To want to a tesco shopper job, but not know how to get it? Anyone already doing this?

[StormCattitude]

Lots of potential changes afoot in my life but one thing that's an issue to my choices at this crossroad is my job status. I was a SAHM for about 10 years, then got a casual job at a local high school which I've done for the past few years. That work comes in fits & spurts, it involves intense weeks of work then nothing for months generally. And it's dried up mostly since covid although I'm still on their books (no one with my role has been in really, not just me).
Anyway, after a conversation with a school mum I've realised one of those tesco shopper jobs, fulfilling other people's orders, would be right up my street for now. However after googling I can't see these roles advertised anywhere. Where should I be looking? I'd have thought there'd have been openings in this role as more people order online. Any insight on here? Should I just send a cv to my local extra store?

Thanks.

Have you googled your local store dot com picker jobs?
www.tesco-careers.com/jobdetails/280759

www.tesco-careers.com/jobdetails/229472

Are you looking for dot.com vacancies?

Does it have to be Tesco? A lot of the supermarkets near me are looking for staff

They usually advertise online, a quick application followed by a senario based assessment this can take time and will decide whether you get to interview or not.
Other stores do the same thing as well all very similar. Hours can vary especially for part time.
Also early starts are the norm, Three different supermarkets I know start at 4, 5 and 6am, when I did it at the start of the pandemic it was 2am, bare this in mind, it can be hard going, waking so early!

www.tesco-careers.com/jobdetails/5166

I just typed in Tesco dot com picker Oxford & it brought up this as the nearest so I guess staff needed depends on the area.

My friend does it at our local Tesco and in the run up to Christmas starts work at 4am to pick the orders before the store gets busy!

Oh really, I thought I'd be able to do this in the school day. I'm a LP, no support, so early starts are out for me.

Did Google but around me (NW) there was only express store jobs coming up via agencies & tesco website. Tesco would be ideal as there's one near me & I want to potentially move towns to somewhere there's a few large tescos too so potential for a transfer I hoped.

They must do it in the school day as last time I went you couldn't move for them clogging up the aisles!

OP have you looked into what it entails exactly? It’s quite fast paced, not just wafting around like when you do your own shopping. There are different systems, but in some stores they do a few people’s shopping at once too.

I have a few friends who do this, they all start at 6 and work till 2ish except for one who does 9-6. It’s really hard, people getting in your way all the time, insane targets and they get pulled up and told off if they take longer then they’ve been allocated. They all hate it. They all have kids but they don’t do school hours and I’m 99% sure just school hours isn’t an option

In Tesco it is early starts in all branches (latest is 6am) and the finish time varies according to how many orders there are to fulfil. Finish time would usually be between 10-11.30 but some stores may finish later.

I know a few. They all start at 5/6am. Not really a school hours job from what I can tell.

I used to do this and it was always 6am starts, finished at 2pm. And if the orders were finished you got sent to stack shelves which was boredom central. I’m not an early morning person and there was no option for later starts.

I'm a shopper for a different supermarket. Although supermarkets do usually recruit through their careers websites, lately because of all the changes, in my supermarket it has been less formal with managers advertising locally. There has been a lot of interest with many people on furlough or loosing jobs so it has been quite competitive. With the popularity of online shopping increasing during lockdowns then slowing down as shops open up the workload has flutuated a lot so most of our new starters are on temporary contracts whilst we wait to see how things finally settle down. In my store its mainly 2am or 4am starts for pickers although there are a few who start at 6am. We aim to be finished by mid-morning as the shop gets too busy with customers by then but during very busy times like at the start of the last lockdown we had to do overtime to get all the orders done and it was afternoon before some of the evening orders were picked.
We do indeed shop for up to 8 different customers at the same time and have to move at a fast pace as we are constantly monitered for speed. In my store our current target is 173 items picked per hour, if the pick is going too slow then vans might not leave ontime and customers will get their orders late so we often get messages coming through on our handsets from the manager telling us to pick up the pace. It works well with children if you have a partner at home to mind the children while you are at work because most the earlier shifts finish at 8am.

8 shoppers at a time. Goodness.

I shopped for 4 people at at a time in the first lockdown and I was able to go home after and sit down with a cuppa. Not sure I could do a long shift.

It's tiring com also hard work picking other people's shopping, though you get used to regulars and what they want.

Ours has a sign on their noticeboard iffering these jobs. Perhaps they don’t bother putting it online 🤷‍♀️

I thought I'd be able to do this in the school day. I'm a LP, no support, so early starts are out for me.

Pretty much every supermarket's home shopping pickers work overnight - in my supermarket the latest start for pickers is 6am but most start at 2/4am (and that is to give the night stockers 4/6hrs to get the shelves refilled before they start)

In the nicest possible way you don't seem to have done any actual research into the job beyond thinking "I fancy doing other people's shopping" without having any idea of the actual requirements and tasks involved in doing the job.

It's tiring com also hard work picking other people's shopping, though you get used to regulars and what they want.

As a home shopping picker you don't get to see who an order is for, nor is there any guarante you will always be picking the same person's order. So its not like you come in on Tuesday morning and know you're going to have an easy day because you're picking Mrs Smith's order and she usually orders the same 4x bottles of wine, 7x ready meals, bread and milk.

I had no idea the early starts were non negotiable. There's always loads of store shoppers in my tesco all daytime! So I assumed some started later, and in the conversation I'd had with the school mum about this job (she does it a few days a week) I thought she'd said she did mornings after dropping off her kids, but I must've misunderstood. I'd have asked her at school for more info but she's not been around and my DD told me her friend said her mum was in hospital & would be for a while. So thought I'd ask on here.
Back to the drawing board on this then.

There's always loads of store shoppers in my tesco all daytime!

In my store at least the home shoppers are done by 2pm as standard (either the 4am starters doing a 10hr shift or the 6am starters doing an 8hr) but if there are a lot of orders then they will either have 6am starters doing overtime, finishing at 4pm, or will draft in shop floor colleagues to cover any shortfall. The only time someone would be scheduled during the day (eg 9-5) would be if they were a permanent home shopper who needed a short term adjustment to their hours (eg for medical or short term childcare issues) but it would only be temporary.

@CheeseCakeSunflowers

I'm a shopper for a different supermarket. Although supermarkets do usually recruit through their careers websites, lately because of all the changes, in my supermarket it has been less formal with managers advertising locally. There has been a lot of interest with many people on furlough or loosing jobs so it has been quite competitive. With the popularity of online shopping increasing during lockdowns then slowing down as shops open up the workload has flutuated a lot so most of our new starters are on temporary contracts whilst we wait to see how things finally settle down. In my store its mainly 2am or 4am starts for pickers although there are a few who start at 6am. We aim to be finished by mid-morning as the shop gets too busy with customers by then but during very busy times like at the start of the last lockdown we had to do overtime to get all the orders done and it was afternoon before some of the evening orders were picked. We do indeed shop for up to 8 different customers at the same time and have to move at a fast pace as we are constantly monitered for speed. In my store our current target is 173 items picked per hour, if the pick is going too slow then vans might not leave ontime and customers will get their orders late so we often get messages coming through on our handsets from the manager telling us to pick up the pace. It works well with children if you have a partner at home to mind the children while you are at work because most the earlier shifts finish at 8am.

After reading this I am worried about the stress I am causing when receiving my online shopping. I am so grateful for it as we are elderly but can’t imagine having to find those items in such a short time. As I receive my email receipt quite a bit earlier than delivery I didn’t realise there was this intense activity. I am pleased it creates jobs but so sorry it is so hard. I definitely won’t “tut” if there is anything missing or if pots of cream are spit open because tins are put on top of them (Christmas). Anyway thank you so much for doing the job.

HappydaysArehere thank you, I use to serve on the Deli counter until it was closed at the start of the first lockdown and I was transferred to the online dept. One thing I miss is the contact with customers so it was lovely reading your comment. Our handsets do tell us exactly where each item we pick should be so the target is acheivable but as one of the oldest, having just reached my 60's, I do have to work at it to keep up with my younger colleagues.

Out store does stagger the starting times as we pick until later on in the day. It's really fast paced as they want the job done asap so orders are out on time and we are off the shop floor. You do need to be fit.

OP, look at a site called Red Wigwam. Whilst there's no FT work available, there are plenty of mystery shopper/store inspection jobs. For example, you could be asked to go to Tesco and check that all the Charlie Bighams ready meals are displayed correctly or you might be asked to go to Sainsbury's car park and check it is litter-free. I know it's not a fortune or anything but, as Tesco say themselves, every little helps

@ViciousJackdaw

OP, look at a site called Red Wigwam. Whilst there's no FT work available, there are plenty of mystery shopper/store inspection jobs. For example, you could be asked to go to Tesco and check that all the Charlie Bighams ready meals are displayed correctly or you might be asked to go to Sainsbury's car park and check it is litter-free. I know it's not a fortune or anything but, as Tesco say themselves, every little helps

Thanks Vicious this is a new one on me, I'll have a look. PT is better for me at the moment anyway :-)

@Moonface123

Out store does stagger the starting times as we pick until later on in the day. It's really fast paced as they want the job done asap so orders are out on time and we are off the shop floor. You do need to be fit.

Moonface123 I run 5k's & 10k's regularly, so I'd have loved the movement aspect of the job!