Retail Graduate Jobs & Graduate Retail Schemes.

The latest Retail Graduate Jobs and schemes can be found here. In this section we take an indepth look into Retail Graduate Schemes & Retail Graduate Jobs. We’ll discuss Retail Graduate Jobs in London and UK wide. The salaries, training and rewards for retail graduate programs.

What is Retail?

Retail is the sale of goods, for use or consumption to the public in fairly small quantities.

Types of Retail Graduate Jobs

There's a wide variety Retail Graduate Schemes & Graduate Retail Job titles. A few of the common ones are:
Retail manager, Retail buyer, Sales executive, Customer service manager, Merchandiser, Logistics Analyst.

Salaries for Retail Graduate Schemes & Retail Graduate Jobs .

There's actually a fairly big difference between employers, job type and locations.
Some of the top schemes are below.
Lidl Buying Graduate scheme. Salaries are £38,000 to £57,500.
Aldi Area manager graduate training programme. Salaries are £42,000 plus an Audi A4.
Lidl Graduate store manager scheme. Salaries are £32,000 to £40,000.

The High Fliers report states the Median salary for their survey of the top 100 is £26,000.

However these salaries are far beyond the average. In general we have found that retail graduate schemes will pay between £18,000 and £25,000 in the first year.

Benefits of Retail Graduate Schemes & Retail Graduate Jobs .

The salaries in retail management positions and senior buying positions can be strong.
There is very often strong training on the retail management programmes.
Some retail graduate schemes provides outstanding non-vocational benefits. John Lewis provides graduates with a leisure learning subsidy. Graduates can claim back half the costs of recognised non-vocational courses such as music, languages or arts.

Other benefits of retail graduate jobs and schemes:
Pension scheme: Most include employer contributions.
Holiday: usually 20 - 25 days excluding bank holidays.
Staff discounts: pretty much all retailers will offer a discount on their products and most will have an employee discount scheme for other retail partners.
Healthcare: larger retailers are more likely to provide this.
Company car: Some graduate schemes provide this. Particularly Lidl and Aldi.

Requirements for Retail Graduate Schemes & Retail Graduate Jobs .

Most major retail graduate schemes require a 2:1. Although there are exceptions. They will also look for strong A Levels and GCSEs in Maths and English.

As mentioned above other key qualities include leadership and management, problem-solving, customer service skills and selling abilities. Retail Managers will particularly need to be strong decision makers and leaders. Buyers will need to show business sense, and creativity. Merchandisers will need to show strong analytical and planning skills.

Top Employers with Retail Graduate Schemes.

There are several lists revealed each year with top retail employers. The Times Top 100 reports the, 'definitive guide to Britain's most prestigious and sought-after employers of graduates'. This year in retail there were several employers. These included:
Aldi, John Lewis Partnership, Tesco, M&S, Sainsbury's, Apple, McDonald's Restaurants and Asda.
Each year the Guardian releases the The Guardian UK 300. It’s worth looking out for this. There is a section for top graduate retail employers. Here are the top 10 for 2014: Amazon, John Lewis Partnership, M&S, Arcadia, Boots, Tesco, Abercrombie & Fitch, The Body Shop, The Co-Operative & Sainsbury's.

Tips for Retail Graduate CVs & Applications

The general layout of a CV is always similar. See our CV tips section for advice. If applying for a retail graduate schemes there are a few skills that you want to include. Highlight events in work, community and sporting groups. For each state the task and outcome. These key skills include leadership and management, problem-solving, customer service skills and selling abilities.

Qualifications Attained on Retail Graduate Schemes.

Dependent upon the job role, on retail graduate schemes you could work towards a few different qualifications.

Websites with More Information on Graduate Career Paths & Qualifications
CIPS - Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply
Bira - British Independent Retailers Association
CILT - The Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport