Marks and Spencer has announced plans to hire 11,000 members of staff for the busy Christmas period.
M&S is hiring for new customer assistants, who will help serve customers on the shop floor, as well as restocking shelves. Those who are interested will be able to apply for the new supermarket roles from October 9 and will be expected to start work from mid-November.
There will be a variety of roles and flexible working patterns available. To apply, candidates can visit the M&S careers page and complete an application - if successful, you’ll then be invited to either a 1-2-1 interview or group assessment.
It comes after M&S increased pay for UK customer assistants across its food and clothing shops from £10.90 an hour to £12 an hour from April 1. For staff working in London, minimum hourly wages rose from £12.05 an hour to £13.15. Other UK retailers have announced pay rises for shop workers in recent months.
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M&S operations director Sacha Berendji said: “Our fantastic store colleagues play such a big part in delivering the magic of M&S at Christmas to our customers. And this year we’re recruiting even more colleagues to ensure we’re closer to customers.
“The Christmas period is a busy but exciting time for M&S and no two days are the same – in fact, many colleagues started their M&S careers at Christmas and after the festive period were invited to go onto our Stepping Into Team Manager programme. With a range of roles and flexible working patterns available, anyone who is interested in being part of something special this Christmas should visit our careers website to apply.”
It comes after M&S opened its Christmas Food to Order service for 2024. Food to Order allows customers to order their Christmas food shop in advance, ready for pick up at your local M&S on December 22, 23 or 24. There is a minimum spend of £50 and you’re required to put a deposit down to secure your shop.
The outstanding balance is then cleared when you pick up your goods. You can book your slot on the M&S Food to Order website and browse its full Christmas range online now. Last year, a record-breaking 44,000 customers booked their Christmas collection slots within the first day of the site launching - and M&S is expecting another record number of people this year. The supermarket has already sold over one million Christmas products in stores.
M&S has shared some of its top picks from its Christmas range, including its Our Best Ever Slow-Cooked Turkey which it calls "the star of the show this Christmas" - but it will cost you £85 for a 2.75kg bird, which it says serves between eight and ten people.
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