Portsmouth pupils try work experience with Southern Co-op

Sixty students from schools across the south are spending one week or two at head office or in a retail store.

More than half of the students are from schools in the Portsmouth and surrounding areas thanks to a partnership with EBP South.

Linda Masterman, Southern Co-op's diversity and inclusion manager, said: ‘For a lot of the pupils, working with us is their first taste of a career and gives them the chance to see what goes on behind the scenes.

‘We give each of the students a work book to get them to think about what they get out of it and hopefully they can think about the kind of work they want to go into in the future.

‘We have had some absolutely amazing feedback from both colleagues and students so we are very happy to be able to offer work experience again. It's been a pleasure.’

At Southern Co-op's head office, Year 10 student Jack Heaton from Cowplain School, has been with the trading and formats team. He said: ‘I wanted to know what the insides of a business look like. It's quite like I expected just with lower dividers between desks. It's a nice environment.

‘I have learnt a lot about planograms. Every time I walk into a Co-op now, I will probably understand why products are placed where they are. I thought they just had the same plan and just refilled it all of the time.’

Work experience opportunities are available at Southern Co-op all year around.

To find out more, email [email protected].