Tesco Gives Hope to Long Term Unemployed

Tesco has just employed eighty people who have been out of work for more than six months at its flagship 103,000 sq ft Tesco Extra store in Gateshead’s Trinity Square.

They will commence their new jobs in the store at the end of May, when it officially opens to the public.

The 80 graduates were given certificates for completing an eight-week training course that guarantees them jobs in the new store – the showpiece of the £150m Trinity Square development in Gateshead featuring 38 new shops, a cinema and accommodation for around 1,000 University students.

After a long period of struggling to find work, the promise of a job will be life changing for the graduates chosen by Tesco as part of a pledge to Gateshead Council that a third of staff in the new outlet would be given to the long-term unemployed.

The graduates worked for eight weeks learning customer service, retail and event management, as well as undergoing in-store training.

In total 500 people will work in the new Tesco Extra. Two hundred and fifty employees who worked in Gateshead’s old Tesco store will be returning to work alongside the graduates.