Advancement Opportunities
We offer associates interested in leadership roles the opportunity to gain the training and experience they need to advance within the Company. We take pride that so many current managers and executives started their careers with us as associates. For example, Alma, who started at Ross in 1989 as a part-time shoe department associate is now Vice President at our dd’s DISCOUNTS chain; Edmund is a Distribution Center Director who joined the Company as a forklift driver in 2002; and Jennifer, who joined the Company as an Assistant Store Manager, now oversees 55 Ross stores as a Dallas-based Zone Director.
Alma was still in high school when, in 1989, she started working as a part-time associate to bring in extra money and pay for school activities. Impressed by the Company’s training and professional development programs, Alma decided to pursue a career at Ross. Over the years, she has relocated multiple times to take on new jobs and open stores. Alma currently is Vice President of Stores at dd’s DISCOUNTS and is among the 48% of women who comprise the Company's leadership (defined as Vice President and above).
Alma sees herself in many of the younger people who come to work in our stores. She mentors them by letting them know that with hard work and an entrepreneurial spirit, they too can build a rewarding career at Ross.
Edmund, a native of Ghana, West Africa, came to the United States in 2002 as a student in search of a good education. While studying economics and finance, he took a job as a full-time forklift driver in a Ross distribution center. Though he had no experience, he was eager to learn and determined to build a path toward success.
While working full-time for Ross, Edmund also earned his master’s degree and is currently pursuing a doctoral degree in Business Administration. Today he is in charge of the Inventory Control and Quality Departments and has more than 130 associates who report to him. Crediting his success to career growth opportunities at Ross, Edmund is focused on mentoring associates and managers. He encourages them to take advantage of all the training opportunities so they can achieve their own career success.
Jennifer was working her way through college as a restaurant manager when her mother, a part-time Ross employee, told her about opportunities at the Company. She started as an Assistant Store Manager, and through our job and leadership training program advanced to a Zone Director, responsible for 55 stores in five states and more than 2,200 associates.
Jennifer credits her ability to continually take on more responsibility at Ross to our Company culture which encourages associates to contribute and be creative. Around the time that Jennifer became a Store Manager, the Company was looking for a process to more efficiently get merchandise from the back of the store onto the sales floor. Though it wasn’t her direct responsibility, Jennifer and her team created a solution that was implemented across the entire Company.
Jennifer is an example of how every associate can make a difference. As a Zone Director, Jennifer keeps her door open for any and all ideas from associates.