10 Best Grocery Store Jobs

The grocery store business was booming before the COVID-19 pandemic hit, but even in the face of the severe economic impact that has caused many other businesses to suffer and even shut down, grocery stores are still growing and often rank in the top ten lists of places hiring new employees.

If you’re browsing the job market looking for a sustainable business that can weather a pandemic, you might consider setting your sights on a job at a grocery store. After all, even in a bad economy, people still need food, right?

Whether people are shopping for dinner or Christmas gifts, it’s a pretty safe bet that your job will be secure.

1. Assistant Manager Jobs (Overview)

2. Customer Service Representative Jobs (Overview)

3. Food Preparation Worker Jobs (Overview)

4. Butcher Jobs (Overview)

5. Cashier Jobs (Overview)

6. Stocker Jobs (Overview)

7. Bagger Jobs (Overview)

Full-Time Jobs in a Grocery Store

Although grocery stores are well known for offering part-time employment in positions you’re well familiar with, such as baggers and cashiers, there are some full-time opportunities available as well.

Many of these jobs rank highly on the list of most exciting jobs for former store managers and former assistant managers.

What Is a Grocery Store?

In the United States, a grocery store is often synonymous with a supermarket and convenience store, but there are some technical differences between the three.

Grocery stores are small-to-medium-sized and tend to be fairly specialized in the items they sell.

Most grocery stores carry both fresh and packaged food, dairy and frozen meals in a refrigerated section, over-the-counter medications, and basic household products such as paper towels, cleaning products, et cetera. Some grocery stores also have a deli counter.

In comparison, supermarkets are large and offer many different choices besides basic food and household necessities. This can include a home and garden center, automotive department, cosmetics, clothing, a pharmacy, a floral department, small appliances, electronics, and an expansive meat and seafood department.

A convenience store is smaller than the other two. It’s often connected to or part of a gas station and includes packaged foods, bottled and canned beverages, a fountain drink and coffee station, limited hot food such as pretzels and pizza, alcohol, and a sparse section for the most basic household items and knickknacks.

Grocery stores and supermarkets are designed for longer shopping sprees when people need to purchase food and household products to stock up for everyday and special uses.

Convenience stores are designed for people on the go who need no more than a handful of items, which is why grocery stores and supermarkets offer carts and baskets for shoppers while convenience stores do not.

Challenges Grocery Stores and Workers Face

While there is a certain degree of job security with a grocery store because the business provides an essential service in both good times and bad, there are challenges to the job. Some of the issues that grocery store employees may likely have to cope with include:

• Hard work for little pay. In many cases, these jobs are physically demanding and provide poor compensation.

  It’s not uncommon for low-income jobs to have expensive healthcare insurance with a less comprehensive benefits package than higher-income jobs can offer. Also, many employers offer little or no paid time off or sick leave.

  Some employees find ways to compensate for low income by doing freelancing or performing short tasks online to earn extra spending money.

• Poor work-life balance due to erratic schedules. Unpredictable scheduling makes it hard to plan normal life activities unless you request a specific day off.

  Anything from trying to schedule a doctor’s appointment to meeting a friend for lunch can be tricky when you don’t know what shifts or days you’ll be working in a few weeks.

  Retail-based jobs such as those in a grocery store are usually required to work weekends, holidays, and various shifts, so you may not know if you’ll be scheduled to come in at six in the morning or six at night, depending on the store’s hours.

• Hazardous conditions. Some equipment in grocery stores, such as grinders, mixers, and saws in the meat department as well as forklifts and other machines in the back to move pallets and other heavy inventory, can mean hazardous working conditions in a grocery store.

  Besides, there is a risk of being exposed to COVID and other viruses and bacteria when dealing with the general public. This is something that people with compromised immune systems or physical ailments should carefully consider if they’re thinking about applying for a grocery store job.

Final Thoughts

A grocery store job may not be glamorous, but it can be a reliable source of income.

This type of business can offer a short-term solution if you’re unemployed or if you’re a teenager looking for your first work experience, but it also offers long-term career opportunities for those who might be interested in one day heading a department and taking on a managerial role.

You can expect a reasonable degree of job security when working in a grocery store. If applying for this type of job, be prepared for typical industry interview questions and make sure your resume has both hard and soft skills listed that are suitable to this line of work.

Grocery stores are almost always hiring, so check your local area if you’ve been on the job hunt and need to find something quickly.

Author

Chris Kolmar

Chris Kolmar is a co-founder of Zippia and the editor-in-chief of the Zippia career advice blog. He has hired over 50 people in his career, been hired five times, and wants to help you land your next job. His research has been featured on the New York Times, Thrillist, VOX, The Atlantic, and a host of local news. More recently, he's been quoted on USA Today, BusinessInsider, and CNBC.