The John Lewis Partnership has announced the details of five industrial placement schemes for 2016/17, with candidates able to apply from 1 September 2015. 

The five schemes are for students taking a year out from university to gain workplace skills and experience, and offer a unique insight and invaluable experience at one of the UK's top retailers. The placements are carefully designed to give talented students more involvement, more opportunities to demonstrate their capabilities and more responsibility. 

Placement students have the opportunity to work in a variety of exciting areas at John Lewis, Waitrose and Partnership Services, the shared-services division of the John Lewis Partnership. As well as retail management in branches, there is the opportunity to work in areas such as agriculture, e-commerce, IT, supply chain, commercial, procurement, insight and marketing. 

The five available schemes are:
·   John Lewis Retail Management industrial placement scheme
·   Waitrose Retail Management industrial placement scheme    
·   Waitrose Head Office industrial placement scheme
·   Waitrose Supply Chain industrial placement scheme
·   Partnership Services Procurement industrial placement scheme

​​Michael Bratt, a 2014/15 industrial placement student, working within the Waitrose e-Commerce marketing team, spoke of his experience. 'I'm doing a management and marketing degree and was keen to see whether I enjoyed marketing in practice. It's been a great twelve months and I've learnt lots about the roles available as well as my own interests. Much of the placement experience is down to you and what you make of it. I made a point of getting to know the different departments, had the opportunity to understand what I want to do in the future and had a fantastic experience. It's really helped for my final year dissertation and I'm looking forward to applying to the Graduate Leadership Scheme next year.'

Additionally, retail placements at both John Lewis and Waitrose offer students the opportunity to develop the skills that will form the basis of a career in retail management. Students could be managing their own section within a department after six months, and will gain skills and experiences that will help them apply to our Retail Management graduate schemes after completing their university course. 

Applications for all industrial placement roles will open at the start of September and will close on 31 October. In the event of an exceptionally high response rate, applications will close early and further submissions will not be accepted. Candidates are therefore encouraged to apply early to avoid disappointment.

For more information on the schemes, the selection process, to read our graduate blog and other useful information from graduates themselves and our recruitment team, as well as to apply for the schemes,  candidates should visit: http://jlpjobs.com/graduates/industrial-placements/.

Recruitment for the Graduate schemes at John Lewis and Waitrose is set to begin in October 2015, with more information available later this month.