Applied online for a general opening. A few days later I got a short phone interview where they asked me some simple questions and scheduled an in-person interview at the store.
When I arrived for my interview I learned that the manager I was scheduled to meet was off that day. On top of that, they had no access to my application, resume, cover letter, etc. So, they interviewed me without knowing anything about me.
They only asked me one question, "have you ever worked retail?" ...then told me about Kroger as a company and where they thought I would fit. I think they were just happy an adult who was dressed nice was wanting to work there.
They asked me to come back the next day to do the drug test and access my application. Which I did and that went fine. Again, no real questions, just seemed glad to have a warm body. (They also don't look at your cover letter or resume during this interview)
As a note, I learned that no experience transfers other than "retail" and only from the last 10 years. In my case, this is an issue because I worked in retail management for years, BUT more than 10 years ago.
And while since then I have I been earning over 60k a year in an office environment, managing, hiring, training, doing public speeches, international conferences, full customer service, b2b & b2c sales... none of that carries any weight because it isn't considered "retail."
Also, I don't have a degree, or they would allow me to apply to the manager training program. But 20 years experience in the above listed items doesn't count. If I was straight out of college with a simple degree and no real world experience, I could apply for that.
So it looks like, because I want to change career fields and put my experience into something new, I'll be making minimum wage (or barely above) for at least a year or two before I can be considered into a "career level" position with Kroger.
I accepted the offer as is... only because I have faith I can either impress them quickly and try to move things along and if that doesn't work, move on to some place that considers my experience more. I really do want to give this company a chance, so we will see how it goes.
