Tesco is a British supermarket chain that runs over 1,000 stores in 11 countries. The firm is the country's largest private sector employer, and is currently expanding, most notably in Central Europe and the Far East. TESCO employ 237,000 people worldwide and generate annual revenues of over £25 Billion in the UK alone. The chain sells food and non-food items, operates a banking arm called Tesco Finance and runs a large online presence, Tesco.com.
Apart from an interest in retail, Tesco are looking for the following key competencies in graduates: people/communication, leadership and analytical skills. You must also have a minimum of a 2.1 deree (any discipline) and 3 A Levels (excluding General Studies and A/S Levels) grade C or above (240 UCAS points), for most graduate roles.
Benefits for people on the Tesco graduate scheme include:
All Tesco graduate programmes start in September, apart from Pharmacy which starts in August. In total there are 15 different programmes available for graduates, such as Store (shop floor/management), Office (e.g. Finance, IT, Law), Distribution (e.g logistics, merchandising and Pharmacy. Graduates are not supposed to apply to more than one scheme a year.
All graduate employees need to be mobile during their graduate scheme. You need to be willing to relocate if required, although this is less important for graduates on the Store based scheme and Office scheme. All Tesco office placements are based in the firm's head offices in Hertfordshire. These will be in either Cheshunt or Welwyn Garden City.
Tesco can only accept applications from graduates who are already legally entitled to work in the UK. If you are invited to an assessment centre, you will need to supply your UK or European Economic Area passport, or similar supporting documents.
The Store graduate programme starts with a two-day induction. During this time you will meet with all the other stores graduates so you can start to build up a network of contacts. We invite recent graduates and store managers who were previously on the programme, and operational directors to share their valuable knowledge and experience with you on how to progress within Stores. You will learn about the content of the programme and will have the opportunity to have any questions or queries answered before starting your programme in stores.
Each year Tesco donate 1% of their profits to charity. They are involved in various (CSR) activities.
Tesco have an internal scheme to recycle more than 80% of paper, cardboard and plastic across our office sites. During 2007 the firm introduced fully-automated recycling machines at some of their stores.
Over 14 years, Tesco's Computers for Schools scheme has given more than £100 million worth of computers and IT equipment to UK schools.
Now see, Tesco Interview Questions.
Over 3,000 people apply for Tesco graduate schemes each year. Approximately 50 people are hired.
Read Industry trade press such as The Grocer to prepare for commercial awareness questions at interview.
Tesco want to see that applicants are capable of the following key competencies at interview: