Employment

We always extend a warm welcome to all new colleagues who join our family. You’ll find it’s a great place to work, with attractive rates of pay and a good range of benefits. Our aim is to provide opportunities so you can grow, improve your prospects and achieve your full potential.

Driver Academy

The Driver Academy run by Samworth Brothers Supply Chain has two aims:

  • to ensure our driver workforce keep performing at a high level
  • to tackle the shortage of qualified drivers across the industry

Three routes of entry are available through the Driver Academy – Warehouse to Wheels, Bakery to Wheels and the Newly Qualified Driver Programme. This means colleagues who currently work in the company’s bakeries or warehouses can apply to train for a new career as an HGV driver. In addition, newly-qualified HGV drivers with no previous experience are also welcome to apply.

The training lasts a year, including one day a month of classroom training and five days at Wiltshire Transport Training and Development (WTTL) for the Cat C driver training course, for vehicles up to 32 tonnes.

Helping people into work

For many years, we’ve been supporting projects to help young people who have found it difficult to get into work.

For instance through our association with local charity, Leicestershire Cares, we are involved in three initiatives to help young unemployed people into work.

The UP project

The Unlocking Potential (UP) Project helps young people aged 16-25 who are ex-offenders, current offenders or at risk of offending. It provides social, practical, economical and emotional support to help young people access education, employment or training.

Read the full story

New butchery school

Walkers Deli & Sausage Co. has set up a butchery school and its first seven trainees have recently completed a comprehensive six-month training programme.

There is a national shortage of trained butchers and our aim is to develop teams who can learn every aspect of the profession.

The programme took the first intake of recruits on a journey from farm to fork, following the whole butchery journey, from carcass breakdown and curing techniques through to retail butchery skills of slicing and packing.

The school is key to realising Walkers Deli & Sausage Co’s goal of increasing its number of butchers, enabling it to increase the volume of meat it can process.

“I am thoroughly enjoying my new role. I feel part of a team that is contributing to a larger purpose. The company has been encouraging and supporting me through my training and offering me lots of encouragement for personal and professional development.”
Butchery School trainee

​Developing our people

Through our Apprenticeship, Industrial Placement and Graduate programmes, we offer people about to embark on their careers diverse and valuable experience where they are able to develop their skills and grow their knowledge base.

Our graduate trainees are given every encouragement to succeed, as well as all the tools and support they need to help them kick start their career.

Industrial Placement students spend the third year of their four year degree course with us, where they can learn on the job in a role with real responsibility.

We also offer school leavers a range of engineering and other apprenticeship opportunities throughout the Group where they can earn while they learn.

Read the full story

Working with Schools

We engage with local schools and career fairs to encourage young people to consider the food and drink industry as a career and to develop their life skills. Through our connections with local partners we mentor secondary school and college pupils on interview techniques and CV writing.

We’re also involved with Leicester and Leicestershire Enterprise Partnership (LLEP) where we help promote the range of career opportunities available in the food industry.

Committed to closing skills gaps in science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM), we have STEM Ambassadors in the business who engage and support schools on the importance of these skills in the food and drink industry. STEM Ambassadors inspire and enthuse young people about science by getting involved in activities that enable young people to see the relevance of science to them, their lives and their future.