Zakira

Stores

Compliance Duty Manager

Joined Tesco October 2002

When I took on part-time work at the local Tesco Metro, I had no idea it was the start of a long and rewarding career.

As a university student, I was looking for a job that I could work around my studies and the General Assistant position at Tesco seemed to fit the bill. From the first day I joined, I was completely taken aback at how much support and encouragement I received. Not only did I get time off to prepare for my exams, I was given lots of opportunity to progress my career.

Within nine months, I was promoted to part-time Team Leader for Service. Since then, I've worked in different stores, taking on new and challenging roles. Earlier this year, I began a bridging programme that prepared me to make the move from Service Duty Manager to Compliance Duty Manager.

I recently started my new role, and I find it very interesting. From pulling off a delivery to running workshops, no two days are the same. The work's fast-paced and pretty demanding at times, but we've got a great team that really pulls together. We're all from fairly different backgrounds, and it's great getting to know all sorts of new people.

When I first joined Tesco, I didn't think I could make much of a difference. The company was so huge. But working as part of a team, I've seen real changes take place in store because of some of the ideas we've put forward. That feels great. I even developed a mathematical model to prevent loss in our supply chain as part of my university dissertation. Like we say, every little helps!

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