What Does It Take to Move ‘Up!’ in Retail?

The retail career path has been unfairly maligned over the years as a dead end. I believe the historical and conventional rhetoric about retail has it all wrong. More than most career alternatives, retail opens doors all the way to the top. Many of the senior leaders at Dollar General, including Rick Dreiling, chairman and CEO, Greg Sparks, EVP of store operations, and Todd Vasos, EVP, division president and chief merchandising officer, all started in junior roles and have remained in retail throughout their careers.

My retail career started after serving in the military, then working for PepsiCo for 11 years, before making the transition to retailing in footwear, Home Depot, Starbucks and now with DG. I would submit in all these cases, the difference between making retail an upwardly mobile career rests with individual drive, perseverance and attitude.

Up! by Bob RavenerIn my book, Up! The Difference Between Today and Tomorrow Is You, I make the case that there is much more within one’s control than often realized. It’s really up to you to determine how successful you become. Retail is no exception.

I have lived through the highest of highs and lowest of lows in this business. On the low side, I’ve lost a job and been passed over for promotion. In each instance, I had a choice between giving up or fighting on. My refusal to concede defeat has made all the difference in my career.

At Dollar General, we are creating a career mindset to help those willing to move up within the organization. We have invested significant resources in several key initiatives to help our employees develop their talents and advance their careers:

  • Our robust individual growth and development plan process demonstrates our resolve to help employees maximize their career aspirations.
  • Significant investments in training have resulted in internal placements into new roles that now exceed sixty percent. (Many companies don’t even track internal movement.)
  • Our Talent Development Centers have provided experiences and action plans for almost a thousand store operations employees.
  • We’ve entered into a university alliance with 12 colleges that offer discounted degree programs for employees.

Being the chief people officer for a Fortune 200 company with almost 100,000 employees and with over 25 years of corporate experience working directly with people, I believe how far and fast one goes in life is really up to them. Retail is no different.

BrainTrust

Discussion Questions

What will the retail industry need to do to put an end to negative opinions about careers in the business? What specific steps should retailers take to attract and retain more career-minded applicants?

Poll

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Steve Montgomery
Steve Montgomery
10 years ago

It is unfortunately true that many people today don’t see retail as a “real” job but something they do before and until they get one. There are many reasons for this including those listed in poll. The most talked and written about is pay (rate and having more hours) and benefits and while certainly very important, so are being properly trained, the work environment, and having a career path.

Retail is something that many people are exposed to while they are young, often in a part time position. In that role pay is important, but so is the work environment. If they are in a an environment that treats them as an expense rather than an asset, they quickly form the opinion that retail is not for them regardless of the pay. However, if they work in an environment that provides them with the sense that they matter, then retail has at least of chance of being chosen as a career.

Frank Riso
Frank Riso
10 years ago

There are so many things I could recommend. However, one very important point from my own career is training and a college education. I worked at store level while earning two degrees, a junior college degree and my bachelor’s degree and at the same time was placed in a formal four phase manager training program. The retailer at that time offered no help to pay for college. That would and still can be an incentive to stay in the industry. I did get full paid tuition for my graduate degree, but after leaving the stores.

Training and education is a commitment the retailer can make and in turn, the staff can make an equal commitment to the industry. I did.

Kevin Graff
Kevin Graff
10 years ago

Great article, Bob! I’ll be certain to pick up your book.

More than ever, retail CAN be a great career for many. The advent of store formats that produce multi-million dollar sales has allowed retailers to pay their store management teams great salaries that allow them to provide for a good family life outside of work.

Also, name one other industry that can take someone with just average education and over a remarkably short period—of less than 2 years in most cases—take someone from part time sales into full time management.

I’ve been training retail employees for over 25 years and I can’t even begin to say how proud I am now to be a part of this great industry.

Ian Percy
Ian Percy
10 years ago

First let’s get rid of the vertical measure. When you talk about an ‘up’ you also implicate a ‘down’. Let’s talk about an ‘out’, seeing what we call ‘retail’ as an innovative way to release the potential—the ‘in’—of one’s life into serving others, into innovation, into prosperity and so on. The whole industry needs to be reframed because its possibilities are endless. This is an energetic challenge, not a mechanistic one as implied by today’s survey options about pay, hours, training, etc.

David Livingston
David Livingston
10 years ago

I’m not so sure the industry feels they need to put an end to the negative opinions. There are various labor models in place already and we have many companies who focus on hiring career-minded applicants. They hire good people and pay them well. Then there are those retailers that simply need warm bodies. The last thing they want is someone sticking around more than a year unless they are a rainmaker.

It’s really up to the individual to determine if they want to opt into higher level positions. Someone serious about a retail career will hook up with one of the better companies and do what it takes to get a job. A lot of these companies recruit under the radar and the employees like it that way.

Bill Bittner
Bill Bittner
10 years ago

I spent over 40 years in retail, mostly with one employer. I attribute my success to luck as much as personal attributes. Just like the overriding economic environment can quickly overwhelm an individual stock investment, the overall environment at an individual retailer can quickly impact an individual employee’s decision to make it a career.

Mr. Ravener’s title “EVP & Chief People Officer” and their outline of employee career services say it all for Dollar General. Their results over the past few years only confirm that employees make the difference in an organization.

Retail offers a great opportunity for a successful career. It has a low “barrier to entry,” not requiring a PhD to get started, but I do believe it requires continuing education to be successful. The unique combination of skills required by a successful store manager as they deal with conflicting messages coming from headquarters, employees who are only motivated by a pay check, and customers who make ever increasing demands, is a great discriminator. Successful store managers are prime candidates for other leadership roles.

Ryan Mathews
Ryan Mathews
10 years ago

First of all it needs to create more opportunity for full time workers. Next it must get better at screening, hiring and retention. Then it must get a more aggressive set of benefits, especially tuition reimbursement and clearly reward (as opposed to expecting) outstanding individual performances like those the author mentioned). Finally it must identify high potential employees and create advancement tracks for them.

Simple road map, but tough to execute given margin pressure and competition.

Brian Kelly
Brian Kelly
10 years ago

Address wage slave perception. Compare with other professions e.g. law and consulting. Consider costs of advanced degrees and compensation across a range of professions. Cut at 10 and 20 years out. I think if a person enters any profession with the expectation of a leadership role, retail will favorably compare.

Ed Rosenbaum
Ed Rosenbaum
10 years ago

This is an excellent article Bob wrote. But as Chief People Officer, he better believe it or he is in the wrong position. Maybe Dollar General does have a upward career program. I hope they do and others will follow their lead.

My guess is DG is the exception and not the rule. In most large box retail stores you will see part timers and older folks manning the cash wraps. Rarely do you see someone who appears to be a manager on the way up the ladder.

Tony Orlando
Tony Orlando
10 years ago

I run a small independent supermarket, and keeping employees for a career is tough. Even larger chains are cutting back due to economic pressures on the bottom line. Larger, well-financed stores are always looking for good people, and can offer good benefits as well, if you are willing to sacrifice weekends, and work long hours.

I try to pay as much as I can, and train everyone to be extra friendly. Insurance is provided, but college education funding isn’t possible. I treat them fairly and have kept many of my full time workers around for 10 years or more. I would love to do more, but the reality is that the bottom line won’t allow for it. A matching 401K program was started 5 years ago, and most of the employees have turned it down, so the effort to retain them is all I can do with the resources I have. Any other small business owners out there, I would like to here from you.

Lee Kent
Lee Kent
10 years ago

I am assuming this is all about the store level jobs and not so much the corporate. Working for Federated Dept Stores, as I did once, was certainly far from a poor place to work. Career path, environment, and so on were very competitive.

The bad name in retail is due to the entry level store positions with little or no upward movement. Unless of course you’re really good and willing to move. You can certainly work up the ranks within the store, however, those positions are just a few. So how do we deal with these issues? Is it just pay and benefits? I think not.

I think it’s time to rethink retail. Merchants get paid decently to select merchandise, plan assortments, get it distributed. It gets to the stores where the hourly employees, who just work for the paycheck, are suppose to sell it. What’s wrong with this picture?

With more and more access to data from all levels, isn’t the store employee becoming even more important in completing the path to purchase? They should be walking, talking brand advocates who are right in the face of potential customers all the time. Let’s find a way to redefine career paths in stores to reflect just that! Just sayin’….

alexander keenan
alexander keenan
10 years ago

Retail gets some of the best and the brightest early in their career. My son is working for a major retailer. He is working there because they were able to process his application and have him working in 2 days. He applied at other retailers but their HR’s were very poor. He is now a manager and finishing his 4 year degree. However, he is also in the rut of available openings and opportunities. To advance he will either have to relocate or find a position with another company.

Many times in retail, the ratio of workers to available openings in the next level is poor. Advancement is many times as much political as performance. I have asked my son if he has considered looking at management opportunities outside of retail. I have worked in both retail and other industries. I have told my son there are MANY great companies to work for. You want to identify those great companies that treat employees well and have opportunities. With the internet that is now possible. Then you want to focus your efforts on being hired by one of those companies.

Stan Barrett
Stan Barrett
10 years ago

Promote the opportunities in high school and college. Texas A&M had or still has a Center for Retailing Studies where they brought in great speakers (Stanley Marcus, etc.) Show them the advancement opportunities possible, but be honest about the hours. We laughed at a friend who went to Walmart out of college—pretty sure he is a millionaire now. Retailing is like foodservice—you can move up fast, but in most cases you will always be on a different calendar than your peers. It is not for everyone.

PLUS: Make sure everyone at corporate, no matter what they are hired to do, spends some time in a store. The store is what pays the salaries at corporate! UPS used to make everyone do a stint on a truck.

M. Jericho Banks PhD
M. Jericho Banks PhD
10 years ago

Scratch the surface of any top retail exec and you’ll find entry-level retail experience. Heck, scratch the surface of any executive in any business and you’re likely to find entry-level retail experience. It’s simply how most of us get our first jobs, and most times does not presage a retail career.

I disagree that there are “negative opinions about careers in the [retail] business.” In it since the late 60s, coast-to-coast, at almost every level, I’ve never ever heard negative opinions about retail careers. And I’m told that I’m a pretty good listener (just don’t ask my ex).

To quote the Black Monk, ‘thumbs-up” to Dollar General for their training and advancement programs. B-b-but, they are not alone in these types of efforts. All successful retailers have similar programs.

Oh, and find yourself a mentor, a “rabbi” if you will, to hitch your wagon to. It can’t hurt.

Ralph Jacobson
Ralph Jacobson
10 years ago

Let’s face it, retailing is a tough business, and few qualified college graduates are eager to physically and mentally work this hard to pay their dues for years in order to get to high positions.

I think avoiding the “sugar coating” that is often done during the recruitment process is a great start. Tell the candidate that there will be a period of time that they will need to spend in several stores, in every department, facing shoppers and learning the business.

That will enable the recruiters to sift through the people whom will inevitably get burned out of the organization, and all time to focus upon the potential leaders of the future.

Craig Sundstrom
Craig Sundstrom
10 years ago

So if everyone works real, real hard they can all become company president someday? Uhm, no….

I don’t mean to single out DG, and I applaud their initiatives, but it’s obvious to even the most clueless of people that in a large organization, only a fraction of people are ever going to rise beyond the lower ranks (whether those clueless people realize that they’re not an exception is another matter); and of course many people accept—or are even happy—with that. But it does compel companies that want to be seen as more than a revolving door to place a great deal of emphasis on the working conditions of the lowest level workers…since that’s where most will spend most of their time.

Andrew Paciolla
Andrew Paciolla
10 years ago

The retail industry needs to dramatically improve the quality of life aspect! How? Find, attract, recruit and maintain the best teams possible! Ensure that “quality” time off away from work is a guaranteed and expected part of the culture. Ask yourself who wants to work most holidays and long hours with low to moderate pay?

Keep teams involved and part of the solution! Invested employees will stay longer as long as they see a return on their time and effort invested! Most people are looking for that Monday thru Friday job with weekends off which is not retail! Ensure stores are given proper people and payroll investment to deliver on the company’s expectations. Working with few/less staff saves the company money BUT the added on stress and extra challenges don’t do the customers any justice!

Happy associates make happy customers! Take good care of the store teams!

W. Frank Dell II, CMC
W. Frank Dell II, CMC
10 years ago

In most companies there is a route to the top. In CPG it is through category/brand management. In retail it is through store management with side steps along the way. First, retailers should point out how many executives in the firm came up the ranks. Walmart even has a TV advertisement pointing out how a shelf stocker can rise up the ranks.

An important key is to start by hiring people who want to move up the ladder. Not everyone wants greater responsibility and that is fine. Those that do should be encouraged with HR explaining the process. The greater problem today is the need for instant results. No one will ever move up the ladder as fast as they want or think they should. Manage expectations.

Brian Numainville
Brian Numainville
10 years ago

It is really a combination of illustrating a career path, providing training, creating full-time opportunities and treating employees as an asset. While the long hours and flexibility that is required in retail will turn off some folks, others I know really enjoy their job. There are great opportunities but potential employees need to clearly see them!

Christopher P. Ramey
Christopher P. Ramey
10 years ago

The negative perception of retail is driven by the people to whom we most interface; salespeople and clerks. Certainly an unfair analysis of our industry.

There are a couple thousand things necessary to succeed in retail. For starters you have be strategic about your career. Work smarter and longer hours—don’t complain about it. Be willing to do whatever is necessary to get the job done. Be eternally curious about what you do and how other industries may solve the same problems—SOP in one industry may be an ‘aha’ moment in your store. Don’t dress like a slob, be clean, don’t smoke and be the best ambassador the store ever employed. Make your boss look good. Learn how to sell. Don’t allow others’ limitations to become your limitations. Get a college degree and then never stop learning. Read a book every week. Be honest. Throw away your TV. Save money. Don’t allow drama to affect your business life. Understand that working at a branch store far from corporate headquarters is a sure way to ensure no one notices that you’re special. Know your products well and your customers even better….

The reality is these things (and the other couple thousand I didn’t share) transcend all businesses and careers. We think we’re different because we’re in retail. But, it’s always the same regardless of the industry. Success comes to the person who works and makes the right decisions to achieve it. Retail is really no different than anyplace else.

Kate Blake
Kate Blake
10 years ago

I loved retail but had to move into hospital management because after twenty years of managing places that ranged from $500,000 to $14,000,000, I found that the promise of moving up never occurred. I have a bachelor’s degree and achieved so many goals and achievements, but because the companies’ were sold, downsized, or went bankrupt, promises were never kept.

Retail is a good place to learn business, but after thirty, you need to find somewhere else to make your mark.

Ron Larson
Ron Larson
10 years ago

Pay competitive wages at the start (don’t ask students to take a 20% cut to work retail vs sales). If you want the best and brightest, this is necessary. Offer signing bonuses to help students pay off student loans or staggered bonuses during their first few years to help with the loans. Create 5-year career paths so students can see themselves progressing. Support student interest in graduate studies.

Stefan Sommerfield
Stefan Sommerfield
10 years ago

While retail operations still offer great opportunity for individuals with motivation and high energy to move up, the overriding challenge today is that there a lot fewer retail companies than when I started in the late 60s.

The demise of the local department store group, replaced by the consolidated national companies has eliminated tens of thousands of management opportunities that provided “middle class” salaries for folks starting at the bottom.

The branch store department manager job was once considered part of training programs leading to corporate office opportunities, paying more than most department managers earn today (adjusted for inflation) with fewer opportunities to move up within their home store. Therefore most entry level store associates don’t see great opportunities for advancement.