Hannah Munro is the graduate programme manager at Sainsbury's. She joined as a graduate in 2012.
1. What is Leaders by Sainsbury's?
Leaders by Sainsbury's is our new graduate programme. We have spent a lot of time listening to our current graduates and building on what was already a great graduate programme. New grads can now join us on one of our three programmes: central leaders, which is a truly diverse graduate programme that could see you working in any one of our central divisions such as online, food trading or marketing; retail leaders, which would support you to become one of the retail leaders of the future; and finally Sainsbury's brand, a specialist programme that could see you developing our next own brand product.
2. Sainsbury's is a well known supermarket chain, but what opportunities are there beyond managing a store?
Our stores are the life blood of our business and managing a team in this environment is a fantastic opportunity in itself. Our store managers lead huge teams and are responsible for delivering great service for our customers. However, Sainsbury's is a huge business with more than 160,000 colleagues and so as you can imagine, there are a whole host of careers open to people wishing to join our business. Whether that's in one of the more traditional divisions such as marketing, HR, finance, food trading, or our new and expanding areas including our online, entertainment or banking businesses. There is a really diverse range of central and field roles available at Sainsbury's and our senior leaders will often have spent time in a whole range of areas, building and growing their skillsets and experience.
3. Why did you join the Sainsbury's graduate programme?
Having studied history, my career path wasn't quite as clearly laid out as some of my friends, who'd studied medicine, law and accountancy. I always wanted to work for a values-led organisation that genuinely cared about its people, be those customers and employees or suppliers, the environment and the community. I also wanted to work for a great brand that would offer lots of responsibility quickly, allow me to experience a diverse range of areas, take me out of my comfort zone and rapidly expand my network across multiple divisions. Sainsbury's offered me all of that, and more – it is a great brand that is passionate about its values and clearly committed to investing in and developing its graduates as the leaders of the future. Plus my family have always shopped at Sainsbury's – so I loved the food, the colleagues and the stores.
4. What were you doing before?
I have always had a job of some variety – whether that was trying to sell homemade lemonade or rose petal perfume at the end of my drive, or in my teens working for cafes, restaurants and events companies. After graduating from Durham University, and while I decided what to do next, I spent time in a great recruitment marketing agency local to my family home. Once I secured my role in Sainsbury's I booked a ticket to America and travelled around California and Central America before moving down to London to start my programme.
5. What happened in your first few months?
From day one we were given a warm welcome into Sainsbury's and spent our first week meeting with our CEO and various members of the operating board. We visited suppliers, depots and our stores, as well as being immersed in the company's vision and values, which are at the heart of everything we do. It was amazing how much time the senior leaders and existing graduates set aside to ensure we were welcomed and made to feel valued. From there we have all worked in different areas but the core experience has remained the same: we have been challenged, trusted with huge projects with high levels of responsibility and continue to get fantastic exposure to senior leaders right across our business.
6. What are you doing now?
In a bizarre twist of fate, and after having started with Sainsbury's just two years ago as a graduate, I now head up the graduate team as the graduate programme manager. My team is responsible for everything from attracting new graduates, to recruiting, developing and managing them once they start with us. I also look after some nationwide initiatives designed to support unemployed young people into work. It is a varied role and one that requires a broad range of skills.
7. What are the opportunities for development at Sainsbury's?
Sainsbury's is committed to providing graduates with the best opportunities to help them develop. I worked, and continue to work, on some very challenging projects, which have a real impact on our business and, inevitably, at times push me out of my comfort zone allowing me to grow and develop. Beyond the challenging day job, we have a tailored graduate development programme, which is designed to help the leaders of the future accelerate through our business at pace. I also have a mentor, a director within our business, who I meet on a regular basis and have coaching sessions with. Finally, we have a powerful feedback culture at Sainsbury's that ensures I always understand how I am performing, what I am doing well and how I can improve.
8. What can you say to people who might have negative preconceived ideas about a career in the retail sector?
Sainsbury's is a challenging, fun and fast paced place to work. I know retail can often be written off as a great career path and the true picture of the opportunities on offer underestimated. I would encourage people thinking about their future career to look again at retail. For me, it's a sector where the opportunity for progression and training is pretty much unrivalled. I can see how my role, team and division has an impact on our business. I remember asking this question to the person that interviewed me for my role and she said something along the lines of "retail is never dull".
9. Where do you see yourself in five years' time?
The last two years have been so varied and I have found myself working on projects and in teams that I probably didn't know existed before starting with Sainsbury's. What I do know, is that I will continue to grow and to say yes to all of the exciting opportunities that Sainsbury's offers me.
10. What advice would you give to someone starting on the Sainsbury's graduate programme?
I would say it's going to be a fun but an incredibly challenging journey. So stick with it, be open minded, don't be scared of getting things wrong as that's all part of growing and developing, get some good night's sleep and be prepared to learn lots.
