Lowe’s is a chain of retail hardware, home improvement, and home appliance stores based in the United States. It has recently expanded with stores in Canada and Mexico, and has a partnership with a retail home improvement chain in Australia. With more than 1,700 locations in the United States, it is the second-largest hardware chain in the country and in the world, behind Home Depot. It has more than 160,000 employees and it ranks 43rd on the Fortune 500 list of US companies. In 2012, it had sales in excess of $50.52 billion, with net income of $1.959 billion. Lowe’s is a great company to start a career in, whether you’re a fresh graduate looking for a first job or a seasoned executive looking for a great place to move to. If you’re looking for a place where there are challenges and plenty of opportunities for growth, Lowe’s is the place for you.
Interested parties can send their Lowe’s application and join the company through their stores in the United States or in the company’s corporate offices in North Carolina.
Lowe’s Job Application Online
The application at Lowe’s is the same as others. It starts with a duly accomplished application form with all the right information about the applicant as well as his or her previous work experience. It is important to write everything that you think will improve your chances of getting hired. Among the skills that Lowe’s is looking for are people skills. At the store, you will be dealing with people from all walks of life on a daily basis. Some may be truly knowledgeable about the things that they want to buy, while others may not have a clue. It is the responsibility of the Lowe’s employee to guide clients and help them make informed choices about the items that they want to buy. Employees are also expected to know the different products being sold in the store to make an honest and credible comparison between certain items. If you think that you have this kind of attitude and a sincere desire to be of help to people, Lowe wants you to become part of its ever-growing team.
Prospective applicants can submit their Lowe’s application online at the Lowe’s Careers page. Applicants can browse and apply at the careers web page. There is a continuous stream of positions for the applicants. Those who want to file their Lowe’s application for jobs at regional or at the main office will be processed at the regional or main offices. Applicants who wish to apply for positions at Lowe’s stores will be processed at the store of their choice.
As a retail chain, there is a need for qualified shop floor personnel. An applicant can fill up an application for Lowe’s via the careers website. All applicants have to fill up the Lowe’s employment application as part of the hiring process.
Besides the stores, corporate offices also have openings for different departments which support the store functions. There are openings for accounting, IT, HR, deliveries, logistics, purchasing, security, training, and other administrative jobs. Filing a Lowe’s application for these jobs can be done through the corporate website. Remember to give the company a few days in order to evaluate and respond to your application. For upper management positions, the screening process can take as much as a week to complete.
Lowe’s Careers And Income
As a retail chain specializing in home improvement and home appliances, working at Lowe’s entails direct and extended contact and interaction with customers. Applicants are expected to know how to connect with customers and help them solve their home improvement problems. It may be necessary to provide solutions which a customer may not realize are available to them. This aspect of customer interaction and relations requires an applicant to have problem-solving skills. Prospective applicants with the above requisite skills can send their Lowe’s job application to see if they have what it takes to work for the company.
Lowe’s carries a long line of home improvement products. It started out as a hardware chain and as such, the applicant should be interested in the products and their use. A knowledge of do-it-yourself home improvement is appreciated. Even though there are fewer people engaged in do-it-yourself home improvement, Lowe’s has maintained an increase year-to-year on the products that they sell. The prospective applicant should also be knowledgeable about tools, their specifications, and how to use them. Nowadays, the typical question is more along the lines of what tool to use and how to use it. Most sales stem from the associate being able to answer questions of this nature.
There is ample room for career growth with the company, and it starts with a Lowe’s application. Employees are segregated according to departments and sections which denote the categories and type of tools. Prospective employees can signify their location in when they submit the Lowe’s application form. The employee can get a boost to his career by participating in company-sponsored trainings and seminars. With the proper motivation, a regular employee can stay and move upward with the company. The first step to getting hired is filing a Lowe’s application form.
Lowe’s salary range is competitive with the rest of the retail industry. Lowe’s applicants for Assistant Manager can expect a salary range of $39,000 to $70,000, depending on the experience and store location. A Lowe’s Assistant Store Manager may receive a little bit more at $40,000 to $69,000.
Within the store, a Department manager would expect to earn between $25,000 to $51,000 per year. A Lowe’s Zone Manager earns between $39,000 to $55,000. On the other hand, Lowe’s Zone Sales Manager takes home a bit more with $41,000 to $61,000 a year. A Lowe’s Store Manager can earn between $60,000 to $105,000 per year depending on the store location, size of the store, and the employee’s experience.
Apply At Lowe’s – Basic Advice
Applicants are always welcome at Lowe’s. For store personnel, being motivated and interested in the job is an advantage. Another advantage is being a people person. With a hardware and home improvement store, customer interaction is usually for much longer engagements than with other stores. People who come to Lowe’s want to know how to solve a problem, ranging from making a dollhouse to fixing storm windows.
The prospective applicant should ask himself if he wants to help other people with their home improvement. The prospective applicant should also be interested in home improvement as well. This makes for a more interesting view of the work on the store floor.
The prospective applicant should be able to present himself as a capable people person who knows his tools. Sometimes it may be as little as knowing how to mix paint or even how best to screw in a bulb. These things may seem simple, but when it comes to customers, they ask these questions because they have no idea how to do it. Even as late as the 1990s, the people who went to Lowe’s knew what they were doing. Nowadays, it is fairly common for people with no experience in home improvement to come into the store asking for help in doing these things.
As a store staff, Lowe’s personnel must be able to help customers. Sometimes it could be as easy as pointing them to the right store section. Sometimes it is to explain the difference between a super absorbent artificial chamois sponge and the new microfiber materials. Associates must also have the patience to explain technical or specialized knowledge in layman’s terms. It is not uncommon to have people who know technical things but are not able to communicate them. Those are not the kind of applicants Lowe’s is looking for.
Apply At Lowe’s – Advanced Tips
Store management jobs require a leadership style which can motivate employees. Besides the associates, a store manager should also be able to manage expectations from the team members, customers, and regional and corporate management.
Lowe’s stores are of two types. The traditional small stores which are still present in small communities, and the larger big-box style of stores which look like big warehouses. Each type of store requires a different approach to customer relations and interacting with customers. Customers also behave differently when in these two kinds of stores. Customers in smaller stores take more time with the staff. This necessitates a very personal kind of customer relations where the associate would need to be on very friendly and neighborly terms with the customer.
In contrast, big-box stores are more impersonal, where customers move a little bit faster and expect that store employees also move faster. The latter is true. Associates move faster in big stores. Prospective Lowe’s applicants have to be more motivated in larger stores. There are more customers, and less time to help them.
Lowe’s managers do not all come from internal promotions. Sometimes, managers come from outside the company and are invited to apply, recruited, or referred to by other employees. Whether for a store staff or for a management position, the applicant has to submit his Lowe’s job application form. The Lowe’s application online form is a standard information sheet where the applicant fills up information about himself and the work experience which makes him fit for the job. For prospective applicants to Store Manager positions, prior experience is an advantage. Besides leadership, managers also have to do paperwork, recruitment, store administration, community relations, and manpower scheduling.
Section managers and supervisors are also expected to be familiar with the items being sold in the store. They should not only know where the item is but also how to use it, the specifications, and alternatives. They might not be liable for wrong information, but it is cause for shame when wrong information is provided to the customer.
Working for Lowe’s can be a rewarding lifelong career, and associates can start at the bottom and work their way to the top. The dream to work for the second largest retail home improvement chain starts with a Lowe’s online application.
Lowe’s Benefits
Lowe’s strives to provide a comprehensive benefits package for its employees. Lowe’s benefits packages include:
- Comprehensive medical plan
- Dental plan
- Vision plan
- Life insurance plans
- Flexible spending accounts
- Disability benefits
- Matched 401(k) options
- An employee stock purchase plan
- Non-financial, free wellness programs including the Family Assistance Program, Quit For Life smoking cessation, and the My Life Track wellness
- Other employee benefits: Caring for Dependents, Child care Resource and Referral Services, Elder care Resource and Referral Services, Paid and Unpaid Time Off, Paid Holidays (inclusive of Floating Holidays), Vacation, Family & Medical Leave, Sick Pay, Health and Wellness, On-Site Nurses (Corporate campuses and Distribution only), On-Site Pharmacy (Mooresville Corporate campus with extended service to the Wilkesboro campus), On-Site Work/Life Seminars (Corporate campuses only), Workplace Flexibility, Flextime and Compressed Workweeks (Corporate campuses only), Seasonal Schedules (Stores and Distribution only), Financial Support, Tuition Reimbursement, Discounted On-line University Programs (Kaplan, Strayer & Capella Universities), Free and/or Discounted Tax Preparation Services, Discounts on a variety of products and special orders, Scholarship programs, Employee Discounts
The above list of employee benefits is for eligible full-time regular employees. Part-time employees’ benefits also cover most of the above items.
Things To Know About Lowe’s
Lowe’s was founded by Lucius S. Lowe in 1921 in North Wilkesboro, North Carolina. When Lucius died, his daughter Ruth took over the store but sold it to her brother Jim soon afterward. During World War II, Jim and Ruth’s husband Carl Buchan served in the war, leaving the store operations to Ruth and her mother.
After the war, the second store was put up in Sparta, North Carolina. Even with expansions, the store was kept privately held until 1962 when Carl Buchan died of a heart attack. The management team decided to go public during the same year. It has not had a losing year since it went public. It was listed at the New York Stock Exchange in 1979.
Lowes Careers page: Lowe’s Careers Page
