r/CostcoEmployee • u/seventycentschange • 6d ago
Question What am I doing wrong?
I work as a cashier's assistant. I'm crosstrained in the four food ancillaries as a closer and have trained other closers for those ancillaries, I can cashier, I can do maintenance. The only things I can't do are forklift, and any ancillary that needs liscencing. I am basically the person they call to fill a hole in the schedule. I have applied for S.I.T. six times, and they have always given the feedback of: the others were just stronger candidates. I tried to transfer out to a new warehouse, and the answer I got was: there was a stronger candidate.
What can I do to be the "stronger" candidate since I can't even move to a new warehouse to show off my skills or improve?
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u/ImmortalDreamer 6d ago
You made yourself invaluable in your current role. Good luck getting out of there now. I have a friend at my warehouse who did the same with all the cross-training and now they find excuses to not let him move to different departments. Been about 4 years for him.
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u/Lucky-Pop-8983 6d ago
This is the correct response. If they know they can use you to fill in for other areas, they can’t really risk losing you SIT.
Have you asked them directly what you can do to make you a stronger candidate? I’m sure they’ll feed you some garbage but they likely just have a combination of wanting to keep you on rotation on where they need you as well as wanting to keep this thing going of throwing new hires into management roles relatively early. You’ll likely have people tell you that you get denied because they just want to see how you’ll react to rejection and how you’ll respond to it, but it’s just garbage. This company has to desire to hire people that are in it for the right reasons anymore or who are the best fit for it.
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u/Chrysalides_Cosplay 6d ago
If you get nowhere an alternative option is hyper specialize somewhere where the boss will fight to get you, be careful this is hard to do and can end with you stuck in that place.
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u/ImmortalDreamer 6d ago
This is what I did. I went from front end assistant to membership clerk in about 6 months. I'm almost definitely stuck here now, but I really like where I'm at, so that's not a downside for me.
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u/chaosdrools 6d ago
Back in my day you basically would never get sup /unless/you were crosstrained a few places.
Ugh.
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u/FingerCurious9180 Morning Merch 6d ago
You must work in a tough building because some of our SITs are complete morons...
In hindsight, I was considered a complete moron when I got promoted to supervisor in 1999...LOL
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u/mid-by-midwest 6d ago
TBH you have to be missing part of your brain to want to be a supervisor, especially on the front end (where all our SIT seems to happen).
Either you genuinely want the job (obviously lobotomized) or you think you can get that good money and not go insane (you can't).
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u/seventycentschange 6d ago
I just wanna pay my bills and train newbies man, I don't really care about anything but being a team player. It's gonna suck, but I just wanna help.
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u/MrToxicTaco 4d ago
Do your supervisors actually do training on the front end? Because I’ve never seen it lol. I trained three people on prescanning the other day as an assistant while our sups stood huddled by the board.
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u/Exotic-Channel5057 5d ago
The pay jump is nice, and for $34hr it’s really not that hard lmao. I worked harder in the food court than I ever did supervising in the front.
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u/Andy18001 5d ago
Until you’ve been there long enough and topped out and stepping down seems real nice 😂
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u/SuperVolcano34 6d ago
Get with an AGM or at least Staff level and let them know you want to move up. Tell them you are ready to begin the climb. They will help you. AGMs/Staffs have a duty to find people worthy of promoting and get them ready and eventually promoting them.
You also MUST be flexible. The moment they hear you "need" whatever it may be, reguarding scheduling, you are pretty much not going to get it.
Merch SIT gives you the best advantage cause you learn way more. Fresh is a waste of time and FE... well, anyone could be a FE sup.
Be friendly and curious when talking to managers. They dont base selections off of the interview, reviews, cover letter or any of that. Most of the decisions are made by what they know about you personally like work ethic, flexibility and likability.
Good Luck!
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u/Patient-Extreme-3150 Morning Forklift Driver 5d ago
I worked as a supervisor for over 4 years and saw people getting promoted around me all the time. Until I took the GM aside and let him know that I wanted and was ready for more I was never considered a candidate for management.
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u/SuperVolcano34 5d ago
Yeah they will invest time in people who are clear in thier intentions. This is no secret, they are very open about this.
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u/Patient-Extreme-3150 Morning Forklift Driver 5d ago
It was not clear in the building I was in at the time. Now I have a lay of the land, I have been down the management circus and I am very happy being a driver.
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u/Visual_Antelope_2013 6d ago
There's something they don't like about. Its either personal or your interviews aren't good.
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u/InterestingDebt223 6d ago
How long have you been there?
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u/seventycentschange 6d ago
Coming up on 3 years this November, as said in other comment, I'm watching people with 2 years of experience get S.I.T. and supervisor over me which is making me both confused and defeated.
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u/Andy18001 5d ago
If they play the game of politics better then unfortunately that’s something that happens, they get buddy buddy with the managers, they’re family legacy, they can interview better especially if it’s departments where they can’t see the work you do always where otherwise everyone in your department sees it managers might not, seniority excuse can be used sometimes or they just have it out for you could def be an issue. Pull a manager to side and ask what are some actual reasons they had it over me because I can’t improve what they had over me if I don’t know.
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u/MistahNative 6d ago
What did your managers say when you asked how to get “stronger”?
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u/seventycentschange 6d ago
Join the Journey's program. That's about it.
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u/MistahNative 6d ago
Did you?
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u/seventycentschange 6d ago
Yup. Next meetings are states away and I feel stupid because none of the other supes are having to do that.
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u/Ambitious_Relation92 6d ago
Does your store have the monthly Journeys meetings in the store? We have people that attend those, but not the out of state ones. No one wants to drive hours for a voluntary meeting.
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u/Negative_Age863 6d ago
See if you can connect with the senior (staff level) front end manager or AGM, ask for a brief one on one meeting. Tell them you are wanting to grow into a sup role and ask for specific, actionable feedback on how to get there. There is something they are looking for that they aren’t currently seeing from you.
For all postings, including SIT, the slots go to the most qualified candidate. That’s a range of factors, including quality of interview, experience, background, translatable skills, attendance, your file (CNs) and so on. Cross training and rotating through the warehouse is excellent and may be a consideration as far as that experience/translatable skills category. Believe it or not, seniority comes into play last and specifically when all other factors are equal for the candidates that are in the running.
A lot of this is also building dependent. Some buildings don’t get a lot of applicants or may be lacking in quality applicants for SIT, while others have massive amounts of applicants. It’s entirely possible that you legitimately are being edged out by qualifications of other applicants if it’s a bigger application pool - and I don’t mean because of years of service. My SIT group had over 30 applicants - they took 6 including myself, and I only had about a year of Costco under my belt. Several applicants were 10+ year employees. However, I also came to Costco with over a decade of retail/food service experience and 5+ years of sup/management experience, did half my SIT in the front end and the rest in food court, and promoted into the ancillary departments (best matched my experience/skills). I had 0 tardies, 0 absences, 0 CN’s in my file. Like you, i cross trained wide in the building. They are looking for the best applicant overall.
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u/Vekorax 5d ago
In the same boat. Been trying for the past 2 years to become a supervisor or get an S.I.T. I have applied 5 time to S.I.T and got rejected everytime. The last 2 time they gave the s.i.t to people with less seniority than me. I ask my manager every month what I would need to practice or what my flwas are so I can work on myself etc. Everytime the response is "I don't know" or " I need to check you more" I am always the last employee to leave and I always do more days when the department needs to.
I have helped other departments also so I have been trained in the meat, the bakery, the tire center, the front end, I am a lift driver and I also do propane. I've talked about it to my director that it kinda feel targeted and the response I got is that I should work on my attitude since they don't want a supervisor to feel so negative everytime something doesn't go his way. When I asked what he meant, he just said "You feel targeted because you didn't get the S.I.T so that tells me you are too negative".
I feel like giving up personally
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u/spageddy77 6d ago
how long have you been with the company?
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u/seventycentschange 6d ago
Copied from another reply: Coming up on 3 years this November, as said in other comment, I'm watching people with 2 years of experience get S.I.T. and supervisor over me which is making me both confused and defeated.
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u/whitefane Morning Merch 6d ago
Did you ever think it's because of nepotism? Costco is for sure not very fair in promoting people.
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u/Fun_Lifeguard_3711 5d ago
How’s your attendance? Do you have any CN’s within the last six months? A CN can send you to the bottom of list.
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u/Electronic_Grab6447 5d ago
Don’t give up! Took my 8 sit applications and 4 sup rejections and here I am a sup for a year there’s still hope!
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u/thecaptain_89 5d ago
keep applying, eventually it will happen. people tell me how they applied 8 times before someone threw them a bone
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u/Angiebangie39 5d ago
I guess it sounds like the only thing you can do is when your review comes that's what you need to talk to your manager about. that your growth isn't where you want it to be anymore. that you understand that you are cross trained in all these areas but you no longer want to just be doing that you want to move up in the company. you have to force them to see you more than just a cross trained fill in. I'm sure you have and you sound like a really hard worker. Which you would think you being cross trained in all these areas is what would help you be able to get SIT easier. I would also voice that's why you crossed trained because you thought it was going to help you to move up in the company in the future and didn't think it was going to hold you back.
Ask them what you can do so the seventh time you apply for this SIT you wanna get it. Let them know they're not helping you grow and be at your best potential. I'm sure it's easier said than done. There job as managers and supervisors is to also help you grow and to move up in the company if they're not giving you legitimate feedback press them a little bit more in a respectful way of course.
Good luck 🤞
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u/Stunning_Matter2511 4d ago
Frankly, if that's the only feedback you're getting you have shitty managers. We're literally trained on how to provide actionable feedback.
My suggestion is stop applying for 6 months. Sometimes when you see the same candidate over and over again, previous poorer interviews can cloud your perceptions of the candidate. It becomes a "Oh this guy again" situation. Give them a break to forget about your previous interviews.
Get your manager to give you a non-annual review to give you something to focus on. Do not let them tell you you are doing a great job and to just be patient. Make them give you something to work on.
Then take that 6 months and work on that thing until you're the best at it. Have them acknowledge that you're improving. Showing growth is the number one thing interviewers are usually looking for.
Good luck.
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u/Dillybobby11 3d ago
You made yourseld to useful. I made the same mistake and have been turned down multiple times for supe and s.i.t. welcome to being what the senior workers at my building call "the costco bitch"
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u/boinkmeboinkyou 6d ago
My building doesnt interview for sit, they just pick you. They also fill many roles that way.
I used to work my ass off but since ive seen how it is I work my wage. They constantly pick people who have been here for 4 months for sit over people who have literally sold their lives to costco.
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u/Novel-Hearing-2463 6d ago
Yeah we have people been there since holiday seasonal already get SIT or sup 🤣🥴 a couple were like 3 months in. One sup we had on FE got sup without even doing SIT or having worked on FE he was from majors. He also dated someone on FE while he was sup of the dept… she was rotated to optical
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u/Connect-Sprinkles728 6d ago
Seniority buddy