Frequently asked questions

We always welcome interest from overseas applicants but you’ll need to have the right to work in the UK before you can apply for any of our vacancies. Unfortunately, we can’t sponsor work permits so please arrange yours before you apply.

If you’re a pharmacy professional we could be in a position to help you obtain a work permit or visa. Just click here to find out more about opportunities for pharmacy professionals.

We’re exploring an online application process for colleague roles in stores, however, until this goes later in 2010, it's paper we're afraid!

We start recruiting for new stores about 12 weeks before they open. We always use the Jobcentre Plus so when we do start to recruit they’ll know about it and all about us! You can locate your nearest Jobcentre Plus by calling this number 0845 6060 234. We also do plenty of advertising so you won’t be able to miss us.

We encourage people of all ages to work at ASDA. However, it would be against the law for us to employ anyone who is under the minimum school leaving age. If you’re not sure if you’ve reached the minimum school leaving age then please check with the People Manager at your nearest store because there are regional variations. If you’re unable to work at ASDA at the moment due to this, please do remember to think of us when you can apply.

There are some restrictions within the law which mean that our colleagues who are under 18 cannot work as Checkout Colleagues, Bakery Colleagues, Home Shopping Drivers, Pharmacy Dispensers, HGV or Forklift Truck Drivers, in our petrol stations, or on night shifts. So if you’re not yet 18 you’ll unfortunately not be able to work in any of these roles. However, we’ve lots of opportunities for all ages in other roles so please pick up an application form from your local store or Jobcentre Plus. You can locate your nearest Jobcentre Plus by calling this number 0845 6060 234.

Simple. You can just apply here for all these positions or register your details here for future opportunities.

Lots! There are management roles across all departments within ASDA and the ASDA Living stores. Everything from Bakery Managers to Home Shopping Managers to Night Manager roles! You can find a summary of the different roles here.

We’ve opportunities in ASDA Pharmacies and ASDA Opticians in many of our supermarkets and we recruit qualified Pharmacists, Optometrists, Contact Lens Opticians and Dispensing Opticians into all these roles, either on a permanent contract or as a locum. Click on these links to find out more about our Pharmacy and Optical roles.

As depot warehouse colleagues, we are critical to delivering fantastic service from the depots to our stores. We're the colleagues who receive the goods into the depots from our suppliers, prepare the deliveries from the warehouses for distribution out to stores and who load the trucks which are due to leave the depots to deliver the products. We make sure that the right products go to the right stores and that goods are delivered on time so that our stores can continue to look after our customers, the most important people! If you'd like to join one of our depot teams as a warehouse colleague please apply directly to your local ASDA depot. Click here to find your local ASDA depot.

We want to give you the very best start in your career at ASDA and so all our colleagues will experience an intensive induction. Our award winning Best Welcome induction event is the best way to get you up to speed with our business and find your feet as quickly as possible.

Store Colleagues

We think there's nothing better than getting stuck in straight away so all of our new Store Colleagues will receive on the job training supported by a training buddy. Your buddy will be there to guide you through the 12 week training plan. At the end of it you’ll have all the knowledge and skills you need to deliver great service to our customers.

Managers in store

We want to make sure we give you all the support you need to be a great manager at ASDA and that's why all new managers to our stores will receive up to eight weeks’ dedicated training in one of our training stores, we call them Stores of Learning. Your training will be individually tailored to your needs and will include lots of shop floor activity balanced with some classroom style learning.

Click here to find out more about our Stores of Learning.

Depot Managers

We want to make sure we give you all the support you need to be a great Manager at ASDA and that's why all new managers to our Distribution business will receive intensive training at our Distribution Academy. This will equip you with all the personal and technical skills you need to be a fantastic manager at ASDA, please click here to find out more.

George House and ASDA House

As soon as you come on board we provide you with a full week’s induction. We'll make sure you understand our business and its unique culture which will equip you with the tools you need to do your role really well. You'll also have the opportunity to attend a store appreciation day so that you can understand how our stores operate and the issues that they face, in order for you to support them better. After this, the next three months will involve tailored training programmes suitable for your role in order to give you the support you need to deliver.

At ASDA we believe that everyone should have opportunities to develop both personally and professionally so there are a variety of development opportunities available to everyone. In fact, there are so many training options that there’s not enough space to list them all here! You can read more about training opportunities at ASDA and George and we've put together a brief overview of just a few below:

Stepping Stones

Stepping Stones is a seven step practical development programme that supports our colleagues to take their development to the next level. The programme builds on the leadership and shopkeeping skills of colleagues through off the job learning, on the job activities and coaching sessions. The Stepping Stones programme is targeted at colleagues who could progress through to management positions, right through to running their own store!

Grow

We know that development is important to you. It’s important to us too and that's why we'll work with you to help you grow your talent throughout your career with us.

There is a wide programme of sessions available to you at all stages of your development in any role, whether this is a training plan to help you strengthen your technical skills, courses to develop your behavioural skills or a programme to prepare you for a bigger role.

George Academy

We have designed seven Academy Training programmes which are specific to whichever area you work in at George. All levels of the George Academy training are City & Guilds accredited and since their launch in 2008 the feedback we’ve received from our colleagues has been outstanding. Click here to find out more about training at George.

If you want to apply for a colleague vacancy in one of our stores or depots you can fill in an application form which you can pick up at your nearest store ,depot or Jobcentre Plus. You can locate your nearest Jobcentre Plus by calling this number 0845 6060 234.

For all other positions, because we want you to have the best chance at being successful, we need lots of information from you. Therefore, please apply online so that we can gather this.These roles include store management roles, Pharmacy or Optical professional roles, Graduate roles, George Head Office and ASDA Head Office roles and Distribution management positions.

We’re afraid we can only accept online applications for these positions so please don't send your CV as we can't be sure it will be seen by the right people. If you don't have access to the internet at home, most public libraries have online computers or try your local internet cafe, which can be found in the phone directory.

Stores

We don't offer work placements in our stores or depots but if you’re interested in applying for role at an ASDA store or an ASDA Living store for the college or university holidays, then please ask about seasonal work in your local store or depot.

ASDA House

At the moment we don’t have a formal programme at the ASDA Head Office in Leeds, but if you’re interested in a placement with us you should contact the relevant department directly to talk about opportunities.

George

To find out about placement opportunities at George click here.

George also offers unpaid work experience for short periods. Click here for more information.

Pharmacy and Optical

Learn more about placement opportunities in our Optical and Pharmacy departments.

We get lots of applications for our roles but we do try to reply to everyone as soon as possible.

If you’ve applied for an hourly paid role in one of our stores we’ll contact you by phone, or sometimes by letter so please make sure that you supply your contact details when you fill in your application.

For roles that require an online application, we’ll get back to you within two working days of you submitting your application.

Shop floor Colleague roles

If you’ve applied for a shop floor role in one of our stores and you’re successful, you’ll be invited to a group selection event so that we can get to know you and you can find out more about us at the same time. You’ll also be able to have a go at the role you’ve applied for to help you decide whether working in one of our stores is right for you. The next stage for successful candidates will be an interview with a manager from the store.

Store/Depot

If you’ve applied for a store or depot based management role you’ll hear from the recruitment centre/depot in the region where you applied. They will let you know if your application will progress to the next stage, which is an Assessment Centre. This is a selection day to give you the opportunity to learn more about us and for us to learn more about you.

ASDA House - Head Office

If you’ve applied online for a role at ASDA House, our Head Office, and you’re successful, you’ll be invited to an assessment centre or first stage interview depending on the role.

For the roles that we recruit for frequently, which include Trading Assistants, Supply Analysts, Merchandisers, Accounts Payable Advisors, Customer Service Advisors and IT Helpdesk Analysts, we hold evening assessment centres every eight weeks. These consist of a ‘getting to know you’ exercise, a group activity and a first stage interview. Successful candidates are then invited back into ASDA House for a second stage interview.

George House

Once your completed application form has been received you’ll be contacted by email about the outcome of your application. Successful candidates will be invited to attend a first interview. A second stage interview may also be required and may require a project to be completed. Feedback will be provided following each stage interview on request.

Pharmacy & Optical

If you’ve applied for a Pharmacist, Optometrist or Dispensing Optician role in one of our stores and your application is successful, you’ll be contacted by your local Store of Learning to arrange an interview with the General Store Manager and a Pharmacy or Optical Professional.

For us it’s not always about experience and qualifications, but what is crucial is a real desire to achieve, a passion for customer service and an understanding of the way we work. In short, we’re looking for truly exceptional colleagues who can make a real difference to our business.

At ASDA we offer a competitive package as we believe in rewarding our colleagues for what they do.

Every colleague makes a valued and unique contribution to our business. To show how much this is appreciated we’ve developed a fantastic benefits and rewards package.

When you complete your online application we ask you what your salary expectations are. If we feel that these are too high or low for a particular vacancy we’ll not invite you to the next stage of assessment.

Click here to read all about our generous and comprehensive benefits and rewards package.

Shop Floor Colleague Roles

For shop floor colleague roles we’ve a wide variety of shifts available to suit everyone from days to nights, early birds or night owls. Successful applicants will be invited to fill in a flexibility questionnaire at their group selection event, which is the first stage of the recruitment process. If we offer you a role, we do try and offer you shifts which fit in with your preferences but this also depends on the roles that we’re recruiting for and so it’s best to be as flexible as possible.

Management or Head Office Roles

Retail is a 24 hour business so we all work hard. We do appreciate, though, that you value your time off.

Sometimes to get the job done, we work longer hours, but there are also times when we don't need to. To give you an idea of the likely working week we’ve put together some guidelines about the core hours you can expect to work:

Store and Depot Managers

In England, Scotland and Wales you'll work a 45 hour week and in Northern Ireland it’s 42 hours. There’s also weekend work, as you’d expect in retail, but we do make sure that everybody gets some weekends off!

Night Managers

You’ll work a slightly different pattern to enable you to make the most of your time both in and out of work. Night Manager roles offer 12 hour shifts, working four nights out of seven.

ASDA House and George House

For most roles it’s a 37.5 hour working week from Monday to Friday. Although some roles do require some weekend work and at times we all put extra hours in to make sure that we get the job done and we’re there to support our stores.

Yes you can. Just make sure that you log in with the same username and password that you created when you applied the first time around.

This depends on you and your role but for some colleagues it can mean a great deal of overseas travel, for example in roles such as a Systems Manager in the IT department or some Buyer roles. Visit our Meet Our People section of the site where you can hear from some of our colleagues about their travel experiences.

We update vacancies weekly, so it pays to keep visiting. Alternatively, you can leave us your details so that we can keep in touch and let you know when a suitable role becomes available.

Unfortunately we can’t accept any applications after the closing date has passed for a vacancy. If you’ve missed the closing date for a role then why not register your interest with us here? Then we’ll keep you up-to-date with any other opportunities which might interest you in the future.

If your initial online application is unsuccessful, this usually indicates that your preferred style of working might not be a good match for our way of working. Therefore, we'd ask you to consider whether ASDA is the right place for you before applying again.

If you are invited to a first stage interview or assessment centre and you are not successful in your application to join ASDA then we ask that you wait 6 months before applying again. The reason for this is so that we can give you feedback on why you were not successful and if you act on what we tell you, then next time you’ll have a head start!

We treat every applicant the same, so I'm sure you’ll understand that we’ll ask you to apply online again with your up-to-date details.

If you can no longer log in to your application this means one of two things. You’ve either completed your application and just need to wait to hear from us or alternatively you’re typing in the wrong user name and/or password. Please check you’re using the ones you’ve registered with us and make sure you’re entering your user name in capital letters and password in lower case. If this does not resolve the problem, please contact us for help.

No there isn’t and you can even log out of your application and come back to it if you’re short on time! If you begin your application and don’t complete it within two weeks, we’ll send you a reminder just in case you’ve forgotten about us. After all, we wouldn’t want you to miss the closing date!

The online application process for most roles will take up to 35 minutes. For Pharmacy and Optical roles the application will take 15 minutes if you've got your CV ready to go! Either way, you’ll be issued with a unique user name and password so that you can log out of your application if necessary and return to it when it’s more convenient for you.

No, once you have completed and submitted the application you cannot go back and change any answers.

Just go to the online application page and enter your user name and password to log back in to your application when your connection returns. None of your answers will have been lost.

Just contact us to let us know that you’ve lost your details so that we can email them out to you.

Unfortunately we can’t give information about the way we score applications as this forms part of the information that we’ll use to decide whether to invite you for further assessment. However, we can tell you that candidates who understand our way of working, share our values and what we stand for are more likely to be successful than those that don't. You can find more about us here.

The best advice for doing well in any selection test is:

• Read all the instructions carefully
• Check your answers to the ability test questions before going on to the next one
• Give answers that reflect the way that you see yourself in reality, not how you would like to be seen

Go to the careers section in almost any bookshop and you’ll find lots of books filled with advice about succeeding in selection tests. You’ll also find a page of hints and tips that will help you.

To provide a locum service on behalf of ASDA, you must be registered on our Locum Database. Click here to register now.

Once we’ve checked your credentials with the General Optical Council (GOC), we’ll add your details to the ASDA Locum Database which is used by all our stores. You can simply sit back and wait to hear from us when a locum opportunity becomes available or you could call your local stores and introduce yourself instead.

To register yourself with the GOC click here.

At the moment we don't run a specific summer placement programme for Optical undergraduates, although we’re looking into it for the future. If you’re interested in working in our Opticians, either in a seasonal capacity, part time or on a short term contract, just get in touch with your local store to see what options they have available. Ask to speak with the People Manager, who can tell you about any vacancies and give you an application form.

Well, we're definitely working on it! At the moment we're unable to offer pre-registration training. However, we hope to do so very soon. You see, we're eager to bring fresh new talent into our business; people who have a genuine passion for Optical and are brimming with new ideas and initiatives. So, watch this space for further communication regarding pre-registration opportunities within ASDA.

You can apply for specific vacancies here. However, even though we might not be advertising a vacancy in your specific area at present, we always welcome applications. If there aren’t any positions in your chosen area when you apply, if you like we can hold your details on file and contact you as soon as one arises.

We’ve Optical Colleague roles within our Optical Departments (these do not require you to be a qualified Professional). These positions are recruited for on a store by store basis so it would be best to pop into your local ASDA and ask at the Customer Service Desk whether there are any vacancies. If there are, pick up an application form or ask to speak to the store's People Manager to find out more.

It’s essential that your qualification as a Professional is UK compatible. Therefore you must possess a General Optical Council (GOC) registration number. To register with the GOC please contact the Registration Department on +44 207 5803898 or click here to access the GOC official website. Unfortunately, because these roles are not classed as a skills shortage in the UK by the Home Office, we’re unable to apply for a work permit on your behalf so securing a work permit would be your responsibility.

You'll spend approximately four weeks in one of our Stores of Learning, where you'll learn how to operate your Optical department and perfect your leadership style. You'll also have the opportunity to shadow someone currently in your role. Once you know the ropes, we'll encourage you to get actively involved in the training of your colleagues too.

We provide the opportunity for you to work closely with the local community plus you can also benefit from flexible working practices to allow you to take full advantage of further career development opportunities.

It’s surprising just how flexible an Optical career at ASDA can be. We offer a wide selection of shift patterns to choose from. So whether you’re trying to balance your career with children, study or any other lifestyle commitment, we’ll always try to accommodate you as best we can.

To provide a locum service on behalf of ASDA, you must be registered on the ASDA Locum Database. Please register here.

Once we’ve checked your credentials with the Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain (PSPGB) we’ll add your details to the ASDA Locum Database which is used by all our stores. You can simply sit back and wait to hear from us when a locum opportunity becomes available or you could call your local stores and introduce yourself instead.

At the moment we don't run a specific summer placement program for Pharmacy undergraduates, although we are looking into it for the future. If you’re interested in working in our Pharmacy, either in a seasonal capacity, part time or on a short term contract, just get in touch with your local store to see what options they have available. Ask to speak with the People Manager, who can tell you about any vacancies and give you an application form.

Well, we're definitely working on it! At the moment we're unable to offer pre-registration training. However, we hope to do so very soon. You see, we're eager to bring fresh new talent into our business; people who have a genuine passion for Pharmacy and are brimming with new ideas and initiatives. So, watch this space for further communication regarding pre-registration opportunities within ASDA.

You can apply for a specific vacancy here. However, even though we might not be advertising a vacancy in your specific area at present, we always welcome applications. If there aren’t any positions in your chosen area when you apply, if you like we can hold your details on file and contact you as soon as one arises.

We also have roles in our Pharmacy Departments, which don’t require you to be a qualified Pharmacist. These positions are recruited for on a store by store basis so it would be best to pop into your local ASDA and ask at the Customer Service Desk whether there are any vacancies. If there are, pick up an application form or ask to speak to the store's People Manager to find out more.

A Pharmacy Department is the number one requested service by our customers. Therefore we’re constantly increasing our Pharmacy estate to meet customer needs. Please complete the application process here and a colleague from our recruitment centre will contact you regarding any relevant opportunities.

At ASDA Pharmacy we welcome interest from overseas applicants too. However, it’s essential that your qualification as a Pharmacist is UK compatible. Therefore you must possess a RPSGB registration number. To register with the Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain please contact the Registration Department on +44 207 735 9141. By law, any non-EEA (European Economic Area) national requires a work permit and/or visa to qualify for work in the UK. This is our responsibility as the employer and we would be happy to make the necessary arrangements for you once we’ve made you an offer of employment.

You'll spend approximately four weeks in one of our Stores of Learning, where you'll learn how to operate your Pharmacy department and perfect your leadership style. You'll also have the opportunity to shadow someone currently in your role. Once you know the ropes, we'll encourage you to get actively involved in the training of your colleagues too.

We provide the opportunity for you to work closely with the local community, including involvement with PCTs and local health initiatives. You can also benefit from flexible working practices to allow you to take full advantage of further career development opportunities.

It’s surprising just how flexible a pharmacy career at ASDA can be. With many of our in store departments open 100 hours per week, we can offer you a wide selection of shift patterns to choose from. So, whether you’re trying to balance your career with children, study or any other lifestyle commitment, we’ll always try to accommodate you as best we can.