Category: People of Office

I always wanted to work for a company like Tesco. It may sound trite, but it’s true. I studied international trade at university, and I hadn’t even seen a workplace up close when this multilingual, multicultural world offering thousands of different possibilities took hold of me.

I have been working at Tesco for six years, during which time I have taken advantage of the many opportunities that the company has to offer. I worked in various areas, both at the store level and in the Head Office. I generally advanced forward, although there were times when I encountered setbacks. Looking back, I don’t regret any of my decisions, as each experience taught me something valuable that has contributed to my personal growth and made me a better person. These diverse but at the same time interconnected career paths can be incredibly inspiring:  you have the freedom to move in any direction, without being committed to a single field permanently.

But it is even more important that the company represents values that I can personally identify with. Take, for instance, the drive to protect the environment and promote sustainability, as seen in efforts such as preventing food waste. Having worked in the field of fresh produce, I am well aware of the company’s deep commitment to ensuring that perishable food items are put to use before they expire. Whether the customers buy them at a reduced price or we donate it to the needy through charitable organizations, the point is to prevent wastage of any kind. These things make me proud of my workplace. It is a great feeling to see the ads of the campaigns I have designed displayed throughout the city, and I enjoy pointing out to my friends that I played a role in their creation.

When I was job hunting, I interviewed with multiple companies and received offers from six different places. However, the positive first impression that I received during my initial meeting with Tesco played a crucial role in my decision to join this organization. I was impressed by how welcoming and friendly everyone was, and it felt like I would be a great fit for this community. I began my career at the entry-level position of junior buying manager, and gradually worked my way up the ladder.

After overcoming a difficult phase in my life, I sought a fresh start and decided to change jobs and join Tesco. I have to say, the team here is the best I’ve ever had the pleasure to working with. I often feel as if we are all part of a big family. Responsibility and stress are not uncommon in our line of work, but the fact that we all have each other’s backs makes a huge difference in handling such situations. I’ve never experienced anything like it before, where colleagues are always ready to provide genuine assistance to one another.

I was able to advance to the position of Central European buying manager within four years, and I attribute much of my personal success to the support of my colleagues and managers. I always knew that whenever I faced a difficult task or problem, I could count on their help and guidance. Having such a reliable support system makes it much easier to build confidence in oneself.

I’ve been a regular Tesco customer, I like exotic foods. It may sound surprising, but that’s what ultimately led me to pursue a career here. I became a supply chain coordinator, which proved to be a great springboard for my career. I quickly fell in love with Tesco, the positive atmosphere and the helpful colleagues. After three years, however, I realized that I wanted to explore a new direction in my career, but I couldn’t imagine doing it anywhere other than here.

That’s when I made the switch to IT, and it’s been an incredibly interesting experience ever since. This field is endlessly dynamic, with constant change and new developments emerging all the time. You simply have to keep learning to stay on top of things – and I really enjoy this pace. The environment is absolutely international. I came to the Czech Republic already as a foreigner, and here I work with British and Indian colleagues on a regular basis. Each day presents a unique opportunity to gain new skills and experiences.

Developing myself has become a kind of hobby for me. I often find myself learning new things and exploring interesting topics related to my projects in my free time. It’s just as important to me as getting better at my job. With this career change, I feel that I have found what I was looking for and I am grateful that Tesco made it possible and provided support, especially since it was an unconventional move at first.

At the beginning of your career, you are usually insecure, especially if you are in a foreign country. However, my colleagues’ support and trust really helped me overcome many challenges during that time.

I’m originally from Croatia, where I earned a degree in psychology, but after graduating I moved to Slovakia for personal reasons. I started looking for a job online while I was still in Croatia, and that’s how I found Tesco’s fresh grad programme in Bratislava. A new job, in a new field of expertise, in a new language, in a new country? What could possibly go wrong?

Well, it just so happened that things went smoothly without any major issues. They welcomed me very warmly at the first meeting, even though it was only the job interview. The mood did not change later on either. Everyone was extremely positive towards me. Even though I came to Tesco with a completely different education background and no professional experience, I never felt for a moment that I was at a disadvantage because of this. I was assigned to the HR department, where initially they entrusted me with simpler tasks, but as soon as they saw that I could handle them, more challenging but equally interesting assignments came my way. The best part of it was the trust. Every colleague treated me as a partner, and I received real tasks and honest feedback, both when acknowledging accomplishments and when highlighting areas for improvement.

This environment provided the perfect backdrop for me to gain a comprehensive understanding of company’s operations and processes. The fresh grad programme itself is optimally structured, allowing you to gradually explore Tesco and the opportunities it offers. Although I’ve only been with the company for a year and a half, I can already tell that this is a workplace where you can plan for the long term.

I’ve been a part of Tesco IT team for more than 14 years and I consider my colleagues as my second family. I have great people around me and we have fun in the office every day. I know I can always rely on them and we support each other.

What I really like is, that I can come up with my own ideas which I can also realize. We constantly learn here something new and we use the newest modern technologies. During my career I’ve gone through the different roles which helped me to gain the new skills and competences and move forward. Because Tesco is a big company, the opportunities for growth are endless and it’s only up to the will and motivation of each of us.

I started at Tesco 14 years ago as an assistant during my university study and after graduation I moved to People department, where I’ve been still working, for more than 12 years. I’ve been responsible for huge range of various topics – I took care of our graduates, I was responsible for recruitment, learning and development, I worked in UK in our Headquarter, I managed different projects across Central Europe, supported our online shopping and all stores in Czech Republic. I’m currently working as a People Business partner for Head office in Central Europe.

Every day at Tesco is different, and even after so many years I’m still learning new things, meeting interesting people I can learn from and who inspire me. Variety of job, flexibility, cooperation across countries and a great team are the reasons why I still enjoy my job and feel connected to Tesco.

I like that our job is really varied. In retail, we are used to frequent changes and dynamic environment, so I often jump into new situations which I haven’t faced yet. And that’s what I like. I support 4 countries (Czech, Slovakia, Poland and Hungary) so I often meet a lot of interesting people, with different experience and story, and we can inspire each other.

Tesco is a big company which cares of their employees the best it can. We value our employees and we provide the environment where they are respected for who they are. The relationships are informal and friendly, and our colleagues have many opportunities for personal and professional development and growth – it’s just up to their will. What I really appreciate here, is the flexibility. I’m a mother, so it’s a great benefit for me that I can often work from home or plan my time according to my family needs.

I started to work at Tesco in 2014, in the Graduate programme. The graduate programme gave me an opportunity to see all the areas where Tesco operates. After that I worked as a Fresh food manager in a few stores, I also moved to the Czech Republic where I launched the new operating model and I was also a Transition manager. After gaining all this experience I got an offer to become a Store manager. For a young Store manager like me, it’s of course demanding to manage the team where most of the members are older. But I’ve always tried to be honest to my team, to communicate openly, to be fair and to offer the same opportunities to all. And it works. I met my wife at Tesco and we’re having a little daughter. That’s why balancing my work with my private life is crucial.

My whole career at Tesco has been connected to buying and products. I started as a buyer of kids’ clothes and since that time I’ve been moving in my career through different positions I’ve been working in our clothes department for 10 years and cooperated with our F&F team in UK, which was a great experience. My current job is connected to our own brand – I’m looking after development of our Tesco own brand products.

Tesco gave me an opportunity to develop myself and grow. Thanks to that I’ve been learning something new every day. Thanks to my job I could travel a lot and meet different people and cultures. What I like the most, is to see the results of my job directly in our stores. And if I can see that customers like it and buy it, it’s the best appreciation.

Tesco gives an opportunity to people from different spheres and with different backgrounds, thanks to the variety of the jobs. You’ll work in a friendly atmosphere and with great people around, and you’ll surely meet the new friends here.

After graduation at university, I started in our accounting team in Brno as a Financial analyst. After 2 years I got an offer in our Prague office and moved there. Since that time, I’ve gone through different managerial roles and together with my teams we’ve been cooperating with many departments across company. Some of the roles were closer to business and customer, others more about core Finance agenda and expertise. Why I like Tesco? It’s simple – great opportunities for development and career growth across all departments, flexibility and home office and supporting initiatives connected to social responsibility, community and charity.