We’re looking for graduates who are bright, ambitious, outgoing and confident. You’ll need at least a 2:2 degree, awarded within the last two years. Critically, you should already have some retail experience - and you should be prepared to relocate anywhere in the UK. Most of all, we’re looking for people who are interested in people, because that’s what the job is really about: customers and colleagues. It’s about how you relate to them, how you motivate them, how you can help them make their homes better or their work more enjoyable.
You’ll spend your first three months in store, working as a Customer Advisor. This will give you an invaluable insight into our customers, our service and the way our stores work. At the same time, you’ll take part in a structured induction to introduce you to our business and start to develop your management skills. Once you’ve successfully completed this induction, you’ll be ready to take on your first management role, looking after part of the store and leading your own team. Over the following months, you will handle a variety of different management roles, to give you the fullest possible understanding of what’s involved in running a store. You’ll also have access to our portfolio of leadership development workshops, which aim to nurture and develop the future leaders of B&Q. At the end of the programme, if you’ve shown you’re ready, you will receive your first appointment as a store manager.
Training and Development
As part of your Graduate Programme, you’ll have the chance to develop your skills in a variety of ways – some of them structured, some of them tailored to your individual needs. You’ll take part in our comprehensive leadership and retail management training courses. You’ll receive regular mentoring from an established manager and one-to-one support from a qualified coach. You’ll attend management conferences and meet senior leaders, to give you a first-hand insight into our strategy – and an opportunity to have your say. And you’ll meet key people from across the business to learn more about how we’re developing our business in key areas such as marketing, product development, community work and environmental responsibility.
