UK | M&S has geared up for the opening of its brand-new High Road foodhall in Leytonstone on Thursday, 17th of July and the full team has now been recruited.
Among 55 new colleagues are fourteen Marks and Starts participants, including Minnie, who is finishing off her training at M&S’ Finsbury Park store.
Marks & Start is an employability scheme run in partnership with The King’s Trust, designed to help young people aged 16-30, who are disadvantaged in their job hunt, gain valuable retail experience and employability skills.
Launched in 2004, the scheme has supported nearly 900 young people across London to date.
M&S runs three intakes each year across the UK – on average, 88 percent of participants are offered a role at M&S after finishing their work experience placement.
Ahead of the Leytonstone opening, M&S adapted their Marks and Start programme and worked closely with the DWP’s pre-employment and Sector Based Work Academy programmes to recruit local Waltham Forest residents for the new store.
For twenty-year-old Minnie, who spent time growing up in both England and France and now lives in Highams Park, moving from unemployment to a permanent Customer Assistant job at the new store has had a big impact.
“I couldn’t be prouder of Minnie and all our fantastic Marks & Start colleagues joining the store team. They impressed everyone during their work experience and we are so excited to see what they can bring to the new store,” said Chelsea Themistokleous, Store Manager at M&S Leytonstone.
“I absolutely love being involved in the scheme as the difference a job can make to a young person’s confidence is just amazing. We now have a fantastic team waiting to serve our customers and we cannot wait to open the doors next week.”
M&S Food in Leytonstone will be offering customers the very best of M&S Food and is one of 12 new UK foodhalls opening this financial year as part of M&S’ store rotation programme, backed by a GBP 300m investment.
''Supporting our young residents into employment is a priority for us at the council, and I am delighted that Waltham Forest residents have secured new jobs through the Marks and Start programme,” said Cllr Ahsan Khan, Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Regeneration and Housing at Waltham Forest Council.
“Our employment teams have worked closely with M&S in the past, so it's great that we have been able to collaborate again to help even more young people develop employability skills. This has been made possible by our regenerative work in the borough, looking at new opportunities for our town centres, attracting reputable retailers like M&S to expand locally.”
He added that Themistokleous’ own story is a huge inspiration, as she started her M&S career as a customer assistant and worked her way up the ladder to store manager leveI.
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