Lowe’s Sales Associate Job Description & Interview
Job Description and Duties
What Does a Lowe’s Sales Associate Do?
A Lowe’s sales associate stocks shelves, maintains the sales floor, and assists store patrons with exceptional customer service. As a major hardware store chain, Lowe’s needs associates for a number of different departments, such as paint, carpet, gardening, lighting, and many other departments. Sometimes, and depending on the location, a sales associate with Lowe’s must perform other duties for the store, such as cashier and warehouse work.
Salary and Compensation
How Much Do They Get Paid?
Most Lowe’s sales associates work part-time, or three to four six-hour shifts per week. However, full-time Lowe’s sales associate positions do exist. For many entry-level sales associates, the starting pay at Lowe’s is around $11.00 an hour. More experienced workers can make upwards of $12.00 per hour.
Additional Job Benefits
Available job benefits from Lowe’s include paid vacation time, medical coverage, and 401(k) retirement plans. Many work benefits with Lowe’s depend on employee status.
Next:
Review the Lowe’s Application page.
Lowe’s Sales Associate Interview Video
Video Transcript
Interviewer: Please describe your job title and primary duties.
Lowe’s Sales Associate: I work in product support and internet fulfillment. Basically what that is is all of our online orders either coming into the store for pickup or going out of the store for delivery. I’m responsible for picking the items, staging the items. If it’s for delivery, packaging the items and sending them off to the customers.
I’m also responsible for special order items, payment method changes. If a person comes in and has a payment change, I change that or add discounts to things. I work with a little bit of fraud stuff for like credit card fraud, things of that nature. We get some people coming in with stolen credit cards or they have purchased things and then have gotten their credit card stolen before they can come pick them up.
So I deal with a little bit of the payment stuff as well, customer service things, customer service issues, returns, managing defective items and just returns and things of that nature.
Interviewer: What was the work environment like?
Lowe’s Sales Associate: It’s a pretty fast paced work environment. Very friendly though. The employees are very friendly because we’re all just there to do the same task. You know, just make sure we get them done. You do have the rowdy customers, as always, but that’s pretty much in any establishment.
It has it’s spurts where it has it’s down times like around after New Years to about end of February we’re usually pretty slow. But then beginning of March in the spring time kicks up our outside lawn and garden and our inside lawn and garden picks up with the sale of lawnmowers and things of that nature. And outside with flowers and grass and grass seed, mulch, lumber. Gets pretty busy during the springtime and then during the wintertime we’re usually busy with our Black Friday sales, our Christmas sales, snow blowers, snow sleds, rakes, shovels, salt, things of that nature.
Usually our appliances section stays pretty consistent. People get their kitchens done at pretty much any point in time of the year. So that stays pretty consistent. That and bathroom stuff as well.
Interviewer: What was your favorite part about working there?
Lowe’s Sales Associate: Just the amount of responsibility that they let you have. They don’t really pigeon hole you to just knowing one thing. They let you be free and learn every aspect of the store, learning the different departments, letting you venture out and work a different departments if you feel comfortable with doing it.
So sometimes I might just be at the customer service desk all day. Sometimes I might be back in receiving. Sometimes I might pop in electrical and help some electrical people out or down in lumber. They pretty much just give you free for all to pretty much do whatever you want as long as you’re helping customers though.
Interviewer: Please describe the application and interview process.
Lowe’s Sales Associate: There was an online application. I applied for it. I got a call back probably about two or three days later. From there we set up a physical interview in person. Interview took probably about 20 or 25 minutes. I was asked maybe like seven or eight questions. And then from there you get another phone call back maybe two or three days later just letting you know hey, we reviewed all the applicants, dah, dah, dah. You’re the applicant that we’re going to pick.
So then from there you have to come in usually a week later and do a drug test. The drug test is the saliva test. So you have to put this saliva thing in your mouth and then it collects your spit and then they send it off to a lab. Then they’ll call you a few days later like hey, your results came back. You’re ready to go.
Then from there you do your training for a week and then you start shadowing a person that’s in your department and then you’re good to go.
Interviewer: What questions did the interviewer ask during the job interview?
Lowe’s Sales Associate: Pretty much just like tell me a time when you were faced with adversity in the work place. How did you handle it? What was the situation? Are you comfortable with working certain hours? What are your strengths? What are your weaknesses? Things of that nature. How do you handle rowdy customers? What do you do when you have a problem that you don’t know the answer to? Who do you contact? Just pretty much how do you deal with conflict resolution. Things of that nature.
Interviewer: How were you notified that you received the job?
Lowe’s Sales Associate: So for me, they actually called me. It was two days after because he had to interview two other people after me. So he called me two days after. He let me know my starting pay which was $11-12 an hour. And we set up another time for me to come in and actually do my drug test as well. We did all of that on the same phone call.
Interviewer: What set you apart from other candidates?
Lowe’s Sales Associate: I would say my ability to learn fast and to learn on the go. I got thrown into a position where it’s very complex and complicated to the average person that wouldn’t know, but I picked up on it in a few days which was typically quicker than most people. We still have people that’s been working there for years and they still can’t do what I do, what I figured out in a week.
Interviewer: What other advice would you give to a job seeker looking to gain employment?
Lowe’s Sales Associate: Just be prepared to work hard and don’t be afraid to learn things outside of a department that you work in because you’re going to find yourself in a department that you’re not familiar with and a customer doesn’t know that you don’t work there. The only thing that they see is a red vest. So get well acquainted with the store that you work in. I’m not saying you have to be an expert at every department, but just learn the general basics of everywhere you’re at. Because customers, the biggest thing is that they don’t care that you don’t know everything, but they can tell when you’re just trying to lie to them. So just have a general understanding of what’s going on.
Lowe’s Customer Service Clerk Interview Video
Video Transcript
Interviewer: Please describe your job title and primary duties.
Lowe’s Customer Service Clerk: At Lowe’s, my title is customer service clerk – working with customers, help them solve home improvement problems, and of course stocking shelves.
Interviewer: What was the work environment like?
Lowe’s Customer Service Clerk: Weekends were busy. During the week you had the after-hours pieces and parts. Very hectic, one problem to the next, but time went real fast.
Interviewer: Please describe a typical day as an employee.
Lowe’s Customer Service Clerk: We would come in, make sure the stock is where it’s supposed to be, be ready for the customers to come in, help them identify what problems, what parts they need. Pretty much routine.
Interviewer: How would you describe the application and interview process?
Lowe’s Customer Service Clerk: I went in. I walked in having had hardware experience and repair and maintenance experience. I walked in, actually, as a part-time worker. The interview process, of course, was focused on what experience I had, how I interacted with people, would I be able to help solve problems. After that, a follow-up, I think, in a couple of weeks, and the hiring.
Interviewer: What questions did the interviewer ask during the job interview?
Lowe’s Customer Service Clerk: They just asked how I… my interaction with other people, communication skills. Again, kind of routine.
Interviewer: What other advice would you give to a job seeker looking to gain employment?
Lowe’s Customer Service Clerk: To know where you’re… what department you are going to be in. To realize what is expected of you, so that you can offer what your experience has to the customer.
Interviewer: Did you earn any benefits or other job perks?
Lowe’s Customer Service Clerk: The second follow-up interview is more detailed. Even the application process, it read as you’re applying what they were to offer the potential hire. I knew about them, but it wasn’t really discussed until the second time I was called in. After a probationary period they had, I believe, dental, vision, extra and additional to their basic medical plan. And yet as a part-timer, I didn’t choose to sign up for it.
Tye'asia says:
I work with stock and i made sure the shelves were full and i help the customers in need. i gave my best knowledge if i did not know the answer i asked for help from my co-workers.