Florence Cole

I knew I wanted a structured development programme where I was working towards challenging targets but in a business that matches with my values and principles. The Co-operative Group is a democratic organisation, owned by its members and takes a stand on ethical issues, such as climate change. It does things for the right reasons, and for me it ticked all the boxes.

The Co-operative Group is a modern business and a trusted brand. It is a very varied organisation, we have food stores serving thousands of communities across the UK, and we are also Britain’s largest farmer. The Co-operative Group differs fundamentally from other businesses, because our members are at the heart of everything we do. As a co-operative we respond to the ethical demands of our members and I believe we are a stronger business for it.

I wanted to join a graduate programme that would give me real responsibility and ownership of projects. During my time within Buying I welcomed the challenge of delivering a trial of re-useable containers. This project was critical; the business needed to reduce the amount of cardboard packaging it was using. Although the project was well planned, implementing it throughout our 2,200 food retail stores was a huge challenge. It was great to be given ownership of a project that required such a high-level of operational change.

For me, having the opportunity to work across our varied businesses in different functions is the real benefit of the Graduate Development Programme. You get the opportunity to experience different ways of working and it gives you a fantastic level of exposure. To date, I have worked in the Buying function, Location Analysis in Food Retail, and Group Services in the central Corporate Function. All my projects have been business critical.

The programme itself is well supported by senior managers across the business and gives you fantastic exposure. As it is a permanent job from day one, I don’t feel any uncertainty about my future, and I am sure that The Co-operative Group is the right environment for me to progress.