Stay up-to-date on the latest food retail news and trends
Subscribe to free eNewsletters from Supermarket News
Sponsored By
Dierbergs seeks more store managers in hiring push
Upcoming retirements open up “record number” of management jobs
Russell Redman
August 23, 2019
2 Min Read
Dierbergs Markets
Hiring events are nothing new for Dierbergs Markets, but the one that the St. Louis-area grocer has scheduled for next week is something different.
Chesterfield, Mo.-based Dierbergs said it plans to hold a “mega-hiring event” at all stores next Wednesday to help fill positions chainwide, including a record number of store management jobs arising in part from an upcoming flurry of retirements.
“It’s really a unique, positive story for a retailer,” Erica Campbell, manager of talent acquisition at Dierbergs, said in a statement. “We have a sizable number of Dierbergs associates who have contributed 25 years or more and have announced their impending retirements.”
At the Aug. 28 hiring drive, Dierbergs aims to fill both part- and full-time positions, with a particular focus on store maintenance and the deli, meat and seafood departments. A significant number of positions in those departments and others offer immediate placement in management roles, an unusual occurrence for what is typically a predictable fall hiring cycle for grocery retail, according to the supermarket chain. Campbell said she expects to hire up to 40 people for management posts.
Dierbergs noted that its most intense growth period took place in the 1980s, when the retailer expanded from five stores to 14 and its workforce surpassed 3,000 people — many of whom are still with the company but at or near retirement.
“It’s cause for us to celebrate their accomplishments, and it creates opportunities for others to join our team, either as managers or to get in the management pipeline,” Campbell commented.
This latest hiring push is in line with Dierbergs’ recent efforts to beef up its perishables team. In late April, the chain held a hiring event to fill 100 jobs in its deli, meat and seafood departments.
Overall, Dierbergs employs more than 4,000 associates and operates 24 supermarkets in the St. Louis metropolitan area, as well as a location at Lake of the Ozarks in central Missouri.
