Retail

The Retail Management scheme is now closed for applications. ASDA Colleagues should speak to their People Manager about other development opportunities.

About the area

The average turnover of an ASDA store is more than £1 million. But if you're hoping to run one, there's a great deal more to it than handling big budgets. This is just as much about creating a culture where everyone feels like an important part of the company. Where people enjoy giving their all because they know it's appreciated. To give you an idea of what it's like here, when a colleague's son had his bike stolen from outside the store, everyone who worked there put their hands in their pockets to buy him a new one.

About your development

So what does the programme look like? Over the first three months you'll undergo intensive training in one of our specialist Stores of Learning, where you'll work across all the main areas: Produce, Grocery, Counters, Chilled Provisions, Home and Leisure, Clothing and Footwear (GEORGE) and Service. You'll then specialise in one of those areas and run the whole department yourself, which will mean taking full accountability for profit and loss - and for the wellbeing of 50-200 colleagues.

It's a hefty responsibility to take on early into your first job. Many of the people you manage will have been working here a lot longer than you, and you need to be able to engage with them and help them understand what the store's objectives are. You'll have around three appointments in different departments over the next two-and-a-half years, giving you plenty of opportunities to prove yourself. The aim is for you to progress from Department Manager to Team Leader over the course of your programme. After that you can set your sights on becoming General Store Manager.

About you

We ask for you to have a 2:1 degree and previous retail work experience. However, in terms of what we look for, this is much more about personal qualities than purely qualifications. You need to be a people person in every sense. Someone who can pull the team together and inspire them to do their best work. You also need to be flexible about the hours you work. We're open early mornings, late nights and weekends (but on the plus side you get to go shopping mid-week and avoid the crowds!).

Why join in?

One thing's for sure, you can expect a huge amount of variety in the work you do. And if you're serious about going all the way to the top, we'll show you all the support you need to get there.