Walmart is fast-tracking college grads to store manager roles that pay $210,000 a year

• Walmart will fast-track college graduates into management roles, earning up to $210,000 a year.
• The retailer announced a new graduate program aimed at giving grads experience running stores.

Retail isn't always seen as the most appealing career path for college leavers, but Walmart is hoping to change that by offering recent graduates a fast-track route to management, and the chance to earn up to $210,000 within two years of joining the company.

This summer, the USA's largest employer will pilot a new careers program aimed at giving degree holders experience running Walmart stores, it announced in a statement on Sunday.

Under the "College2Career" program, college leavers, or those who graduated within the previous 12 months, will be partnered with company leaders to learn how to run a Walmart store, it said.

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At the end of the program, high performers will be offered a newly created management position of "emerging coach" – which comes with a salary of $65,000 – in preparation for a move into store management roles within two years. The average salary of store managers was $210,000 in 2021, the statement said.

"We see the emerging coach role as an additional pipeline to develop high-potential talent into future store managers," Amy Goldfinger, senior vice president of global talent, and Lorraine Stomski, senior vice president of learning and leadership, said in the statement.

It typically takes many years for someone starting on the shop floor to be promoted to manager.

Walmart is one of the world's largest recruiters, employing over 2.3 million people worldwide — 1.6 million of those in the US — but like other firms it's having to rethink the package of opportunities offered to recruits and existing staff as the so-called 'Great Resignation' shows no signs of slowing

Approximately 4.5 million Americans quit their jobs in March, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the tenth consecutive month that quits have topped the four million figure. Total job openings stood at 11.5 million in the same month, according to the BLS' latest Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey, published in May. Retail was among the sectors with the highest number of open roles.

Many of those shifting jobs have been in search of better pay, but many also want their employers to offer them more opportunities for learning and development, a trend accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Walmart announced the new program as part of a wider update to its hiring strategy, which includes plans to grow its intake of interns by 30% year-over-year. The company already pays for workers to enroll in college or further education classes.

In April, Walmart bumped the starting salary for its truckers from about $87,500, to between $95,000 and $110,000.

As part of the "College2Career" program, participants will receive a mixture of classroom training and hands-on experience at a local store, the statement said. Walmart did not disclose when applications will open or how many positions will be available.

Walmart did not immediately respond to Insider's request for further comment, which was made outside of normal US business hours.