The best workplaces are those where structure and regularity go hand in hand with sufficient flexibility, like at Tesco. I joined the team here right after graduating from university. While I had some professional knowledge – although I realize now it wasn’t as deep as I thought at the time – I didn’t know much about the inner workings of a large company and the specific tasks of individual departments. It’s not easy to navigate such a big organization on your own, and it would certainly have taken a lot of time and energy for me to learn everything and find my place without help.
Fortunately, there was no need to do that. As a young job seeker with practically zero work experience, I was most drawn to the fresh grad programme here. What appealed to me was that it offered frameworks organized into a clear system. Not only did I get a position, but I was thematically introduced to the work of various departments, which helped me piece together the big picture of the work culture and processes of a global retail company.
Another important thing for a beginner like me was having a clear view of the career opportunities and what I needed to do to advance. It quickly became evident that I could really learn and grow here, because I was constantly given challenging tasks. There was always something new to investigate, information to gather, and ideas to consider. If I did well and solved the problems, then I could move up and tackle even more difficult tasks that entailed greater responsibility. It was a great feeling of accomplishment and it kept me motivated to keep going.
And all of this comes with great flexibility. I have the freedom to manage my time as I see fit, work from home when needed, and most importantly from a professional perspective, I have a wide range of options to find the best solutions in my field.