400 NI jobs in store for Tesco

Tesco is to recruit 17,000 new employees, 5,000 permanent and 12,000 seasonal for Christmas, in two new UK-wide initiatives.

Of these new jobs 400 posts will be in Northern Ireland, 300 of them permanent full or part-time positions.

The supermarket chain, already Northern Ireland's largest private employer with a staff of 7,000, has created the new jobs to "keep shelves full through the year". On average each store will get seven new people to bolster the 24-hour operation. The 12,000-strong army of temporary positions is being recruited to work in all 730 UK stores over the busy Christmas period.

The new recruits will include 8,000 busy parents, 5,000 over 50's and 4,000 students.

The Christmas jobs involve both serving customers and behind-the-scenes work, and will cover all areas of the store including checkouts, bag-packing, customer service, stock replenishment and the retailer's online operation, Tesco.com.

Tesco Retail Director, David Potts, said: "Our stores are busier than ever before and we want to make sure that our customers get the best possible service.

"So we’re putting record numbers of people on the shop-floor to help customers in the run-up to Christmas and beyond.

"Christmas is a busy time of year for customers and these extra staff will ensure that we can make it as easy for them as possible.

"We are looking for hard-working and dedicated people who enjoy working in a busy environment and dealing with customers. We offer flexible working arrangements and a good salary and are therefore expecting lots of applications from busy parents, students and older people."

Tesco actively recruits older workers, students and people with children, many of whom require the benefits of part-time hours and flexible working arrangements.

Anyone interested in applying for a position should contact their local store.

(GB)