Convenience Store Alliance Aligns With CareerBuilder

NORMAN, Okla. -- Convenience Store Alliance (CSA) is teaming up with CareerBuilder to help independent retailers reduce turnover and hire better-quality employees.

CSA is the Phillips 66 Branded Retailer Buying Program available to more than 7,000 branded sites that sell Phillips 66-, Conoco- or 76-branded gasoline.

The NACS 2012 State of the Industry Report put the average industry turnover rate at 77 percent, with the majority of turnovers occurring within the first 90 days of employment. In addition, the estimated cost to turnover a single hourly clerk is $3,900, according to the Coca-Cola Retailing Research Council. This figure takes into account costs for recruiting, interviewing, training new candidates and paying overtime to cover unfulfilled positions.

Based on these statistics, a store with 15 part- and full-time employees will average $44,850 in employee turnover costs, CSA explained.

"In an industry where turnover occurs at such a high volume, even the smallest decrease in turnover will increase dealers' savings," said Benjamin Kuntz, sales director, energy services at CareerBuilder. "We give CSA members the tools and resources it takes to recruit and retain the best-quality employees -- resulting in a positive store experience and, ultimately, adding to the bottom line."

CSA's program replaces "Help Wanted" signs and walk-in applicants with targeted job postings on more than 1,600 CareerBuilder partner sites such as MSN and AOL. Store operators with 30-day job postings can expect an average of 20 distinguished applications for "Store Clerk" positions and 18 applications for "Store Manager" positions, according to a news release on the partnership.

CSA members receive national account pricing on CareerBuilder.com-branded job posting packages, résumé databases and targeted recruitment emails. Marketers can qualify for discounts by using CareerBuilder's annual package to post for executive, administrative, management and clerical positions. Marketers and larger dealerships on the annual program will receive training, data tracking and return-on-investment measurements in order to build a pipeline of candidates.

"We offer many ways to help increase employee retention, including HR (human resources) and benefits programs," said Mike Lawson, president and CEO of CSA. "But it all begins with the hiring process."