
- Supply Chain Manager: Oversees the logistics of sourcing materials and delivering finished products to retailers.
Jobs In Marketing & Sales
Marketing and sales roles aim to promote and sell consumer non-durable goods. The most common roles in this area are:
- Brand Manager: Develops strategies to enhance a product’s brand presence and market share.
- Sales Representative: Works with retailers and distributors to sell products to consumers.
- Market Research Analyst: Analyzes market trends and consumer behavior to help companies make informed product and marketing decisions.
What Are The Skills Needed For Consumer Non-Durables?
Learning the skills required for each position is very important. You might have to address some skill gaps or you may already have well-developed skills that you can leverage as you seek a new role.
Here are the required skills for the most common roles in the consumer non-durables industry:
Entry-Level Roles:
- Marketing & Communication Skills: Essential for roles in marketing and sales, where conveying the value of products to consumers is critical.
- Attention to Detail: Ensuring product quality and compliance with safety standards requires a high level of precision.
- Flexibility: Willingness to adapt to fast-changing market trends and consumer preferences.
Mid-Senior Manager Roles:
- Leadership: The ability to lead, motivate, and manage teams across various functions, from marketing to production.
- Strategic Thinking: Developing strategies to grow market share and adapt to consumer demands.
- Project Management: Managing product launches and marketing campaigns from start to finish.
Mid-Senior Technical Roles:
- Product Development Expertise: In-depth knowledge of product design, manufacturing processes, and materials.
- Data Analysis: Using data to analyze consumer behavior and improve product offerings.
- Innovation: The ability to develop new product concepts or packaging that meet consumer needs.
Finding Your Fit With Consumer Non-Durable Roles
Want to find out if you are the right fit for a role in the consumer non-durable industry?
We've got you covered.
Here's a simple, step-by-step guide to find out if you have the skills to take a new position in the consumer non-durables industry!
- Head over to LinkedIn and search for consumer non-durables industry roles.
- Copy the job description of the role that sparked your interest.
- Head over to ResyMatch.io (or use our shortcut below)
- Grab a copy of your most updated resume.
- Upload your resume on the left side.
- Paste the job description on the right side.
- Hit “Start Resume Scan.”
Boom! ResyMatch will compare and score your resume versus the job description and identify skill gaps.
ResyMatch will also provide best practices you can use to improve your resume and will ensure that your resume is ATS compliant (ATS is a software that recruiters use to track candidates through their hiring process).
Use our shortcut below to get started:
Scanning...
What Do Consumer Non-Durables Jobs Pay?
Now that we’ve covered the most common jobs in the consumer non-durables industry, you might be wondering how much these roles pay.
To answer this question, let’s head over to one of our favorite tools for salary research: Glassdoor.
Glassdoor is one of the world’s top job and recruiting websites where users can anonymously provide information about their companies – including their current salary. Glassdoor provides an average salary range for various roles based on the information sent by its users.
According to Glassdoor, the base salary for the most common consumer non-durables industry jobs in 2024 are:
- Product Manager: $95K – $161K / year base pay (USD)
- R&D Scientist: $72K – $133K / year base pay (USD)
- Production Supervisor: $56K – $82K / year base pay (USD)
- Brand Manager: $85K – $143K / year base pay (USD)
- Sales Representative: $55K – $100K / year base pay (USD)
- Supply Chain Manager: $88K – $137K / year base pay (USD)
Best Paying Jobs In Consumer Non-Durables Compared To The Average U.S. Salary In 2024
Now, let's check what that looks like compared to the average U.S. salary.
According to the Social Security Administration, the average salary in the U.S. is $63,795.
This is what the best-paying jobs in the consumer non-durables industry look like when we put them in perspective:
R&D Specialist, Supply Chain Manager, and Brand Manager are the highest-paying roles in the consumer non-durables industry, with an earning potential of up to 124% higher than the U.S. average.
Now that we've covered the important basics of the consumer non-durables industry, we can finally answer the biggest question many job seekers have when considering a new industry:
Is Consumer Non-Durables A Good Career Path? (Our Verdict)
Consumer non-durables is a good career path for people who have an interest in product development, marketing, and sales.
Consumer non-durables roles are essential for maintaining the flow of essential goods to consumers. Companies like Coca-Cola, Unilever, and Procter & Gamble are leaders in the field.
If you feel like this might be the career path for you, then be sure to dive into the next section where we will cover the best strategies to help you land a job in the field:
How To Build A Job-Winning Consumer Non-Durables Resume
Here's a fact most people don't usually realize: you don't need traditional experience to take on a new role.
You can leverage your unique background, experiences, and skills for nearly any position, as long as you sell it.
Think about your resume as an advertisement for yourself. Like any ad, you want it to be compelling and visually attractive, right?
That's exactly what you will do with your resume!
You will start by:
1. Leveraging The Best Keywords For Your Target Role
Remember ResyMatch.io, that resume and job description scanner tool we mentioned earlier in this article?
We first showed you how you can scan and compare your resume with your target job description to find out how your skills match the role.
However, if you don't have a resume yet, you can still get great insight from this tool by running a job description scan.
Here's how: head over to ResyMatch.io and, in “Scan Type,” select “Job Description Scanner.” Then, copy the job description for your target role and paste it into the box on the left.
ResyMatch.io will provide a list of hard and soft skills that apply to the role. You can use these skills as keywords when building your resume.
Skim through the list to get ideas for keywords you can leverage on your resume.
For example, let's say you are an innovative and analytical individual. Are there any previous experiences, personal projects, or even academic achievements that you can showcase in your resume to highlight these skills?
If yes, then make sure to include those on your resume and then move on to the next step:
2. Writing Compelling Resume Bullets
This is where you'll start crafting a resume that sells!
You'll want your resume bullets to have just the right amount of hard and soft skills, action words, measurable results, and common words.
This means a compelling consumer non-durables industry resume bullet for someone applying for a Product Manager role might look something like this:
Managed a cross-functional team to successfully introduce a new personal care product line, growing market share by 10%.
This bullet focuses on specific hard and soft skills that apply to a Product Manager, while also showcasing measurable results!
To help you write the perfect resume bullet, we've created ResyBullet.io, a free resume bullet analyzer that helps you write your resume in a way that grabs attention and illustrates value. Simply copy and paste your resume bullet below to begin your analysis:
ResyBullet will analyze and score your resume bullet and give you actionable insights for improvement.
Here's how our consumer non-durables industry resume bullet scored on ResyBullet:
If you're a visual learner, check out our video that walks you through the step-by-step of writing a crazy-effective resume bullet:
3. Make Your Resume Visually Appealing
The last step is to take all of your content and apply it to a layout that is both easy to read and visually appealing. We recommend using a resume template so you can save the time you would normally spend designing your resume and instead allocate it to other high-value activities in your job search (like interview prep and networking).
You can use ResyBuild.io, a free resume builder, to easily build and customize your resume in no time. Just pick one of the templates below and get started:
Free Job-Winning Resume Templates, Build Yours In No Time.
Choose a resume template below to get started:
Choose from 8 proven templates and easily create, edit, and customize your resume. ResyBuild's AI assistant also helps you craft personalized, job-winning bullets in a single click. Simply add your experience, hit “Optimize”, and watch the magic happen.
Ready To Pursue A Consumer Non-Durables Career Path?
Then check out our No Experience, No Problem course and access a proven framework for building the skills and results you need to break into a new industry (even if you have absolutely no relevant experience right now)!
