A friend of mine was laid off her job, so while I was on the phone with her I was checking various local business web sites for job openings.
I mentioned that Walmart or especially Sams might be good. So I went to walmart.com in search of job listings. Thus began the gauntlet. Unfortunately they won’t just show you job listings for your area. You have to register, make up a user name, password from 7-11 characters with at least one capital letter, one lower case letter, and one number. Then they ask you for 5 Q&As in case you forget your password. Then they ask you for your Social Security number (I made one up.) THEN they ask for a 4 digit PIN number. The PIN cannot be identical (1111) or consecutive (1234 or 9876). ARG!
I feel like I’m getting close to the job listings. But no. Then it says I’m on step Step 2 of 8 (don’t know how they count that, I guess all the Registration was one step), and asks me for my name and address. I made something up, next step is Step 3, Availability. That sounds good. But NO, it’s what hours I’m available to work.
Next step was References. I gave up at that point and told my friend to go in and just talk to them. :smack:
I wouldn’t count on openings at Wal-Mart or Sam’s Club. My wife’s cousin works at Sam’s, and they’ve cut her hours dramatically and laid many of her co-workers off. She got a second job as a waitress to make ends meet. And that’s in relatively affluent Johnson County, Kansas.
A few years ago I filled out an application online for Walmart and it did all that. It actually took me 30 minutes to fill out but it was worth it in the end, I got the job a month later. Working at Walmart isn’t bad at all, the place just gets a lot of bad publicity.
Oh, it’s awful. I’m a public librarian and often these days my days are spent helping people navigate those horrible online job applications, and Wal-Mart has got to be the worst. You aren’t kidding about the FIVE SECURITY QUESTIONS. Of course, these tend to be the least tech-savvy people to start with! Doesn’t compare to the fact that if you want to apply for a job as a janitor with the school district you have to apply online, and the website is pretty broken, at least.
And the weirdest thing to me is, why won’t they just show you what openings they have?
Zsofia, this might interest you. The friend I’m helping doesn’t have Internet at home and has tried to go to the local public library. They limit you to 20 minutes at a time on the computer, and you have to keep going back up to the desk to ask for more time or you get cut off. The ladies act really annoyed at you for asking.
Walmart has a history of combative websites. Years ago, if you were shopping on their site and you put so much as a pair of socks in your cart, the forced you to register with all information before continuing to browse.
They probably don’t say what openings they have because once they hire you (if they do, I too have heard they have been cutting staff and hours to the bone) they will put you pretty much anywhere they want.
And the experience working there can be very different at different stores; mine was moderately horrible while Tijuana_Golds is happy enough with them. A lot depends on the individual managers.
I just went through this! Yeah, the online application is pretty bad. On previous jobs, they ask for start day, not just month and year. Who remembers what day you started jobs 8 years ago? I just put the first of the month for those. Also, if you’re currently working, it doesn’t allow you to put “present” for end date, so I used the current date. I’m also doing some unpaid volunteer work, but it doesn’t allow me to enter “zero” for the pay.
Yeah it was a huge pain to go through, but I got an interview and hopefully will start working soon.
The best bet if you want to work in a specialized area like the pharmacy or automotive section, is to fill out the application. Yes it’s a pain in the ass, but you’ll be directed to do it no matter what. Then, go to the store and ask to talk to someone from the personnel office. Ask that person what’s available. You could try calling, but it’s better to go in person.
As someone who spent 4 months job hunting, I can tell you that Wal-Mart’s job application process is pretty typical of every company’s website. Every one of them makes you jump through an absurd amount of hoops (I even had one site tell me that it would take approximately two hours to complete their online application process.)
With the economy in the toilet and hundreds, if not thousands of people applying for every single opening, companies have no incentive or desire to streamline the process, as they know, they’ll have ample applicants.
