If you take a look at Glassdoor.com and Indeed.com, you’ll immediately see that H-E-B gets higher than average reviews from its employees. This is a great sign for people wanting to join a great company with a future.
Working for H-E-B
These two websites contain information submitted by actual employees who have either worked there or are currently employed with the company. Many who are currently working at H-E-B are highly satisfied, while very few are not happy with their jobs.
Here are the good points and bad points about working at this supermarket chain:
Pros:
- Employee morale is very high
- The company shows it cares about its workers
- Coworkers get along very well
- For many workers, you get a raise every six months
- There are many opportunities for growth
- If you work hard, you get noticed by management
- The pay is higher than most supermarket chains
- Full-time workers have good benefits, including stock options
Cons:
- Sometimes, the hours assigned weekly are inconsistent
- Some employees report that managers are difficult to deal with
- Part-time workers sometimes receive only 10 hours a week of work or less
- For many employees, you have to work every single weekend
- It takes about one year (or 1,000 work hours) to become eligible for health insurance as a full-time worker
- Some managers tend to show favoritism to employees
History of H-E-B
H-E-B was founded in 1905, in Kerrville, Texas by Florence Butt. She named her grocery store “CC Butt.” In 1919, her youngest son, Howard Edward Butt, returned from World War I and began operating the store.
Howard Butt opened another successful store in 1927 in Del Rio, Texas. Eventually, after the purchase of a few other grocery stores, Howard E Butt’s initials had become the new name of every store.
Years later, in 1971, Howard’s son Charles Butt became the company president and he still holds that position today.
Today, there are over 340 stores located in the state of Texas and in northeast Mexico.
Jobs at H-E-B
There are 6 job categories at this award-winning Company, and they are:
- Digital
- Stores
- Corporate
- Manufacturing, Warehousing, and Transportation
- Summer Internships and University Grads
- Pharmacy and Primary Healthcare Clinics
Jobs in H-E-B are also available for disabled candidates and for this, they offer special accommodation requests. You can find the information on the main careers webpage.
Below are some of the most common positions you will find at an H-E-B store.
H-E-B Checker
This is the H-E-B cashier position and it requires a serious commitment to excellent customer service. During the interview, you need to make sure you show your interviewer you are a helpful person.
Additionally, you need to show that you are energetic and you have the ability to treat people kindly and with respect.
For this position, you also have to demonstrate that you’re able to lift 35 lbs and that you’re able to manage over 35 lbs by breaking each lift into smaller components.
H-E-B Bagger
This is the position usually claimed by employees who are 16 and 17 years old. However, there are many baggers in their 20s, 30s, middle-aged folks, and seniors.
Also known as an H-E-B customer service assistant, your duties will extend beyond simply bagging customers’ purchases and helping them load them onto their vehicles.
You will also be gathering the shopping carts, picking up trash both inside and outside the store, and stocking merchandise.
You’ll have to frequently stand and you must be able to lift 55 lbs and be able to manage up to 100 lbs by breaking down the packages into smaller groups.
Once you are hired, you will be trained in safety procedures and you’ll receive a full company orientation.
H-E-B Overnight Stocker
If you are someone who doesn’t mind or is used to working the midnight shift, working as an overnight stocker at H-E-B may be what you’re looking for.
This job gives you a chance to see all the products that come through the warehouses and into your store. This can give you an advantage of product knowledge if you have your sights set on advancing with the company.
For this position, you have to follow a set of strict standard operating procedures for safety reasons. You have to be able to communicate effectively and read and write.
It’s also a job that requires you to be flexible with your shifts, including having to work weekends and some holidays.
You’ll have to be able to demonstrate that you can handle 100 lb shipments by breaking down the contents and distributing these items throughout the store.
H-E-B Food Service Rep
As a food service rep, you can find a position in many different departments including deli, produce, seafood, bakery, and more.
You’ll be in charge of packaging and merchandising your fresh products and maintaining the cleanliness of your work area.
More importantly, you’re going to be taking orders from customers either by phone or in person.
You will also answer any questions regarding any products in your department so you can help the customers make the best selections possible.
This is a job where if you don’t provide exceptional customer service you can easily get a complaint. So, for a position like this, come with your “A” game when it comes to being courteous and friendly.
H-E-B Baker
As a baker in this supermarket chain, you have quite a few responsibilities. It’s important to be able to mix, shape, and bake products according to standards.
You also have to wrap and stock them and ensure that your department has quality control of all the products.
H-E-B customers shopping for products in the bakery department can suffer from the stress of not knowing what products to choose. On occasion, you may run into a rude or discourteous customer.
Therefore, you have to be very knowledgeable about the products you place on the shelves. You will be there to lend a helping hand and inform your customers of the types of ingredients used in the products.
Your expertise will guide them to the best selections for their needs.
One of the requirements for this position is 2 to 5 years of experience in relation to being a baker or assistant.
H-E-B Cross-Functional Rep
If you have your eyes set on advancing within the company, then this position will be of tremendous value to you.
A cross-functional rep is the person who fills in for any worker who calls out sick, goes on a vacation, or when the department wants to fill in any empty work slots.
This job gives you an advantage because you will learn about every department within the store. Later, as you move up the chain, you will have an advantage over other applicants because of your experience in different departments.
This is the perfect job for a young person who starts at the age of 16 as a bagger and wants to advance within the company.
Imagine working for two years and at the age of 18, becoming a cross-functional rep. Two years later, you may be on the fast track to landing a great management position and making a very high salary.
This has happened many times!
H-E-B Pharmacy Technician
As a pharmacy tech at H-E-B, you have a long list of duties.
These include filling medication prescriptions, handling endless questions from patients, and verifying patient information when you place it into the computer system.
To be considered for this position, you have to be at least 18 years of age and you need a pharmacy tech certificate from the state of Texas.
You will be expected to take 20 hours of further training after every 2 years of employment.
Candidates will be trained on HIPAA laws after they are hired.
Department Managers
At H-E-B, every department has its own manager who oversees each of those departments.
A department manager may be in charge of the grocery, floral, seafood, curbside, service, produce, bakery, deli, or meat market department.
A manager who leads a department is in charge of writing out the employee schedules, overseeing inventory, and making sure that all employees provide excellent customer service.
One of the most important aspects of this job is having the ability to maximize sales through smart merchandising.
Therefore, you have to be knowledgeable about your products and place them in front of the customers so they can see them easily.
This is one of those positions where you can move up the ladder of success within this company.
For example, if you prove yourself to be a hard worker and you can make good decisions, you can get noticed by management and have the opportunity to be promoted to assistant manager.
H-E-B Assistant Manager
H-E-B is full of stories of young workers who put forth a lot of effort in an entry-level position and ended up as an assistant manager in a very short time!
With this salaried position also referred to as a H-E-B assistant store director, you’re going to be building your team of workers to ensure the best customer service. Your manager will count on you to run the store operations and it’s up to you to make your store successful.
If you can attend H-E-B‘s school of retail leadership internship program while attending college, it can put you on the fast track to success as an assistant manager, then as a store director (store manager).
H-E-B Store Director
This is the ultimate H-E-B store job and although it brings plenty of challenges, it is well worth the reward in salary and benefits.
This is the store manager position of each H-E-B store and you’ll be the one who is ultimately responsible for the store’s success. With that said, this position requires you to oversee every department on a daily basis.
Your assistant store director will be of great assistance to you and this will take some of the pressure off. Regardless, you will usually be very active in dealing with your customers and offering help to your staff members.
The requirements for this position include experience as an assistant store director as well as thorough knowledge about the operations of the company.
H-E-B Internship Program
For college students who want to get a headstart in their future, H-E-B offers a summer internship for 10 weeks, every year.
H-E-B School of Retail Leadership
During the month of September, you can submit your online application complete with a video interview in order to be considered.
Then, from October to December, if you are chosen for the internship, an offer will be made to you. Approximately 200 interns are selected.
During the first week of this leadership program, you’ll get a chance to hear from the senior leadership team at this company. You’ll also interact with other interns from other parts of the organization, such as in corporate and in manufacturing.
When the second week rolls around, you will be assigned a mentor along with the details of your project as an intern.
From weeks 3 to 9, you’ll gain real world experience of what it’s like to be in retail management.
Week 10 is about planning how you are going to be moving forward with your career once you finish college.
H-E-B Warehouse Jobs
There are many warehouse positions in various locations throughout Texas and the most common job available is that of an order selector.
These jobs are fairly well-paid for hourly worker positions, but many of them are also very physically demanding.
H-E-B Order Selector
As an order picker, you can expect to be lifting boxes throughout your shift. The forklift is something you’ll learn how to operate and safety procedures will really become important to you in order to perform your job correctly.
The minimum qualifications are a high school diploma or its equivalent, as well as having basic math, reading, and writing skills.
As with most warehouse jobs, you can expect to make more money than if you were working an entry-level job in a retail store. However, it’s a far more fast-paced and physically demanding job.
A warehouse worker at H-E-B stands on his or her feet all day while pulling boxes from shelves and making sure they are shipped properly.
There are other jobs available in the warehouses such as in shipping & receiving, maintenance, safety, and sanitation.
H-E-B Corporate Careers
H-E-B‘s corporate headquarters referred to as “The Arsenal” are located in San Antonio, Texas.
At this time, all corporate hiring is done digitally. You simply create an account online, begin the application process, and you record yourself digitally by entering interview questions.
The types of careers you can find in H-E-B‘s corporate world is as follows:
- Accounting
- Administrative support
- Advertising
- Construction
- Continuous improvement team
- Corporate communications
- Corporate pharmacy
- Corporate planning
- Customer insights center
- Data analytics
- Digital commerce
- Digital marketing
- Digital technology
- Engineering
- Facility design
- Global sourcing
- Human resources
- Legal
- Loss prevention
- Own brand
- Procurement
- Public affairs
- Quality assurance
- Real estate
How to Apply at H-E-B
To apply at H-E-B, you’ll have to do it online. Currently, they use a video system during the process for some positions where you answer interview questions while recording yourself!
To begin the application, follow these steps:
- Visit the official careers website at https://careers.heb.com/.
- Scroll down to the 6 different categories of employment and choose one. For this example, choose “Stores.”
- You will be redirected to a page that has a heading titled Store Opportunities at H-E-B.
- Click on the “View Jobs” under your preferred job category.
- Enter your location and whether you want to work part-time or full-time.
- Click on the job listing and you will be redirected to a job description.
- To begin applying, click the “Apply Online” button.
- The next page will ask you to create an account.
- After you create the account, you can begin the application.
- During the application, you will have an e-signature page. Enter your signature.
Next, upload your resume if you have one, enter your personal information, answer eligibility questions, enter your experience, add general information, answer background questions, indicate when you are available to work, then you can offer some voluntary information, and review and submit your application.
For salaried positions, make sure you have your resume to upload. For hourly jobs, this is optional but it is recommended if you want to stand out as a candidate.
H-E-B Hiring Process
After you submit your H-E-B application online through the careers website, an email will be sent to you and it will confirm your application is under review.
If you meet the criteria for the job you selected, you will be chosen to have an interview with an H-E-B recruiter. This person will either call you or send you an email.
You’ll either be interviewed through an online video process or in person. Usually, you will go through the online video first before you are selected to come in and interview in person.
Past applicants report it takes anywhere from 4 days to 3 weeks and even a month to get hired.
Interview Questions
Here are five example interview questions that may be asked of you during the interview and suggestions on how to answer them:
- Are you able to work flexible hours? If it’s possible, make sure you indicate you are ready to work any and all available shifts and days. This will give you an advantage over most applicants.
- Why do you want to work at H-E-B? Answer: Talk about all the good points you have read in this article.
- Tell me something unique about yourself. Suggestion: Let the interviewer know something special about yourself as it relates to the position you are applying for. It can even be something funny or cute. For example, if you are applying to become a checker, you can tell the story about how your parents always marveled at how well you counted money during your childhood as you placed it in your piggy bank!
- Where do you see yourself in five years working at H-E-B? Suggestion: Have a great answer in line with a vision of where you see yourself. Make sure it’s believable! For example, you might say, “I want to start out as a bagger, finish high school and attend college, and while I’m in college I would like to attend the H-E-B’s leadership school so I can someday land a management position and become an even greater asset to this company. Wow! You’re hired! LOL
- How would you handle a rude customer? When you answer this question, focus on how empathetic you are with people and how your communication skills can help de-escalate a difficult situation with ease.
Taken straight from the H-E-B careers website, here are 5 tips to be able to ace the interview:
- Plan on answering why you think you are an excellent candidate for H-E-B and why a position with this company is the perfect job for you.
- Make a list of questions you want to ask so you can understand what you would do on a daily basis while working there.
- If you have had any leadership experience in the past, make sure you are prepared to speak about it and highlight your positive performance during the interview.
- If you are going to be applying for an hourly position, come dressed in business casual wear. If you are going after a professional position, dress up in business professional wear.
- Don’t be afraid to be yourself. H-E-B wants to see each candidate for the special and unique individual they are.
How old do you have to be to work at H-E-B?
16-year-olds are allowed to work at H-E-B. Depending on your management, you will be limited to certain positions if you are only 16.
The most common job for a juvenile worker at H-E-B is that of a bagger. In this job, you still have a little danger involved as you retrieve carts in the parking lot. Be careful and be aware of people speeding through the lots!
Does H-E-B Drug Test?
According to past and present employees, H-E-B will sometimes drug test you before hiring. Additionally, if you are going for a professional/salaried position or a warehouse job, you can expect a drug test as a condition of your employment.
Many applicants mistakenly believe most companies no longer have the money to invest in drug tests for all new hires. However, all it takes is for someone conducting the interview to throw up a red flag on you and request a drug test, just to be on the safe side!
Always keep in mind H-E-B reserves the right to drug test you at a moment’s notice for any reason. For example, you may not be drug-tested for the first 4 years of employment only to show up to work one day to find you have to submit to a drug test.
This can happen when someone reports you as someone who may be using drugs or you may have had some type of accident while working.
How do I check on my H-E-B application status?
To review your status, you can log into your account. Instructions are going to be provided for you in the email you will have received after submitting your online application.
It’s important to be patient while you wait to be hired. Some applicants say they received a notice of being hired from the company within 48 hours, while some say it takes 1 to 2 weeks.
If you haven’t heard anything after 1 week, visit the store of your choice and ask management about the status of your application. This is the perfect time to impress the management staff with your professional appearance and great personality.
Benefits
Part-timers at this company can accrue vacation time but they can’t participate in any type of comprehensive health benefits plan.
For full-time workers who have completed 1,000 hours of work a year, full benefits are offered.
It is a comprehensive health plan which includes vision and dental. It also has a 401(k) and every partner gets a partner stock option plan thrown into the mix!
Final Thoughts
This company really cares about its employees and offers a wide variety of opportunities to advance within the company. A 16-year-old worker can advance within the company and be a department manager in a short time after becoming an adult.
Anyone with a vision, can work hard and progress within the system and get promoted to management. The opportunity is there!
The pay is generally very good compared to other supermarket chains across the country.
Overwhelmingly, employees say the work atmosphere is very pleasant even though it is fast-paced and very busy. Generally, workers said their management staff was a pleasure to work with. You don’t see this with every single supermarket chain!
For all these reasons and more, H-E-B gives applicants a chance to join a great organization with the future.
