MINNEAPOLIS, Minn — The unemployment rate is climbing. The uncertainty of our financial futures is disheartening, but there are places that are hiring right now. The biggest grocery store chain in Minnesota Cub Foods is keeping their "Help Wanted" sign up for now.
"We have jobs available across the store right now in all of the departments," said Darren Caudill, the Cub Foods Senior Vice President of Merchandising and Sales.
Darren says Cub has 300 positions open right now and they anticipate hiring close to 1,000 people over the next few months.
"We are hiring part-time and full-time depending on what their need is," Darren said. "We certainly understand because of the economy, especially with what's going on with restaurants and dining that the future there is still uncertain. We fully expect that folks will want to come work for us for a period of time and return to other employment."
As the saying goes 'One door closes, another one opens'.
For people who may hesitate to apply due to COVID-19 concerns, Cub is taking extra safety precautions like wiping down carts, even adding Plexiglas barriers at their registers to keep both customers and employees safe.
Still, in nearly four decades of working in the grocery industry, Darren has never seen anything quite like this.
"It's unprecedented what we are seeing right now, both from the customer expectation to what's going on outside our stores but more so to the human spirit," said Darren. "I have never seen customers and employees working so well to understand each other, support each other and continue to take care of each other... so that part has been incredible to me."
Right now, starting wages for part-time employees are anywhere between $12-$14/hour.
Also, Darren is reminding people to buy only what they need in the moment so that stores are able to replenish the low inventory of items like toilet paper, sanitizer and eggs.
Cub isn't the only place hiring right now for a full list of places click here.