John Lewis Partnership to create 10,400 Christmas roles

The John Lewis Partnership is to recruit more than 10,400 seasonal roles as we prepare for the ‘golden quarter’.

Our vacancies span the breadth of Britain, reaching from Edinburgh to Exeter. Of the roles, 6,000 are within Waitrose’s 320 branches while 2,600 will be across John Lewis’ 36 shops. A further 1,800 will support across our distribution centres and supply chain.

The Partnership will recruit from all ages and backgrounds, though the roles prove particularly popular amongst young candidates. Based on previous years’ numbers, around three quarters of the seasonal joiners were under 25.

With recent data showing one million young people in the UK are currently not in education, employment, or training (NEET), these positions offer a vital opportunity to gain valuable workplace skills and kickstart a career in retail, helping to address the increasing challenges this cohort faces in finding work.

Christmas remains by far the busiest period of the year for the Partnership and, whether customers are shopping in-store or online, this recruitment is focused on having Partners in the right places at the right times to make sure customer service remains consistently strong.

The hiring push follows significant investment – over £1bn at Waitrose and £800m at John Lewis – in both shops and in new technology designed to free up Partners’ time to focus on serving customers. As a result of the investment, Waitrose recently won the Grocer 33 Customer Service Award for the sixth consecutive year, and John Lewis was named Which? Retailer of the Year and the number one retailer in the UK Customer Satisfaction Index.

Guaranteed interviews for those with care backgrounds 

As part of this broader commitment to young people, within the 10,400 roles the Partnership expects to recruit 100 young people who’ve experienced the care system, as part of its Building Happier Future programme. In June, it committed to recruiting a further 1,000 care-experienced young people by 2030. The move more than doubled its previous target, in recognition that the group faces some of the greatest barriers to finding work, through no fault of their own.

To support as many care-experienced young people as possible, it will also offer 300 welcome visits and 250 job-shadowing placements between now and December. Every young person who completes a job-shadowing placement will also be offered a guaranteed interview.

Golden quarter

Kicking off with the launch of new seasonal ranges, the build up to Black Friday in November, before moving into Christmas and John Lewis’ famous January Winter Sale, the so-called golden quarter is the retailer’s busiest period of the year.

Christmas comes early for retail; John Lewis sees a spike in online searches as the summer holidays end. In response to demand – particularly as customers look to spread the cost of Christmas – the John Lewis Christmas Shop launched online on 27 August, and is set to open in stores later this month. Waitrose’s Christmas range launches in shops from 21st September – with ‘The Food Lovers Christmas catalogue’ going live the same day, allowing customers to plan their menus and order early to beat the crowds.

Seasonal shop roles will go live at jlpjobs.com/Christmas this month, with candidates able to register their interest and sign-up for job alerts now.

Care-experienced people interested in the Building Happier Futures employability programme can contact buildinghappierfutures@johnlewis.co.uk for upcoming dates and information.