Dollar General Corporation has a chain of variety stores in America that is presently headquartered in Goodlettsville, Tennessee. It was started in the year 1939 by J. L. Turner and his son in Scottsville, Kentucky. This company was recognized by Fortune 500 in 1999 and later became one of the most popular and profitable stores in the United States rurally.
These stores provide hassle-free shopping to customers at a reasonable price with more than 16,000 stores in 46 states. The general motto of this company is “Save Time. Save Money. Every Day!’’ These stores also provide many products at low prices as well as many trusted brands and products, and high-quality private brands. The major competitors of Dollar General Company are Family Dollar and Dollar Tree.
This hyper store sells products such as food, snacks, cleaning products, household items, health care products, seasonal foods, beauty products, paper products along with their own company’s branded products.
Table of Contents:
- Dollar General Jobs And Careers
- Tips for Applying for a Job at Dollar General
- Does Dollar General Conduct Drug testing for Their Employees?
- How to Apply for a Job at Dollar General Organization?
- Application
- Assessment Test
- Interview
- Dollar General Jobs
- Sales Associate
- Lead Sales Associate
- Store Manager
- Assistant Store Manager
- Perishable Manager
- Warehouse Supervisor
- Benefits of Working with Dollar General
Tips for Applying for a Job at Dollar General
Dollar General Corporation provides many training and development programs to their employees to improvise their skills and develop their capabilities at work. Along with 16,000 stores, this company has more than 17 distribution centers, 5 fresh facilities and support centers.
The company’s one of the priorities and core value is to invest for their employees to provide an opportunity for growth and development in the working environment. Whether an employee works in a store, support center or distribution center, this organization provides them with various opportunities to improve their skills and knowledge in their work. The company also provides additional wages, promotions and extra benefits for employee melioration.
The organization also provides many foundation training and programs for the employees to build their careers. The experienced employees join this organization for developing their careers as it is one of the fastest-growing retailers in America.
- The recruitment process in Dollar General is conducted either online or offline. The job seekers submit the application for the listed vacancies. The applicants should apply directly to their recruitment portal, which will take approximately 45 minutes to apply online. The hiring team will review and shortlist the applicants based on their knowledge and experience for the applied job. Later, the shortlisted candidates will get a call from the hiring manager for a face-to-face interview.
- Applicants applying for the job should explore about the organization, its history, products, services, achievements, ongoing projects, etc. This information will be an added advantage to get placed in the organization.
- Applicants should familiarize themselves with the origin of the Dollar General stores if being hired.
- Applicants should have strong communication skills, able to work in a team, ability to provide good service to the customers.
- For an interview, candidates should be dressed neatly and look professional. They should wear properly fitting outfits with clean footwear. Business casual attire would be a better alternative than formal wear for Dollar General’s interview.
- The applicants should reach early to the location and be well prepared for the questions that might be asked. It’s necessary to be honest throughout the process.
- They generally hire for job roles such as sales associates, regional managers and district managers. To apply for these vacancies, applicants should check for updates online and can speak directly to the hiring managers regarding the position and vacancies.
- Candidates who are capable to keep the store clean and organized are mostly hired by the organization. The employees should listen to their supervisors and work according to their instructions and orders.
- The job applicants are generally interviewed by the store manager or district manager. They mainly concentrate on the applicant’s communication skills and confidence level. Applicants with strong communication skills and confidence in their speech get hired for the job.
- The employer looks for applicants with positive attitude and spirits as well as expects the applicants to be well-groomed and energetic. In general, the organization looks for applicants who can complete the assigned task without any delay or difficulties.
- The interviewer looks for straightforward and genuine answers from the applicants. Sometimes, the employer asks questions and expects the wrong answers from them. If the applicant replies with the wrong answer, then the employer is dealing with a genuine person.
The recruiting team notes the responses of the candidate during the one-on-one interview. The interview takes hardly 30 minutes to complete and it is conducted with the basic set of questions. Some of these questions include:
- Can you handle stress and how?
- Whom do you look up to and what is the reason behind it?
- Where do you want to see yourself in this organization within a year?
- Do you know any employees working here?
- What things annoy you?
Once the interview is complete, the applicants can wait for until a week to get the feedback regarding their performance in the interview. Applicants who are best suited for the job role get hired by the employer.
If the applicant feels confident after completing the interview, then the applicant could believe to get selected for the applied job role.
If the interview goes well and the interviewer gets convinced, the interviewer will shake hands, talk about salary information, about the company, etc. This could be a sign towards getting hired during the process.
Does Dollar General Conduct Drug testing for Their Employees?
No, generally Dollar General does not perform any drug test for entry level jobs, but can do so for higher or senior management jobs. Their hiring packet sent to the eligible candidates will contain information for a drug test and a background check.
If applicants apply for the vacancies in the managerial level, the applicants will have multiple rounds of interviews, various background checks and drug test. The applicants will be hired only if they pass the background checks and drug test. The applicant will be given an offer letter either after the interview or a week later.
During the interview process, only background verification is conducted. After the interview, the applicant has to prepare for the pre-employment drug testing at some point.
In Dollar General Organization, screening the urine specimen for drugs is the general method of testing. This method of drug testing is easy to pass as the employee has to submit the sample at a local lab for drug testing.
If the drug testing is conducted earlier, i.e., before the job offer, the applicant will get notified prior. However, it appears that drug testing for the existing employees is rarely conducted. The existing employees can be tested for internal job promotions.
How to Apply for a Job at Dollar General Organization?
Below are some standard norms and procedures that Dollar General Organization follows to hire applicants.
1. Application
The first step in the recruitment process is submitting the application either online through their portal or at any one of their local stores. You can apply by filling the simple online application form that will take at least 45 minutes to complete.
When applying for the first time, the applicant has to register with the website by creating an account. The minimum age of an applicant to work at Dollar General is 18 years.
The applicant has to use the Proximity Search Function to find jobs within the range of 50 miles from their location. Once you have chosen the job of your interest, start the application process by clicking on the “Apply to Job” button.
The applicant may need to provide personal details, past work experience, Social Security Number (SSN), previous salary information, skills, address, phone number, e-mail ID, etc.
At the end, there will be an assessment questionnaire consisting of 111 questions, which can take around 20 minutes to complete. Applicants cannot stop in between the assessment and start over again. Hence, take this questionnaire if you have enough time to complete it.
You can even use printed PDF application or call the local store for application instructions. You can find in-store application kiosks in some stores, but most preferred is the online method of application than offline.
2. Assessment Test
After scrutinizing the applications, the shortlisted applicants are scheduled for further rounds of tests by the hiring manager. The tests conducted will be based on the positions the candidate has applied for and may require to take up multiple sets of tests. These tests will judge the applicant’s skill, knowledge, personality, work experience and presence of mind to respond to various situations needed in the job.
Some assessment tests conducted by the Dollar General Organization include:
- Sales Assessment Test: This test is predefined with a set of questions to check the applicant’s personal ability to fit for the sales position and handling of various situations in the sales department. This assessment is similar to the personality test which determines the applicant’s value and interests in their perspective.
- Customer Service Test: This test is designed to evaluate the candidate’s communication skills, patience, attention, knowledge of the product, time management skills, positive attitude, ability to read customer’s mind, willingness to learn, and the ability to respond to customer’s doubts and questions.
They will also test the applicant’s problem-solving skills, listening skills, teamwork, services, verbal skills, multitasking skills, market knowledge, readiness to embark and sales perspectives.
3. Interview
After successful completion of the assessment test, the candidate will be scheduled for an interview by the store or the district manager. This is scheduled for 30 minutes. In the interview, the candidate is required to answer a set of questions and the responses are recorded by the management.
It is important to understand the values and history of the company and its services, products to clear the interview. The working ethic of Dollar General is “serving others, working to excel, and desire to succeed.”
Questions will be asked based on the position applied by the candidate. Some common questions asked during the interview are as follows:
- Are you willing to travel for work?
- Can you tell us your major working goals?
- Tell us why you think you qualify and how you are best suited for the chosen career in Dollar General?
- Tell me the reason for leaving the present job?
- What do integrity and dependability mean to you?
- How will you handle the stress in the job?
- How will you respond to customer queries and complaints?
The candidate must be confident during the interview and prove his/her skills, excellence in previous work, leadership abilities to get hired for the job. The candidate has to consider the organization’s core value for clearing the interview and get placed in the company.
If the candidate gets through the interview, he/she will be notified by the hiring manager the date of joining their company.
After getting hired by the team, the candidate will be given 3 days of external training at a retail store and 2 weeks of training with a training manager. The candidates are also given a computerized training module to be completed in working hours. This training will help the candidates to gain knowledge about the job structure and working culture in the company.
Dollar General Jobs
The job positions available are mainly sales-related and stock-related jobs.
- Sales Associate: Sales associates perform entry-level duties, responsibilities of greeting customers, organizing store shelves and racks, achieving the target, supervising the purchases, maintaining bills and registers, notifying the management about stock levels, helping customers in choosing the right product, and explaining about their products and services.
- Lead Sales Associate: This position is similar to the sales associate, but they also perform additional duties like opening and closing the store. They perform tasks similar to sales associates such as taking care of payment works, maintaining the stock items by receiving, packing and unpacking the boxes, assist in setting up the displays, carry out the cleaning works, and carry out the store manager’s duties in their absence.
- Store Manager: The store manager is responsible for managing the store, budgets, recruiting, training the staff, dealing with customer queries and processing, supervising, appraising staff, managing stocks, setting and meeting targets, and maintaining statistical and financial records.
- Assistant Store Manager: The assistant store manager supervises store employees, answers telephone calls, maintains stock, opening and closing the store, scheduling appointments, and communicating with corporate offices.
- Perishable Manager: The perishable manager works under the supervision of the store manager and maintains the perishable departments such as fresh meat, processed and packed meats, dairy, frozen food, bakery products, etc. They assist the store manager with inventory management, ensure a safe working environment, protect company assets, and provide quality customer service.
- Warehouse Supervisor: The warehouse manager is responsible for the supervision of the warehouse, keeps a check on the time of merchandise received and transported.
Benefits of Working with Dollar General
The employee working in Dollar General has many benefits including medical, life insurance, retirement plan, dental, vision plans, bonus, appraisal, discounts, mobile phone discount, tuition allowance, paid time-off for vacations, stock options, etc.
Thus, Dollar General is one of the America’s fastest growing retailers with the core value of serving the customers and communities. According to the feedback from employees, working at Dollar General is an easy and enjoyable job, but sometimes will have to work for long hours. There are various job opportunities and development provided by Dollar General through training programs. So, get ready to apply for a job at Dollar General!!!!!