Another Member Sprouts

Member Nicole Pendleton is the latest Academy member to go back to work, flourishing as an in-store shopper at Sprouts Farmers Market.

Nicole rides her bike to and from her job at Sprouts. She makes sure that she arrives early enough to cool down from the Florida summer sun before clocking in and hitting the sales floor. She carries with her a smartphone and, when it rings, she springs into action.

When a customer places an order for pick-up, Nicole fulfils that order with an eye for detail. As she navigates the aisles, she takes care to choose the perfectly ripe fruits and vegetables, checking for bruises, making sure that the quantity is exactly what the customer has requested. She is methodical in her approach, carefully shopping each department at a time. If the store is out of an item, she communicates with the customer, offering options and alternatives. She shops for her customers the way she would shop for her own family, with great attention to detail.

There is more to this job than meets the eye. After shopping she has to ring everything up on her own, separate items by temperature and stage them in the appropriate area of the store. There is a lot of technology that she has to master; that smartphone keeping every step organized. By the time she delivers the groceries to the customer in the lot, she has completed roughly 30 different steps.

From the standpoint of a job coach, there is no greater joy than watching a member successfully learn a new job. It feels like the culmination of everything that we do at the Academy. When Nicole clocks out after a long day, her smile says it all. She has given it her all, and it has paid off. Nicole states “This job motivates me to be my best self every day.”