With Britain’s military forces shedding 17,000 servicemen and women, supermarket Tesco is running a scheme to take skills and qualities of armed forces personnel and redeploy them in a new career in retail.

The innovative scheme, developed by Tesco with support from the Career Transition Partnership and the Ministry of Defence sees officers and senior non-commissioned officers with less than six months of service left complete a work experience placement, giving them an opportunity to experience first hand what a line manager role within Tesco is like and whether it’s the right career move for them.

The project was launched in 2007 and Tesco has filled over 40 management roles with ex-service personnel since it began.

The recruitment drives take place at Army Resettlement Career Fairs, while management opportunities are advertised on the Career Transition Partnership website.

Recruitment periods take place twice annually in September and February, with the most recent drive in September receiving 350 applications.