After losing my job in late January, it has been fair to suggest that the recruitment market for senior retail analysts has transitioned from slow to virtually non-existent as the Covid 19 outbreak has taken hold. No surprise there – we all have much more important things than recruitment to worry about.
While continuing to sit on my backside watching daytime TV was a fairly attractive option, a few weeks ago I decided instead to do something more useful and I’ve since been working at a local Tesco, helping to replenish shelves in meat, fish and dairy, with occasional cameos in bakery and produce.
There were a few reasons for applying for the job, not least because it seemed like the right thing to do when the industry was crying out for tens of thousands of new people to replace those off sick or self-isolating.
Selfishly, it has allowed me to have a long-overdue immersion in an industry that I’ve been a supposed expert in; given me a fresh perspective on the initiative and endeavour required to run just a single store (let alone an entire grocery retail enterprise); and has provided an unemployed bloke in his late forties with structure, self-esteem and an ability to escape the house.