Walmart is luring college grads by promising to fast-track them to store manager roles that pay $210,000 a year within two years of being hired

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Walmart is luring recent college graduates by promising to fast-track them to store management roles that pay up to $210,000 within two years of being hired.

This summer, the retail giant will launch the new careers program which aims to give degree holders experience running stores and the chance to land a six-figure salary, the store announced in a statement on Sunday.  

The 'College2Career' program is for recent college graduates and current college students within 12 months of graduating, including Walmart associates. Participants will receive classroom training and hands-on experience at a local store, the statement said. 

Employees will be partnered with store leaders and at the end of the program, high performers will be offered a newly created management position of 'emerging coach' – with a starting salary of $65,000.

College students will be able to step into the role after they graduate, while recent grads will start immediately. 'This is just the beginning,' the store pointed out in the statement, adding that the average salary of Walmart store managers nationwide was $210,000 in 2021. 

Walmart is launching a new careers program this summer which aims to give degree holders experience running stores and the chance to land a six-figure salary

It can take as long as 10 years on average for an employee to progress from a salaried coach role to a store manager, Walmart said. But with College2Career, 'we are aiming to move emerging coaches to store managers within two years,' the company said. 

The new program is part of a wider hiring strategy that aims to grow its internship program by almost 30 percent year-over-year. The company already pays for employees to enroll in college or further education classes.

The program is offered to current employees of Walmart - one of the world's largest recruiters. About 1,000 people will be accepted in the program., the company said. 

Kwasi Asare-Bediako, who worked at a Walmart in New Jersey and has a degree in mathematics, is testing the program

Two college graduates - Kwasi Asare-Bediako and Ty Juarez - are testing the program, Wall Street Journal reported this week. Both have connections to the retailer. 

Asare-Bediako, who immigrated to the United States from Ghana as a child, now lives in New Jersey. He worked at a Walmart store for six years and has a degree in mathematics. 

Juarez, whose mother is a regional manager for Walmart, grew up in Southern California and recently graduated with a business degree while working at Target. 

Juarez said she sees the store manager role as a path to bigger roles, not a destination. 

'It puts me in a perfect position to start a career,' Juarez told WSJ. 

Aleia Marino, who began working as a self-checkout host at a Ohio Walmart when she was 17, has been selected for the program's next class of trainees, WSJ reported.  

Aleia Marino, who began working as a self-checkout host at a Ohio Walmart when she was 17, has been selected for the program's next class of trainees, WSJ reported

Marino continued to work at Walmart while earning an associate degree in early childhood education. But now, at age 20, she says she wants to move up in the company and sees it as a path to a bigger opportunity.  

'I was just like, 'Oh, yeah, this will help me pay for college,' Marino told WSJ. 'As I went through I kind of fell in love with retail.' She added she likes that the new program includes compensation transparency.

'I want to see the impact that I have as a store manager,' she said, 'on that store, on the sales in that store and the associates.'

In April, Walmart was forced to dramatically increase the starting salaries of truck drivers in order to keep the retailer's supply chain going after the industry shed 4,900 drivers in a single year.

The retailer also launched a retraining program to give employees who work in its distribution centers the chance to become certified Walmart truck drivers by completing a 12-week program taught by the company's drivers.

In April, Walmart was forced to dramatically increase the starting salaries of truck drivers in order to keep the retailer's supply chain going after the industry shed 4,900 drivers in a year

Walmart, based in Bentonville, Arkansas, has confirmed it is raising the starting salaries salary from $87,500 to between $95,000 and $110,000, according to Walmart spokeswoman Anne Hatfield.

The new salaries were announced last month as a national trucker shortage put severe pressure on freight movement throughout America.

Walmart and other nationwide retailers, including Amazon, Costco and Target, have increased their profit margins during the coronavirus pandemic, as demand for items such as basic household commodities and furniture soared, requiring more supply-chain workers on the front lines.

Walmart’s desire to increase staff numbers comes at a time when most retailers are struggling to stock up their stores and deliver purchases to consumers while facing a deficiency in employees and delivery drivers.