New videos promote grocery careers

Ask grocery store managers to list their biggest challenges, and it's likely the list will include an inability to keep young talent working in the store for long.

There’s no doubt teens and university students in particular see grocery jobs as a stopgap, rather than a career choice. Too bad; the industry offers some half-decent-paying jobs, with good benefits and more security than many professions these days.

To drive that point home, the Canadian Grocery HR Council has just released a series of videos and articles on its website that profile the successful career path of individuals working in the grocery industry.

Each profile consists of mini video clips in which real-life people in the industry discuss how they started their careers, why they decided to stay, the benefits of working in grocery and how they've moved up the ladder.

“The videos effectively demonstrate the breadth of career opportunities in the food retail and wholesale sector, and will provide compensation information to demonstrate that the industry provides competitive wages and benefits,” said CGHRC communications co-ordinator Michael Sloan.

Among those featured in the videos is Devon Sheriff, who started his career pushing grocery carts at the age of 15. After attending college, he got a full-time job at the store and eventually became a franchisee in Toronto with Loblaw Companies.

“When I drive into the parking lot every morning I don’t know what to expect. It’s always something different and it makes your day exciting. And it’s fun,” he said in the video.

Then there’s Dawn Davies, who started at Save-On-Foods during high school as a cashier, stuck with the job through university and is now operations manager at a store in Coquitlam, B.C.

Davies explaines that she decided to remain in grocery after one day helping a senior citizen to do their shopping. It was then that Davies realized how much she enjoyed looking after customers. “There’s not one day that I get up and dread coming to work,” she said.

The videos are available in English here and French here.