Archived Cross training?

[Retail Girl]

How soon can I start inquiring about being cross trained in other departments?

I'm on my third week of cashiering. I've caught on super quickly, and have been noticed by my GSTL for it. The other day I was pulled into the office and told that I am doing way above what other casLhiers usually do after a couple of months. I was also given a gift card and was informed I am being named the front end performer of the month for July. After 2 1/2 weeks?! He said tha's unprecidentedfor him. I only mention this to show that they get that I am not a idiot, and can clearly learn whatever they want to throw at me. I don't want to push, and obviously there are still things in the cashiering world I don't know, but I'm getting better and better every day and will continue to prove myself.

 

[redandkhaki]

I'd ask now. There was a cashier that i really thought was awesome so after two weeks i trained her at gs/photo and she's now a gsa 6 months later doing prep for a TL. it's never too early!

 

[TheWanderer]

You can start inquiring whenever you want. Whether or not they'll actually do it just depends on the store. Many stores make new hires wait until they hit their 90 days before they'll cross-train, but as far as I know, there's no official policy. Your best bet is to talk to HR to see how your store handles it. Also, if you know what areas you would like to move to, find out who the TL is in that area and talk to them.

 

[HRTL]

Congratulations Retail Girl, the best time to ask to be cross trained is when you feel you want to be, best suggestion is to start small, go for Guest Service cross training, as its basically reverse cashiering with sorting and more guest interaction, once you have mastered that and thanks to experience sorting merchandise you can cross train over to sales floor then from there its basically what you want to experiment with deeper. Cross trained TM's are as good as it gets at the stores as its less worry about staffing later on and easier to schedule.

 

[AssetsProtection]

If you were at my store the sales floor team leads would kill for a cashier to be cross trained just so they could be snatched up to there side -_- but its nice to know your doing good.

 

[Hardlinesmaster]

Knowing Starbucks, would be a big plus for you.

 

[pellinore]

Knowing Starbucks, would be a big plus for you.

Working in Starbucks is nice, but there is a lot that is required.....from training and getting certified, to hours per week you have to work there to stay certified. While this is a good area to know it can cause issues with scheduling and remaining certified.

I'd learn some other areas first before doing Starbucks. Learning Food Ave is a really good stepping stone for Starbucks.....but in our store it's not easy to get trained in Starbucks unless you plan to stay in that area for quite awhile since there's so much to working in that area.

Good luck!

 

[Jwowwbudweiser29]

I do agree it is always good to be cross trained unless ur in my store I think if its possible to say but every1 is overly cross trained lol for ex me myself my primary center is flow but any given day I can be going from that to cashiering to being the mid fitting room person ( that's actually my shift tomorrow lol 14 hour day) I know I may sound crazy but I'm not the only 1 that does those shifts at my store

 

[redeye58]

Working in Starbucks is nice, but there is a lot that is required.....from training and getting certified, to hours per week you have to work there to stay certified. While this is a good area to know it can cause issues with scheduling and remaining certified.

I'd learn some other areas first before doing Starbucks. Learning Food Ave is a really good stepping stone for Starbucks.....but in our store it's not easy to get trained in Starbucks unless you plan to stay in that area for quite awhile since there's so much to working in that area.

Good luck!

Agreed. Starbucks isn't something you can just drop in a few times & learn.
Even running the register there isn't easy (did you charge them for the extra espresso shots? gold card gets free soy upgrade).
We've had a few cashiers who learned FA cashiering because the components are more cut & dried but, again, takes more than just a time or 2.

 

[AssetsProtection]

Agreed. Starbucks isn't something you can just drop in a few times & learn.
Even running the register there isn't easy (did you charge them for the extra espresso shots? gold card gets free soy upgrade).
We've had a few cashiers who learned FA cashiering because the components are more cut & dried but, again, takes more than just a time or 2.

This^ Altough Im not certified I have gotten the basics down i can make drinks better then running the register as long as whats written on the cup is correct.

 

[Retail Girl]

Thank you for all of the insight! HR wants to talk to me tomorrow to check in and to see how things are going, and I think that might be the perfect time to mention I would love to be cross-trained. Fabulous timing!

 

[Hardlinesmaster]

Grab it! Good luck.

 

[pellinore]

While cross training is great, I just wish that you could get an hourly raise for all that training.
Too bad they can't give you a raise for each area you are trained in......it doesn't have to be a lot of money, but 25 cents extra per hour per area would be great.

I do find it frustrating knowing several areas....being "global," able to work many shift times, and in different areas.....and not receiving any type of reward.......financially speaking.

You know what would also be a good idea? If a TM is called (last minute) and comes in...then an extra bit of money per hour would be nice, too. If this happened then I think that a lot more people would come in if called.

 

[redeye58]

While cross training is great, I just wish that you could get an hourly raise for all that training.
Too bad they can't give you a raise for each area you are trained in......it doesn't have to be a lot of money, but 25 cents extra per hour per area would be great.

Oh, if I got a raise for all the cross-training I've done over the yrs I'd be a wealthy woman.

 

[TheWanderer]

Oh, if I got a raise for all the cross-training I've done over the yrs I'd be a wealthy woman.

In theory, yes. But you know that if people got raises for being cross-trained, there would be much less cross-training going on.

 

[Retail Girl]

You can start inquiring whenever you want. Whether or not they'll actually do it just depends on the store. Many stores make new hires wait until they hit their 90 days before they'll cross-train, but as far as I know, there's no official policy. Your best bet is to talk to HR to see how your store handles it. Also, if you know what areas you would like to move to, find out who the TL is in that area and talk to them.

Yep. I talked with the HR-ETL tonight. Our store doesnn't cross-train until 90 days. Oof. But she did say that she would love to give me something with "more responsibility." For whatever that means. I told her I was interested in whatever would be most helpful to the store, but sales floor would be an idea.

I'm only about halfway there...and who knows....maybe they'll all be tired of me by the time I hit that 90 day mark!

 

[mrknownothing]

Yep. I talked with the HR-ETL tonight. Our store doesnn't cross-train until 90 days. Oof. But she did say that she would love to give me something with "more responsibility." For whatever that means. I told her I was interested in whatever would be most helpful to the store, but sales floor would be an idea.

I'm only about halfway there...and who knows....maybe they'll all be tired of me by the time I hit that 90 day mark!

They want to see how well you perform as a cashier before they train you in any other workcenters. As far as cross-training, sales floor would be a good place to start. Cross-training in hardlines has taught me a great deal about store processes that I wouldn't have known as a cashier if not for this site.

 

[Hardlinesmaster]

This link may help too:
http://www.thebreakroom.org/showthread.php/1520

 

[rns0504]

This week I am scheduled Instocks, Electronics, Bikes, Market, Hardlines and Zone. Keeps it interesting!

 

[redeye58]

That's one thing that is universally cool about our store is allowing folks to cross-train.
It's also a good incentive when you have a low-performing cashier who whines about how boring cashiering can be. I'd tell them that cross-training was only for the responsible ones, that they have to shine a little at the lanes to be considered. Whenever I saw them doing better & the front end was slow, I'd ask them if they wanted to help out on the floor & they'd jump.
Later, I'd get feedback from the floor on whether or not they were good enough to ask again. Some weren't.

 

[mrknownothing]

Whenever I saw them doing better & the front end was slow, I'd ask them if they wanted to help out on the floor & they'd jump.
Later, I'd get feedback from the floor on whether or not they were good enough to ask again. Some weren't.

My GSAs have this habit lately of letting non-sales floor trained cashiers help with re-shop. Which doesn't sound like a bad thing until we realize that nobody told them how to read location schematics. I've had to intervene a few times.

 

[Retail Girl]

My GSAs have this habit lately of letting non-sales floor trained cashiers help with re-shop. Which doesn't sound like a bad thing until we realize that nobody told them how to read location schematics. I've had to intervene a few times.

They let me reshop one spot a couple of times. All I know is that I can't figure out where half the stuff goes, it takes me forever, and I'm usually ready for a stiff drink at the end. I love doing it, but I cannot figure out how to put stuff away in a reasonable time when I cannot find anything, half the bins are loaded with stuff customers have dumped and I can't figure out how to match the item to the tag on the shelf yet.

Last time I closed, soft lines tried to get me to help put the fitting room stuff away. After about five minutes of that not going well, my GSA rescued me and had me help re-fold clothes instead.

 

[redeye58]

If your One Spot is set to POG (laughs hysterically for a few minutes at the thought because ours seldom is), you should be able to match the item description & DPCI (the 9 digit code that usually runs XXX-XX-XXXX; dept-sq-item) on the bin's label strip.

 

[mrknownothing]

(laughs hysterically for a few minutes at the thought because ours seldom is)

This! At my store, whoever is re-shopping One Spot just puts the items wherever they see similar items. Sometimes it's neatly zoned, but nothing is to planogram!

 

[lurker]

Silk Soy milk was pushed into toys today.