Question about getting promoted.

Joined: 22 Jun 2008 Posts: 59 Location: Ohio

First day and the HR woman was telling everyone that getting promoted is as easy as pie. All you have to do is take the classes or courses (I'm assuming its on your own time) and put in the required time in your current positon and BAM....you get promoted. Wondering how accurate this is?

Posted: Thu Jul 03, 2008 3:43 am Post subject:

I spent a year and a half at Lowe's. At my store they said the same, truth was it was a little more complicated because of favoritism. They always know in advance who will take the position. You had to apply for the job and then interview for the position.
Take it with a grain of salt. It is possible, but you have to either be a model employee and very lucky or in the case of our store willing to do extreme personal favors for the people that had a role in making the decision.

Joined: 23 Jul 2007 Posts: 25

The program they are talking about is 1)EMTP (entry management training program) for department managers and 2)MTP (Management Training program) for zone managers.

EMTP is relatively easy to get into. There are a lot of spaces available in the classes that are held a few times I year. You do have to interview for a spot, but as long as you know your reports (and you will after six months of employment), you should be good to go.

MTP is a lot more difficult as the spaces are limited. Usually only two people per store. You have to take a test first which is a gauge of "management suitability" and then basically your store manager gives the yay or nay (if you pass the test).

That being said, favoritism does play a lot into getting placed into position after you take these classes. And I am speaking as one of the "favored ones", so I'm not feeding you a line. It's the ugly truth.

Lowe's is not a horrible place to work for by any means, and every store is different depending on your senior managers. I wish you luck!! Smile

Joined: 03 Jun 2008 Posts: 6

At my store it seems all you need to make it into management is a pulse, and also the willingness to do nothing.

Joined: 01 Feb 2008 Posts: 226

I've seen people work their butts off to get promoted only to find that Lowe's has hired external canidates to fill the slots.

Joined: 22 Jun 2008 Posts: 59 Location: Ohio

Thanks for all the feedback. I keep my nose clean, work hard, and just do the best I can. I keep my appearance (Semper Fi) clean and my attire professional. I definitely believe that I stand out. As far as everything else, its out of my control. I'm very excited about working at Lowes! Lets put it this way, it sure beats slaving away at the local dead end factories.

Any tips that might help me on the EMTP program or interview? Anything that I can do/learn/prepare myself besides the courses and reports in adavnce? Thanks!!

Joined: 27 Dec 2005 Posts: 33 Location: Wisconsin

Doing the best that you can, trying to stay out of any drama, and working hard are all things that will help you, but something else that you may want to do is take an interest in the reports that your department manager works on, ask if there is anything that you can help him with. It may sound like it is brownnosing, but any interest that you show in what needs to be done will show the management that you are interested in helping out the company in any capacity you can. Also, cross train in a few departments. This not only helps you become more valuable to the store, it also makes you more valuable to our customers. An associate that knows a little bit about other departments becomes a better candidate for EMTP because you will have a better shot at finding a department manager position if you don't have to learn everything about the department after you would take the position.

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