What is it?

J Sainsbury is one of Britain’s best-known retailers, with more than 500 supermarkets, 300 convenience stores, online shopping and its own bank. The company’s 153,000 staff serve about 17 million customers each week and last year it produced profits of £479 million from sales of £19.3 billion

What jobs are on offer?

The number of graduate vacancies at Sainsbury’s is expected to almost double in 2009 to more than 100 places on at least 20 entry-level programmes. Graduate schemes include retail, logistics, buying, merchandising, product development, customer & marketing, human resources, information technology, property, commercial and online. A range of undergraduate placements will be available

Where are the jobs?

Sainsbury’s head office is in Holborn, Central London; however, depending on the scheme they join, graduates could be based at any of the retail stores or distribution centres nationwide or at the new support centre for nonfood products in Coventry. All new graduates spend up to six months on a store placement as part of their training

What’s the pay?

Starting salaries vary for the different graduate schemes, but will be in the range of £23,000 to £25,000 for 2009

What’s the competition?

According to The UK Graduate Careers Survey 2008, fewer than 5 per cent of new graduates want to work in retail. Despite this, however, Sainsbury’s received more than 4,500 applications for its graduate schemes this year

How is Sainsbury’s rated?

The company has spent two years at No 50 and, at present, is the fifth most-popular retailer within the Top 100 rankings

How do I apply?

The application deadline for the buying, human resources and customer & marketing graduate schemes is October 31. All other schemes close on December 31.

Full details are available at www.sainsburys.co.uk/graduates

The Times Top 100 Graduate Employers book is based on research with more than 15,000 final-year university students. Price £16.99 from timesonline.co.uk/booksfirst

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