Category Buying - Year In Industry Placement

About the programme

Our 12 months programme offers a unique blend of learning, combining face-to-face and digital modules with practical on-the-job experiences to support personal and professional development. The programme will help you to develop skills, knowledge and provides all the stretch and challenge needed to accelerate a career at Boots.

There is an opportunity to gain a true breadth and depth of experiences and take real accountability from day one, with ambitious goals, high challenge and in return you will receive all the care, encouragement and support you need.

About your role

Our Category buying team are at the heart of our business and help create compelling reasons for customers to shop at Boots. They are a dynamic team, working to deliver a unique and customer led range in stores across 1000s of the best Health and Beauty brands. The team are accountable for delivering the sales and profit budget using the levers of range, price, promotions and distribution to delight our customers to help them to feel good.

About the role
Your Year in Industry scheme starts with 4-week placement in store to immerse yourself into the daily workings of the store environment. Following this you will spend 11 months embedded into a core category buying team across one of our 3 business units including, Beauty, Healthcare and General Merchandise.  

The programme will include both functional training and additional quarterly training to help build both your leadership. It will give you experience in establishing communication and engagement with prospects. You will be involved in wider projects to both showcase your newly learnt skills as well as spending time across different functional and having exposure to the wider senior leadership team.   

Other aspects of the role include: 

• Share product ideas, trends and insights with the buying team to ensure we have the best range at Boots. 
• Contribute to the delivery of customer promotions in store by setting up campaign offers such as 3 for 2, Half Price, on the Boots SAP system. 
• Work with other teams such as the marketing and pricing team to ensure set ups are right first time. 
• Confirm promotional funding with suppliers and raise associated invoices
• Help the assistant category manager to review competitor pricing activity. 
• Run and analyse weekly sales reports for the team and suppliers  

What you’ll need to have

• You’ll need to be on track to achieve a minimum of a 2:1 degree as part of a course that allows for a placement programme year

It would be great if you also have

• Strong attention to detail and the desire to solve problems and see them through to resolution
• Strong organisational and time management capabilities and an ability to deliver to tight deadlines 
• An ability to cope with change in a fast-paced environment
• An ability to challenge processes / figures and deliver efficiencies
• An ability to work well as part of a team, and be able to build effective and collaborative relationships with internal and external stakeholders
• A drive for self-development and growth
• A passion for products, our brand and what we do

Our benefits

• Generous employee discounts
• Flexible benefits scheme
• Access to corporate discounts and offers, including travel, retail, entertainment and more.
• Access to free, 24/7 counselling and support through TELUS Health, our Employee Assistance Programme.
• Enhanced maternity/paternity/adoption leave pay and gift card for anyone expecting or adopting a child

We have a great range of benefits in addition to the above that offer flexibility to suit you - find out more at boots.jobs/rewards. Exclusions may apply, eligible roles only. 

Why Boots

At Boots, we foster a working environment where consideration and inclusivity help everyone to be themselves and reach their full potential. We are proud to be an equal opportunity employer, passionate about embracing the diversity of our colleagues and providing a positive and inclusive working environment for all. As the heart of everything we do at Boots, with you, we change for the better.

What's next

After submitting your application, you will be invited to complete an online assessment. If your application is successful following this, our recruitment team will be in touch to invite you to an assessment centre and to answer any initial questions you have. If you have not been successful on this occasion, you will be contacted by email. 

If you require additional support as part of the application and interview process, we are happy to provide reasonable adjustments to help you to be at your best.

Boots is a Ban the Box employer and will consider the suitability of applicants with criminal convictions on a case-by-case basis.