LATEST - Finance Graduates

Our 2009 scheme is now open click here to apply

If you have already applied click here to review your progress

Our closing date is 22nd December 2008

Completed application forms will be carefully screened. If you are successful at the application stage, you will be invited to a group assessment day.

The role of Finance in the Partnership

The role of the Finance function is to work with the leadership of the company to manage and report on the performance of the business, to champion rigorous commercial decision making, safeguard the company’s assets and ensure we operate appropriate financial controls, to pay suppliers and Partners correctly and on-time, and to ensure we have appropriate financial resources available to meet our obligations, including funding our pension schemes. Finance has three distinct teams - one each at Waitrose and John Lewis, which provide commercial and operational support to those divisions, and a Corporate team that looks after Partnership strategic and reporting issues and acts as a specialist service provider to the other two.

Your role in Finance as a Graduate Trainee

We want our trainees to get the best possible knowledge of the business, which means understanding retail as well as having excellent financial skills. You will complete three assignments over the duration of the training scheme, each of them as an integral member of a team directly supporting the business. You can expect to be involved in many areas over your time as a trainee, from reporting on corporate risks to analysing the performance of individual products or shops.   The assignments will be based at either our John Lewis and Corporate offices in central London or at the Waitrose head office at Bracknell, Berkshire. 

As well as learning from people around the business, we’ll support you through our CIMA/ACCA approved training programmes. We provide generous study leave and will pay for all first attempt exam-related courses and fees. With this support we will expect you to rapidly progress through your exams.

Beyond training - a long term Finance career in the John Lewis Partnership

The strategy of the John Lewis Partnership is for us to double our sales of £6.4 billion within ten years. The aim of our finance graduate scheme is to ensure that we have finance professionals with the commercial and technical abilities to achieve that growth and manage a business twice the current size.    Those qualifying with the scheme will be ready to take on Finance management positions in the Partnership.

To be successful as a Finance Graduate Trainee, you will need: 

• A minimum 2:1 degree (received or expected) in any discipline;
• 260 UCAS points at A Level / Scottish Highers or other equivalent qualifications (excluding General Studies);
• A minimum of grade B in Mathematics at A level or equivalent mathematics qualification;
• Strong commercial awareness and analytical skills;
• Strong communication skills;
• The ability to work well in a team;
• The ability to prioritise, plan and the confidence to take decisions;
• Personal integrity in line with the ethos of the John Lewis Partnership.