Fastenal will hire just about anyone. They will throw you immediately into the fire and if you dont survive they will just replace with some other knuckle head. They do have training, but chances are you will not receive any formal training until about a year in. You usually will get the chance to be manager only because you manager quit or was fired, which happens all the time. I have met very few people who have been with fastenal for more than 5 years. As long as you suck up to your DM you should be ok. Personally I think being an OSP (outside sales person) is the way to go. You dont make as much money but you have almost no responsibility on your shoulders and you can just blame your GM or lack of training on sucky numbers. The best is when your DM could sell a hamburger to a staving person and yet they want to tell you how to do things. The DM's in the company have found it easier to manage by intimidation than by inspiration. Apparently it takes too much work to inspire people and invest in their growth. It's much easier and lazier to just fire off angry emails and threaten jobs. The poison spreads company wide. It comes from never having any great leaders to model yourself after. You just do what the last guy did and hope for the best. All the great leaders find their way to other better companies. If any of you wonder why your pay is so crappy, just ask Will who makes like 4 million a year off of you, or Ken who makes 750K. Guess what? If every DM, RVP, VP and the CEO all died today Fastenal would still make money. What would happen if every GM and OSP left? You'd be up SH!TS creek!
