Application timing*

Asda
Asda is now part of the world's biggest retail group, having been bought by America's Wal-Mart in 1999. It operates an ongoing graduate recruitment scheme, with a starting salary of £17,000 (£18,500 in London), which is reviewed every six months. Training programmes cover retail management, logistics, finance, and the George clothing brand. Asda stresses the wide range of opportunities it can now offer graduates, not just in the UK but also with Wal-Mart in Europe, the USA and beyond. The company's 'Naked Truth' graduate recruitment video won awards for its honest portrayal of life at Asda.

Boots
Boots plc operates the Boots the Chemists as well as related specialist retail services such as Boots Opticians. The company also owns the Halfords retail chain, and is active in other business areas; its successful consumer healthcare company owns the Clearasil, Nurofen and Strepsils brands.

Boots has a number of annual graduate vacancies across the business, and the recruitment process begins in September. Over the past year the company has introduced new initiatives designed to make it more attractive to potential employees, including a staff share scheme. Details of its graduate development programme will be available online from October.

Dixons
The UK's largest electrical retailer, operating brands including Dixons, Currys and PC World. Although behind arch-rival Kingfisher in its overseas expansion programme, the past two years have seen Dixons buy several European electrical chains.

Dixons operates a highly regarded management trainee programme, which is open to graduates. This starts at the sales floor - the sharp end of the business - and covers a range of key organisational skills. The company also provides the opportunity to develop careers into specialist areas of the business.

GUS
One of the UK's leading catalogue, mail order and online retailers, Great Universal Stores (GUS) plc has been through a process of corporate restructuring which has seen its graduate recruitment programme suspended. All of GUS's retail operations, including catalogue brands such as Kays and Great Universal, and retail websites such as jungle.com, have been brought under the Argos Retail Group umbrella. The company currently recruits as required.

Kingfisher
With British retail brands including B&Q and Comet, this UK-based retail group is increasingly operating across Europe and beyond. Kingfisher sees DIY and electricals as its core businesses, and to that end has recently sold Superdrug and announced that the Woolworths chain is to be demerged.

Kingfisher has an established graduate development programme that has been developed over the past six years, and says "the programme has become a popular choice for finalists, attracting high calibre individuals to the group. With good programme retention rates, these individuals will continue to grow and develop as they progress their career."

Marks & Spencer
One of the biggest and best known retail brands in the UK, M&S has experienced a somewhat public downturn in its fortunes over the past three years. But the company is still one of the most visited retailers on the high street and makes annual profits around of around £500m.

M&S has long been recognised as one of the UK's best employers in terms of training and working conditions enjoyed by employees. Although its graduate recruitment programme has been scaled back, the company will be recruiting around 80 graduate trainees in 2002, in various disciplines, in both stores and Head Office. Applications will be invited from September 2001 and will close mid-January 2002.

Safeway
The highly competitive UK supermarket sector requires companies to continually adapt, and Safeway has had to update its corporate approach over the past two years.

The Safeway Graduate Programme aims to combine "the responsibility of a real job with a superb management training programme." The rotational training scheme includes three placements, including a minimum of nine months in a store managing a team. The scheme is tailored to the individual, with placements in a range of specialist retail areas within the company, and all trainees work towards obtaining the IGD Postgraduate Certificate in Food and Grocery Industry Management.
Safeway Careers Line: 0800 269718

Sainsbury's
The second biggest supermarket operator in the UK, having been knocked off the number one spot by Tesco in the nineties. The company has been through a process of corporate change over the past two years, which included the sale of the Homebase DIY chain, in order to concentrate on its core grocery business.

There is now a greater emphasis on staff training and development, and in 2001, the company recruited 150 graduates to its 'Fresher Thinking' graduate training scheme. The scheme includes programmes covering retail, marketing, trading, supply chain, logistics and finance. Sainsbury's next round of graduate recruitment starts in September, and the company also offers summer and sandwich course placements to students.
View current vacancies at Sainsbury's here

Somerfield
Somerfield plc operates the Somerfield and Kwik Save supermarket brands. Although it does not have a specific graduate recruitment scheme, its management training programme is acknowledged as one of the best groundings available in the supermarket sector. The company is very keen to attract graduates into the programme, which leads to store manager status, and has also recently begun running specialist graduate programmes including a scheme for buyers.

Tesco
The UK's number one food retailer, with almost 700 stores in the UK, as well as a growing presence in central Europe and Asia. It has recently announced a joint venture with Safeway Inc in the US to transfer the successful Tesco.com home shopping model stateside.

Tesco operates an annual graduate trainee recruitment programme across the various areas of its business, which in 2001 included store management, corporate purchasing and strategic research. The recruitment process includes assessment centres and psychometric testing, and is described by the company as "thorough and challenging" in order to identify candidates who are right for the role and fit the corporate culture.

* Most graduate programmes start in September each year, but the selection process will have begun as early as a year before, with job offers usually confirmed by June. Some companies have rolling intakes but, if you have your heart set on working with a particular company, make sure you check its application deadline. If you've missed it, you might want to consider applying for next year's intake.

Back to top