No offense meant to any of my retailer friends, but let’s be honest – working in a grocery store, like working in fast food, is a right of passage for many teenagers. There just can’t be that many saying, “Gee – I’ve always wanted to manage a grocery store!” Maybe a more active role for NGA would help attract and keep talent – this sounds more passive, in that you would have to find it before it became useful.

Well, this sounds ambitious, but — wait a minute: why wouldn’t the grocers in their locations launch, with a local community college along with NGA, a teaching program to do the same, for candidates already in the market? And once a week, a representative of a store can come in and share real world experiences and discuss. I think the local investment by the grocers would be worth it, even if they recruit only three fireballs.

My high school job was at Publix. It was a great job, and I was treated very well. I have many people from my home town that are now retiring from thriving careers there, and they don’t have a negative thing to say about it. Even a deli worker can buy into stock and become a highly paid manager one day, and loyalty, great customer support and hard work pays off. Everyone there knows it, and the retail experience is superb — making it one of the most beloved grocery brands out there. Many lessons to learn within their walls for the larger industry on what a career here could result in IF their leaders know how to cultivate the ecosystem for all.

I commend the NGA for starting the job board and putting some resources towards this growing problem. However, I also believe more needs to be done to create a “pipeline” of great retail talent moving into a career path for grocery retailers and wholesalers. Let’s be honest, working in the grocery business is hard work and unless a part-time employee develops a passion for the business the talent will be lost to other industries. On the other hand, there is great talent out their today working in grocery stores that have no idea about the career opportunities in the business because there is no communication, meetings, webinars or trainee programs to connect the talent to the long-term career opportunities. To be truly effective, these efforts must be at the local level connecting retail grocery employees to retail and wholesale management teams. I am not talking job fairs. I am talking well thought-out programs that are sustainable over time by management to create the passion for the business in the next generations of grocery retail employees.

Low wages translate to entry level jobs and higher employee turnover. Those characteristics do not change through a national job board. Careers are about perceived future prospects of personal growth in a healthy, growing segment of an industry. So the NGA’s national job board is an excellent way to provide transparency and a sense of belonging for those in the industry already, I’m less optimistic about it capturing the attention and imagination of future employees.

Independent grocers are well connected to their communities – that is their strength. Attracting and keeping talent must start locally with ongoing investment in employee education, training, and pay so those early entrants can more easily imagine a potential career.

Great idea and parts of it could be useful. But I would not look at is as a hiring tool I would look at it as a retention too.

Recruiting is an individual store problem and not something that is going to be solved by another job board.
The site could be a great retention tool if the educational portion of the site is any good. One of the key motivators every employee is looking for is a chance to grow and learn. This site could be a great benefit to the independent operator because it gives them a training platform for employees.

The NGA Foundation Career Center is poised to become a successful grocery community hub that could improve the quality of talent for independent grocers by focusing on people’s passion for food.

For instance, the career center may actively target people who care about nutrition as the foundation for health and wellness, or home cooks who love to host dinner parties. Their enthusiasm for food and relevant experience could improve the customer experience for independent grocers.

Also, by sharing industry information, this online resource can help associates stay engaged and relevant by understanding – and serving consumers who seek – emerging grocery trends like plant-based meats, artisanal goods and less plastic waste.

By uniting people who love food, this online hub can create a community and boost loyalty among independent grocery workers (and the consumers they serve).