M&S resets Early Careers programme in search for its next generation of retail leaders

Retailer has quadrupled the number of places available for 2024 intake - reflecting M&S’ commitment to finding the best retail talent  

Open to school-leavers and graduates, candidates could be running a store in just two years 

School leavers have the opportunity to complete a degree-equivalent apprenticeship  

M&S has relaunched its early careers programmes as applications open for its 2024 intake. 

Each programme has been reshaped and simplified to focus even more on the store experience, with each aligned to three key business areas: Retail through the Retail Leaders Programme¹, Food through the Food Business Programme², and Clothing & Home through the Clothing & Home Business Programme³. 

The scale of 2024’s Retail Leaders Programme is significantly bigger – the retailer wants to attract 114 people which will comprise 38 school leavers and 76 graduates (compared to 29 graduates in 2023). The four-fold increase reflects M&S’ focus on developing talent who want early accountability, can bring fresh perspectives, and build the skills to become future leaders in the business.  

School-leavers and grads on the Retail Leaders programme will be hands on from day one, building the skills and experience needed to manage a store. By the end of the two (or three)* year programme, they will be managing a store of their own - the equivalent of running a business with a multi-million-pound turnover.   

Six months after starting the Retail Leaders programme, school leavers will have the opportunity to complete a Level 6, degree equivalent, apprenticeship. The retailer appreciates that further study isn’t for everyone, so the apprenticeship qualification is completely optional.  

With a passion for finding the best talent from a broad range of people – school leavers to graduates – M&S’ CEO, Stuart Machin, had a personal interest in shaping the schemes. He drew upon his own experience - where a job at a supermarket as a teenager set him on the path to becoming the Chief Executive of a FTSE 100 company, to make sure the programmes equipped talent with the skills they need to lead a M&S store of the future.  

Read this blog from Stuart, our CEO, to find out more: A job in retail? It’s not just any job… | Marks & Spencer (marksandspencer.com) 

Find out more about the programmes: M&S Careers (marksandspencer.com)