Keeping up with Blue Square

We've been hard at work on some amazing projects, from new clients to team adventures, we've got plenty to share with you this quarter.

Don't forget to read until the end to see our latest job vacancies.

INclusiverse

We hope that you’ve had a chance by now to listen to our INclusiverse podcast. We’ve been busy filming the next season, full of stories from our people here at Blue Square .

You might remember that in our last newsletter, Ashly Williamson MSc MCIPD , our People Ops Manager, shared her experience dealing with hearing loss for Sign Language Week. We invited Ashly and her teammate Jaz W. to the pod, to share their inspiring personal stories and discuss the stigma linked to non-visible disabilities with our host Kally Kaleda .

Ashly and Jaz also continued the conversation by fundraising for The Brain Tumour Charity and raised ￡3,000!

If you haven't already watched or listened to this heartfelt and INspiring episode, click here.

We’ve got more episodes coming soon, including two as part of our new series ‘Women in Leadership’, and a really powerful episode on Muslim Culture in the Workplace.

You can stream all episodes on all of your favourite streaming services, including YouTube, Spotify , Apple Podcasts , and Amazon Music .

If you want to be a part of future episodes or leave feedback, don't hesitate to get in contact.

A Great Place to Work (GPTW)

Summer party

We held our annual summer party organised by our amazing 'Great Place to Work' team. The day was full of food, drinks, fun and team bonding. We got competitive with rounders, tug of war, three-legged races and more. A special thanks to Charlotte Allen for taking us to your local pub and Ryan Arekion MAAT for supporting with the set-up.

A long(-ish) walk

Can you believe it was sunnier for our walk in September than our summer party in August?

We went on a wholesome 10k walk in the sunshine, with a nice mid-way pub stop to raise money for our charity partner, Hope for Tomorrow (HFT). It was a great way to spend time with each other, unwind and switch off from the busyness of work. We look forward to taking part in more fundraising activities for HFT.

The launch of our Mental Health Champions (MHC)

We launched our MHC's, a team of 20 brilliant people acting as advocates for Mental Health at Blue Square.

Sometimes it can be tough to reach out when we’re struggling - our MHC’s offer a safe space for our people to chat and get the support they need.

Meet Isabel Moulder , one of our amazing Champs, who’s committed to helping our team feel their best, and is always ready to lend a listening ear.

If you want to meet more of our Champions, check out our post here.

Victoria's first six months as our Head of People Development

This year, we've made it our mission to revamp our L&D programme, making sure that everyone has access to the tools they need to be successful.

Meet Victoria Nightingale FLPI MCIPD , our new Head of People Development. Joining us just six months ago, she’s been immersing herself into Blue Square, and is now getting ready to share some exciting changes.

Six months in Blue Square: A reflection

I can hardly believe it's been six months since I joined Blue Square! It’s been a privilege getting to know everyone, their experiences, and gathering feedback on our learning programmes. The warmth, enthusiasm, and honesty I’ve encountered has been inspiring. Together, we’re building something special—an environment where everyone, regardless of career path or learning style, can grow.

My journey so far

Before Blue Square, I spent 14 years with Tesco, refining my expertise in early careers, behavioural learning, L&D, and colleague experience. While I’m still a Tesco fan, the opportunity to build something entirely new here, tailored to our peoples' needs, was too exciting to pass up. Now, six months in, I’m starting to share my plan for how we’ll create a learning experience that’s meaningful, engaging, and future-focused.

Our people development promise

We believe in the power of people, and our goal is simple: to create a learning environment that nurtures talent, builds high-performing teams, and drives growth.

What’s next?

Our focus now is on getting the fundamentals right.

We'll be taking colleagues through a journey across L&D, with content on high-performing teams, values, career anchors, working together and personal branding - to name a few. We're building a suite of learning that will help our teams, no matter who they are and what they want from work - so that they're inspired and supported to thrive.

Hannah's career journey

Hannah Christmas has been with us for four years and this year made a team switch. We chatted with her to find out a bit more about her career journey at Blue Square so far.

What's your journey at Blue Square been like so far?

I joined the Talent Acquisition team in 2020 on a short 4-week contract and moved into a permanent role pretty quickly. Over time, I progressed into a Lead Talent Acquisition Specialist role and loved the work we did as a team.

After 3? years, I decided to take a leap and try something new! I’ve always had an interest in project management so when the opportunity for a Junior Project Manager role came up, I jumped at it. I’ve been in the role for seven months now, and I’m really enjoying the variety it brings to my day.

I’m now working towards my project management qualification! My line manager, Richard Dockerill , is really supportive by making sure I'm getting the exposure to new challenges that I need to succeed with my qualifications.?

What was it like switching to a new team?

One of the best things about moving roles internally was that it wasn’t as nerve-wracking as starting somewhere brand new. I already knew my new team members and line manager which made the transition easier. If you’re thinking about moving teams internally, whether you know the team or not, I’d recommend setting up some time to meet them beforehand. My new team invited me out for dinner before I officially started which was a nice way to get to know everyone better.

If you’re considering applying for an internal role, don’t hesitate to reach out for a chat with the team manager. Most are more than happy to answer any questions. Plus, the Talent Team can give you a feel for the team culture and what they get up to!

Shark Ninja

We're now working with a new client, SharkNinja. This is an exciting new partnership as I'm sure most of us already have a Shark or Ninja product sitting at home. With their array of amazing products, we've now built a team of over 20 talented individuals.

Our teams have been working hard on activations to drive awareness, sales and brand love. Get a glimpse of the team in action ??

Mentorship programme

We’ve been piloting a brand new mentorship programme with some of our Samsung Training Team, pairing 12 of our people with mentors to support their career development ambitions. It’s been a roaring success, but don’t take our word for it - Matthew Crosby has shared his experience below:

Being part of the mentorship programme has been a deeply fulfilling and impactful experience. It's provided me the opportunity to share my knowledge and experience with someone who's eager to learn, grow, and develop. Being a mentor has allowed me to give back to a business that's helped shape me. I've been able to contribute to my mentee's growth and development, just as others contributed to my journey. I hope my support leaves a lasting impact.

I've also taken this opportunity to support my personal growth. It's helped support my leadership and communication skills and gain new perspectives through someone else’s point of view. I've been able to establish a strong relationship, built on trust and mutual respect, and I've seen their confidence grow through the experience.

Overall, I believe the process of mentorship is a two-way street where we've both experienced significant growth. It's been a great responsibility, and a privilege to support them and I hope this can continue even more so now that they've been successful in progressing into a Regional Manager role.

Given the success of this trial, we're looking for a further roll out of our mentorship programme next year!

Joe's work experience

As part of our commitment to doing good at Blue Square, we think it’s really important that we give young people a glimpse into what’s possible when it comes to their career journeys.

Over the summer, we had Joe Aelle in for three days of work experience. Joe had a keen interest in content creation so Sasha Green and Yasmin Darg , from our Marketing Team, took him under their wings and gave him some insight into what a role in content creation can look like.

"Joe did an amazing job getting involved in editing reels and pictures. He demonstrated a professional attitude and was eager to get involved and develop his skills. He was a natural and was open to receiving feedback. We hope he felt a sense of achievement seeing his work go live." - Yasmin Darg, Content Creator

Take a look at Joe's feedback from his experience:

"I really appreciated the thought that went into giving me live projects to contribute towards. I finished the three days benefitting from new experiences and learning how things operate in a busy work environment. The support and feedback along the way was a great way for me to learn and improve on each task. I especially enjoyed the 'day in a life' task, which was challenging at first but I enjoyed figuring it out."

New starters and promotions

Since June, we've had 28 promotions within our team and have welcomed 134 new starters across Head Office, on behalf of some of our existing clients (Samsung Electronics , EE & HP) , and our new client SharkNinja .

A huge welcome to our new team members and well done to all those promoted. We're so lucky to have an amazing team of hardworking individuals and we're so proud to see their career development. Congrats ??

Come and work with us

If you're looking for a career change, here's a snippet of our current vacancies:

Head office

• Commercial Performance Planning Executive , Hertford (￡25k-￡35k)

Shark Ninja

• Regional Relationship Manager , South East (￡45k)
• Brand Ambassador Manager , South of England (￡150 per day)

Samsung

• National Performance Coordinator , South of England (￡32k- ￡35k)
• Omnichannel Territory Manager , Glasgow (￡27k-￡32k)

Want to check out our other roles? View our other vacancies or register for job alerts for future roles over on our careers page. Your dream job could be a few clicks away...

See you in the edition :)

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