How To Become A Grocery Associate: What It Is and Career Path

What is a grocery associate and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

3 min read

Grocery associates can be found in grocery stores and the grocery departments of retail stores. Their main duties are to keep shelves fully stocked and to rotate products properly. But more than that, they play a significant role in providing good customer service to everyone who enters the store. As such, their duties include greeting customers, answering questions, and giving directions when necessary.

Other responsibilities of a grocery associate include cleaning aisles, reporting to supervisors, and providing assistance during opening or closing. Their tasks may also include receiving shipments and checking the inventory at the back of the store.

One can become a grocery associate with a high school diploma, but high school students within legal working age may also apply. Employers may not require prior work experience but definitely prefer it. However, if an applicant doesn't have work experience, they can prove competence by showing basic customer service skills and the ability to follow directions correctly. Grocery associates earn around $21,000 per year, depending on their employer.

ScoreGrocery AssociateUS Average

Salary

2.7

Avg. Salary $35,040

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability Level

7.1

Growth Rate 1%

Growth Rate 0.3%

Diversity

6.0

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.95%

Asian 6.63%

Black or African American 10.08%

Hispanic or Latino 16.32%

Unknown 5.47%

White 60.55%

Gender

female 20.64%

male 79.36%

Age - 35

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 35

Stress Level

7.1

Stress level is high

7.1 - high

Complexity Level

6.1

Complexity Level is intermediate

7 - challenging

Work Life Balance

10.0

Work Life balance is excellent

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a grocery associate

Explore grocery associate education requirements

Most common grocery associate degrees

High School Diploma

36.2 %

Bachelor's

32.1 %

Associate

19.9 %

Start to develop specific grocery associate skills

Skills	Percentages
Frozen Food	38.46%
General Merchandise	14.26%
Truck Deliveries	13.70%
Front End	5.76%
Work Ethic	4.44%

Complete relevant grocery associate training and internships

Accountants spend an average of Less than 1 month on post-employment, on-the-job training. New grocery associates learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a grocery associate based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real grocery associate resumes.

Research grocery associate duties and responsibilities

Receive payment via cash, checks, credit cards, debit cards and WIC.
Generate ideas: better organization in back room, labeling u-boats with dates, sales, etc.
Unload and secure receive products in the appropriate refrigerate storage areas using power, hand jack, carts or u-boats.
Maintain department cleanliness, and provide premier customer service.

Prepare your grocery associate resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your grocery associate resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a grocery associate resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose From 10+ Customizable Grocery Associate Resume templates

Build a professional Grocery Associate resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your Grocery Associate resume.

Apply for grocery associate jobs

Now it's time to start searching for a grocery associate job. Consider the tips below for a successful job search:

Browse job boards for relevant postings
Consult your professional network
Reach out to companies you're interested in working for directly
Watch out for job scams

How do grocery associates rate their job?