Sainsbury's has made 2,336 jobs permanent following the recruitment of 20,000 extra seasonal colleagues over Christmas. The retailer originally announced 15,000 vacancies but due to record demand later announced an additional 5,000 vacancies across its 1,000+ stores to support during the busy festive season to ensure customers got the best possible service.

New permanent colleagues were recruited into stores all over the country after being given a foot in the door over Christmas. This breaks down as 2135 in England, 117 in Wales, 33 in Scotland and 51 in Northern Ireland.

Sainsbury's Chief Executive Justin King today welcomed the news. He said: "Our colleagues pulled out all the stops to ensure the highest levels of service and availability for our customers over Christmas. It was vital we had extra people in to cope with the increased demand and I'm delighted that we are able to make over 2,300 roles permanent. For many it's the start of a future career with us.

"We continue to invest in our people to help them develop new skills, including first-rate, practical training and lots of opportunities for people to progress to team leaders, deputies or managers."

A typical supermarket has jobs available across 35 different positions, ranging from deputy managers to team leaders, category assistants, online managers and customer service advisors. People can also apply to be a counter specialist, and attend a City and Guilds accredited course at one of Sainsbury's seven food colleges.

Nicola O'Boyle, 21 (pictured above), took on a temporary job before Christmas at the Harlow store. She is now on a permanent contract and works full-time in the Tu clothing section. She said: "I am so pleased to get a permanent, full-time position. I really enjoy helping customers find what they need and being given responsibility for how our Tu range is displayed. There are lots of opportunities for progression and I can't wait to see what my future has in store."

Steven Yeomans, 52, had a temporary position on a nightshift at the Watchmoor Park store near Camberley. He is now permanent after submitting a successful application. He said: "Getting the permanent position with Sainsbury's gives me the job security I've been looking for. I've been struggling to get a job over the last year but Sainsbury's offers a great working environment with opportunities for progression."

Samiul Haque, 17, worked as a temporary checkout worker over Christmas but is now permanent and part-time while he studies for his A-levels. He said: "I was over the moon when I found out I was being made permanent. Looking for a job was difficult but working at Sainsbury's has really developed my personal skills and the store environment is fantastic."

Amber Flower was 22 when she was made permanent after joining on a temporary Christmas contract in 2009. She is now 26 and has worked her way up to customer service manager at the Andover North store after completing department manager training. She said: "At Sainsbury's, no two days are the same. If you're prepared to work hard then you can expect positive results. I've now been able to recruit four new colleagues in our store that were in a similar situation to me, so I hope to be able to mentor them and offer training so they can take every opportunity available."

Sainsbury's has over 1,000 stores across the UK with 150,000 colleagues. In the past year, Sainsbury's has created 6,000 new jobs opportunities, as part of Sainsbury's 20x20 sustainability plan to create 50,000 new jobs by the year 2020.

New job opportunities are coming up all the time and any interested applicants should look at the jobs website for more information at www.sainsburys.jobs

Notes to editors

Case studies and high resolution images are available upon request. Please contact the Sainsbury's press office on 020 7695 7295 or press_office@sainsburys.co.uk.

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