Richard

Property Services

I started at Tesco in September 2007 and I joined the Property Services graduate scheme as an engineering graduate. One of the reasons why I joined Tesco was that I knew it’s a very broad company and there’d be lots of opportunities to get on. And it’s obviously one of the biggest retailers in the UK.

I joined the engineering department because I knew that I’d have the opportunity to get my chartered status and I knew the formal grad scheme would shape me to become one of the business leaders in the coming years – and that’s what really excited me about it.

After finishing my engineering degree, I knew I didn’t want to go into detailed engineering, but I wanted to do management and engineering - and Tesco is one of the few places that really offered that. The exposure to senior managers and directors within property has been really good. Obviously I’m on the property scheme so I can only speak for that. I’ve noticed that if there’s anything I have a problem, or a question I need to ask, there’s always someone there whose experience I can lean on. They are also very open about just going in into their office and introducing yourself - they know most of the graduates already – and they’re always very keen to help and they never seem too busy.

Before I applied to the programme I didn’t know much about Tesco Property. I don’t think many people know really what it does. But if you think about what it takes to turn a plot of land into a store and then keep that store running, that’s what Property Services do and that’s what I learnt since joining. I knew they had a great graduate engineering scheme, and they’d help me with my chartered status. What I didn’t realise was how many aspects there were to property, how many different departments there were and professionals you can get exposure to, and work with. It’s a great place in that regard.