Business

Henderson Group offers new business experience placements scheme to grow retail

Glen Young , talent acquisition specialist at Henderson Group, with a number of partners from Northern Ireland universities as they launch the Henderson Group’s business experience placements. From left: Chrisanne English and Dr Lynsey Quinn, Open University; Adele Dallas, Cafre Loughry Campus; Jill McGrath, Queen’s University; and Maria Curran, Ulster University
Glen Young , talent acquisition specialist at Henderson Group, with a number of partners from Northern Ireland universities as they launch the Henderson Group’s business experience placements. From left: Chrisanne English and Dr Lynsey Quinn, Open U Glen Young , talent acquisition specialist at Henderson Group, with a number of partners from Northern Ireland universities as they launch the Henderson Group’s business experience placements. From left: Chrisanne English and Dr Lynsey Quinn, Open University; Adele Dallas, Cafre Loughry Campus; Jill McGrath, Queen’s University; and Maria Curran, Ulster University

RETAIL group Henderson, whose brands in the north include Spar, EuroSpar and Vivo brands, is planning to further grow the sector in Northern Ireland through a new business experience placements initiative.

The placements - which will cost £90,000 in training, salaries and learning opportunities - aim to bring second year university degree students into roles within the company for a year, giving them vital employment and skills experience upon graduation.

From the end of July, Henderson will offer a total of six placements across group companies, ranging from Henderson Foodservice to its technology and wholesale divisions.

The initiative will also offer one placement within Henderson Wholesale’s fresh foods team as retail food-to-go development executive as the company continues to grow its niche food-to-go and deli offering throughout its 450-plus retail outlets.

Applications are open now on the Henderson Group’s Careers web page, remaining open until February 17. Students can also apply for the positions through the careers pages of their own university.

Henderson Group - which has more than 3,300 employees across the north - has partnered with Ulster University, Queen’s University, the Open University and Cafre’s Loughry Campus to launch the initiative.

Glen Young, talent acquisition specialist at the company, said: “We believe investing in the development of talent is crucial to the future of our business.

"The opportunities we can provide are within a thriving learning environment that is second to none, and we are excited to nurture the future of our industry.”

The placement roles will include a business analyst in IT Henderson Wholesale, business transformation executive, trading assistant and marketing & communications executive at Henderson Foodservice, and a software development lead in Henderson Technology.

As well as undertaking their placement roles, the successful students will also be tasked with completing a group project based on a real-life scenario which they will then present collectively to a board of senior managers.

Glen continued; “The brief will be designed to give the students first-hand experience of the challenges they will meet in a high-pressured working environment.”