Guaranteed to work hard and learn much but your career is in your own hands
Pros
The pay is good but you may find others are being paid more for the same level of work. Don't worry about that, just keep up your job performance. As an assistant manager in the city, I was not worried about being laid off in this tough economy. Others may have a different experience, as the company is trying to promote more cashiers to shift supervisors. But with so many tough stores, they need to keep full level managers to protect their money and products. The work is hard, but that's because you are truly running a customer oriented store. With an open mind and good work ethics, you will learn everything you need to learn about running a large retail store. So to conclude, I will say that Rite will offer you good pay, job stability, and great access to on the job training.
Cons
Now the downside... Rite aid is a mix between a Mom and Pop store and Corporate Giant. You will have to contend with both elements. On the store level you will work long hours. Everyone I know of consistently work more than 50 hours. The demands of the store and corporate needs makes it a little hard to work less. My advice is to focus on the store while you are the only manager on duty and then focus on tasks whenever you can put someone else in charge of the store. Your manager. You will not be able to choose your store, therefore you won't know what type of manager you will be working for. In my time at Rite Aid I had three bad managers and five good managers. Understand that a bad manager is your enemy. Why? because behind your back he or she is working hard to discredit and undermine you. They are lazy, will use you as their number one pawn, and yes, they will lie. Do your job, document your work, and request a transfer as soon as possible. Don't waste your time trying to prove you are a good and hard worker, DM will always side with the store manager, just move on, you will be happier, trust me. Promotions. If you are new to Rite Aid, do not run one of their stores immediately, chances are you will fail. Work there a while, learn your ropes, pay your dues. It's not as easy a job as it may look. Assistant manager will find that promotions are given a little haphazardly. More promotions are given based on DM preference than on outstanding job performance. Don't worry, you can always take your experience and more on.
