If you’re eager to move into retail management, you’ll be pleased to know that some major retailers are offering college-level classes that can help you reach your goal.
Increasingly frustrated by colleges failing to produce the skilled workers they need to fill their junior management ranks, Fortune 500 companies like Walmart are beginning to offer their own classes. From ethics to inventory management, the courses equip supervisors and shift managers with the tools they need to get the job done. Many courses—like Starbucks' Barista Basics and Jiffy Lube's finance fundamentals—often qualify for college credit toward a bachelor's degree.
"What companies like is just-in-time learning that gives somebody a skill they need at the time they need it," says Mark Allen, a Pepperdine University business professor and author of The Next Generation of Corporate Universities. "What traditional universities do to a large extent is just-in-case learning."
McDonald's Hamburger University in Oak Brook, Illinois trains 5,000 managers and prospective managers annually. The week-long course covers needed business and leadership skills, culminating months of online and in-store training with McDonald's “professors.” Hamburger U grads can earn up to 23 credits toward associate or bachelor degrees. McDonald's operates Hamburger Universities in London, Munich, Sydney, Sao Paulo, Tokyo, and Beijing. Kevin Clark, who manages the McDonald's education program, notes that many employees "have been incredibly successful within the company" without college degrees. "But for a myriad of reasons are now at a position in their life where they really want to pursue one.”
Jiffy Lube offers college credits for two online and on-the-job courses for maintenance technicians, and three units of college credit for managers who combine online and in-person classes in business operations, finance and time management. Starbucks’ barista training includes a course in cash and inventory control for shift supervisors. Wal-Mart covers time management, effective phone skills, and managing diversity.
The American Council on Education's College Credit Recommendation Service recognizes this training as qualifying for academic credit. While individual colleges and universities reserve the option to accept the credits, Mary Beth Lakin, director of ACE's college and university partnerships notes that 2,000 institutions will consider granting credit for such courses. Indiana's Ivy Tech Community College will accept 18 of McDonald's training credits toward an associate's degree. As many as 350 of the 5,000 managers who attend Hamburger University annually elect to have their transcripts approved by the ACE for credits toward college degrees. As an added incentive, many companies will negotiate tuition discounts for employees who seek to continue their formal education at colleges and universities who have accepted their on-the-job credits.
Want to move up in retail management? Check into the various corporate training programs offered by your company to see if they qualify for college credit.
Image courtesy of savit keawtavee/FreeDigitalPhotos.net
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