Company details

Welwyn Garden City, UK

HEADCOUNT

10000+

ORG TYPE

Corporate

SECTOR

Retail & Consumer

WEBSITE

https://www.tescoplc.com/

About the company

Tesco is a multinational grocery and general merchandise retailer, best known for supermarkets, convenience stores, and online grocery. Tesco also operates related businesses including wholesale (Booker), mobile (Tesco Mobile), and data science (dunnhumby). The company serves customers primarily across the UK and Ireland, alongside several Central European markets. Tesco hires across store operations, distribution, and head office functions, including technology, finance, marketing, product, and supply chain.

Locations and presence

Tesco operates across the UK and Republic of Ireland, plus Central Europe (including Slovakia, the Czech Republic, and Hungary). Tesco work is mostly on-site for stores and distribution, while many head office roles reference flexible working and a campus base in Welwyn Garden City.

Palpable Score

77.4

/ 100

Tesco is one of the more accessible large employers for early-career talent because Tesco runs apprenticeships, internships, and graduate schemes with clear entry requirements and defined programme structures. Tesco also publishes a detailed early-careers selection flow and frequently includes salary and benefits information, which helps candidates plan. The score is capped by mixed candidate experience signals and limited public data on early-career retention, conversion, and promotion outcomes.

Pillar 1: Early-career access

Score

18.3

/ 20

The company runs a dedicated early-careers pipeline covering apprenticeships, internships, and graduate schemes, rather than relying only on ad hoc junior hiring.
Tesco offers a 10-week internship for finalists and a two-year graduate scheme across multiple functions, with entry criteria as clear as a predicted 2:2 for several programmes.
The company advertises early-career routes beyond head office, including structured retail apprenticeships designed as a school-to-work transition and linked to continued employment.

Pillar 2: Hiring fairness and transparency

Score

15.7

/ 20

The company sets out a staged early-careers process that includes an online application, a short game-based assessment, a video interview, and a final Discovery Centre.
Tesco includes accessibility steps in the early-careers flow, such as asking candidates about disability or long-term health conditions to enable reasonable adjustments and referencing a guaranteed interview route in the initial stage.
The company has mixed transparency signals in candidate feedback, including reports of slow or missing follow-ups after later stages even though the official process promises feedback.

Pillar 3: Learning and support

Score

15.7

/ 20

The company builds structured support into programmes, repeatedly referencing a line manager plus buddy support throughout internships and graduate routes.
Tesco ties learning to named development inputs like masterclasses, workshops, and access to an on-site training academy, alongside on-the-job learning.
The company designs graduate routes around real responsibilities and cross-business exposure, including rotations and stakeholder-facing work rather than shadowing only.

Pillar 4: Pay fairness and stability

Score

14.4

/ 20

The company publishes concrete early-career pay bands in multiple places, including graduate salary ranges (£32,000–£40,000 pro rata) and internship salary ranges (£26,000–£27,103.44 pro rata).
Tesco lists specific benefits on early-career materials and live apprenticeship postings, including pension matching (up to 7.5% in some descriptions), a virtual GP service, colleague discounts, holiday allowances, and bonus eligibility for some programmes.
The company has some stability risk signals from announced job cuts affecting stores and head office roles, even though the company also references redeployment into open vacancies.

Pillar 5: Early-career outcomes

Score

13.3

/ 20

The company has public progression signals in posts and profiles where people move from graduate schemes into permanent manager or specialist roles, but these are not shared as consistent cohort outcomes.
Tesco includes first-person programme feedback that describes confidence gains and ongoing support during apprenticeships, which is a positive early signal for retention at least through the learning period.
The company does not publish early-career conversion rates, promotion timelines, or retention statistics for apprenticeships, internships, or graduate schemes, which limits confidence in outcomes beyond anecdotes and scattered reviews.