Faced with a labor shortage, the American giant Walmart has deployed a program to recruit store managers from young graduates in the United States, offering an attractive salary of more than $200,000 annually.
• Read also: Walmart raises trucker wages
• Read also: Creation of the first union at Amazon in the United States
Dubbed “College2Career,” the pilot is an accelerated training program for recent college graduates (and others) within 12 months of their graduation date, Walmart explained in a statement picked up by US media.
Graduates will receive classroom training, one-on-one mentoring, and hands-on experience in store management.
“Exceptional” employees called “emerging coaches” will be offered a starting salary of $65,000 or more, annually.
These “high-potential” employees will earn store manager positions two years following they start, Walmart executives Amy Goldfinger and Lorraine Stomski said in a blog post outlining the program.
Walmart store managers earned an average salary of $210,000 last year, executives added.
In addition, Walmart plans to increase their internship offers by 30%, hoping that the “majority” of its interns will end up receiving full-time positions.
Walmart officials told the Wall Street Journal the training program was part of its effort to head off a potential shortage of store managers across its network of regarding 4,700 stores in the United States.
In April, Walmart revealed it would pay its truck drivers a starting salary of between $95,000 and $110,000, up from a previous average of $87,500.
