Sainsbury's - Induction Training with a Difference

CentreStage has been supplying roleplayers for Sainsbury’s graduate assessment centres for the past three years. Each year, Sainsbury’s recruits around 90 graduate trainees, and in terms of the opportunities and the training it provides, a better fast-track programme would be hard to find.

CentreStage has been supplying roleplayers for Sainsbury’s graduate assessment centres for the past three years. Each year, Sainsbury’s recruits around 90 graduate trainees, and in terms of the opportunities and the training it provides, a better fast-track programme would be hard to find.

A graduate trainee’s first experience of Sainsbury’s isn’t perhaps what you might expect. A week long induction programme, consisting of informative talks, activities such as Indian drumming, and an address from the Chief Executive, introduces graduates to the company ethos and to what is expected of them.

So when CentreStage was asked to design an activity, we got our thinking caps on. The aim? Make it fun, interactive and thought-provoking. The learning objectives? Encourage graduates to stand up and be counted, take initiative and not be afraid of making mistakes.

So we teamed up with broadcast journalist Michael Dodd (best known for his newspaper commentary on Sky News) and designed a workshop where delegates would have to do just that.

The session began as a lecture about pension schemes, but the speaker was soon interrupted by a live television broadcast: Breaking news, as Sainsbury’s entire UK stock of self-lighting Christmas puddings had gone up in smoke. Suddenly, it was up to the graduates to represent the various interest groups and make some difficult decisions.

Delegates were split into four groups, representing Sainsbury’s, Sainsbury’s biggest competitor, animal rights campaigners and consumers. Tasked with drawing up strategies and drip-fed information, each group would nominate spokespeople to face TV style questioning and debate. The result was extremely fun and memorable.

Stephen Mulvenna, Graduate Recruitment Manager at Sainsbury’s, said, “This highly interactive activity helped us to capture the raw enthusiasm of our graduates and aimed to equip them with some key skills to support the early stages of their career. I am pleased to say that initial feedback suggests that it was also the highlight of the week for many of them, and has allowed them to put into context the importance of demonstrating drive and ambition to succeed”.

The workshop is a variation on The Media Challenge. It’s an enjoyable and memorable way of raising awareness of the challenges faced by your organisation. It encourages your employees to talk about those challenges and explore future opportunities, as well as consider your organisation's image on the world stage. For more information, take a look at our website or give us a call.