Coles
Coles Graduate Programs & Internships
What it does: One of the ‘Big Two’ supermarket chains, accounting for about a third of the Australian grocery market
Staff stats: Over 130,000 team members spread across 2,200 supermarket and liquor stores, manufacturing locations, distribution centres and store support centres.
The good bits: Great starting salary, potential for fast progression, variety of work
Our Graduate Program
Whether you studied economics or eCommerce, compliance or computer science, marketing or business management, you can choose from 19 career streams. This is your chance to start making your mark as part of our SSC Graduate Program and relish the challenge of hands-on experience. Maybe you'll work with machine learning to forecast daily store demand. Perhaps you'll test Coles Group own brand products before they hit the shelves. Or you could help build the next system that processes and manages 18 million transactions a day. There's so much happening here – and it can happen to your career. Now, that’s food for thought!
Discover Coles
As we live and breathe our Strategy and Values, we’re committed to attracting and employing people that represent the communities we work in. At Coles, we support our team members regardless of age, disability, race, gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, religion, ethnicity, family responsibilities or cultural background to ensure they feel safe and included at work.
Diversity & Inclusion Initiatives
As part of our Better Together strategy, we’ve committed to a number of diversity and inclusion initiatives to be achieved by December 2023. The program includes five key focus areas – Belonging, Gender Equity, Accessibility, Pride (LGBTQI+), and Indigenous Engagement. Each focus area has ambitious goals that are supported at the executive and board levels and worked towards by all team members.
Recruitment Process
How to apply
It's simple to apply for the Coles Graduate Program! There are 4 stages to the recruitment process, and we will keep you informed at each stage.
Before submitting your application, please make sure you check that you meet our eligibility requirements:
- Australian or New Zealand citizens or permanent residents at the time of application can apply.
- If you hold a Temporary Graduate Visa (subclass 485) by October 31st 2024 that is valid until at least February 14th 2028, you are eligible to apply for the Technology stream.
- For our Store Support Centre (SSC) Graduate Program, you’ll have completed a Bachelor’s Degree before commencing the program.
If you have any questions during the process, please drop us a note at emergingtalent@coles.com.au and include in the subject line the Stream Function of the Graduate Program you are applying for.
Applications for our 2024 Store Support Centre (Corporate Office) Graduate Program are closed, however Expressions of Interest for 2025 Graduate Program are open.
Online Application
If you’re interested in applying, please complete the online application form.
This helps us capture information about your background, experiences, and skills. We want to hear why you are the right fit for us! Make sure you check to see that you are eligible for the program before completing your application.
Completing an application form will take you approximately 30 minutes, and once our applications close, you can expect to hear an update on your application within 5 days.
Psychometric Testing
This stage of the recruitment process helps us understand more about who you are. Not just your skills but your preferred ways of working and how you approach certain situations. It also provides you with an opportunity to see what types of situations you could expect to experience when joining the Coles Graduate Program.
This online assessment should take between 45-60 minutes to complete and you can expect to hear an update in the next 1-2 weeks following the scheduled deadline.
Video Interview
The video interview takes place online where you will record your responses to a range of questions for us to review. It allows us to get a better understanding of who you are and your communication style. We will be looking to understand why you have applied to Coles and several competencies that we want to see in our future graduates!
The video interview will only take 15 minutes to complete, and you can expect to hear an update within the following fortnight as our team reviews each video interview.
Discovery Centre
The Discovery Centre gives us the chance to meet you and an opportunity for you to interact directly with us! You will participate in a range of activities during the session, but most importantly, we want to ensure you walk away from your time with them with an impactful experience where you gain some valuable insights and understanding of yourself, and of Coles.
Our Discovery Centre will be a 3-hour session, and look to provide you with an update following your attendance in the following week.
Remuneration & Career Growth
Rewards & Benefits
Not only is Coles Group a great place to work, you’ll have access to a range of exclusive benefits and programs that support, reward and inspire team members.
Discounts & benefits
As a Coles Group team member, you’ll receive discounts across all of our internal brands – Coles, Coles Liquor and Coles Online. We also offer generous product and service discounts courtesy of our partners. These discounts cover a range of categories from phones and computers, getaways, sports and entertainment, health and fitness, vehicles and many more!
Hybrid working
Flexibility is a really big part of working at Coles. We champion hybrid working, allowing you the flexibility to work either from home or at our SSC. At Coles, The technology we have embedded into our ways of working enables us to work remotely, effectively.
Team member share plan
Own your own piece of the Coles Group. Our annual team member share plan offer allows you to make regular salary sacrifice deductions to purchase Coles Group shares.
Career Growth
Our grads undergo a combination of on-the-job learning, exposure to senior leaders, mentoring and an active support network to develop their skills and expedite their careers. The SSC Graduate Program is only the beginning of your career with Coles, with a guaranteed role at the end of the program.
You are supported through:
- Continuous learning and development opportunities
- Working on real deliverables with clear ownership and accountability.
- Leading and delivering an Innovation Project, culminating in a presentation to a senior leadership team. The top team also has the opportunity to present to their Executive team and Board.
- An accelerator coach, a senior leader dedicated to you for the entirety of the grad program, to help you kickstart your career.
- Connecting with senior leaders from across the business, providing you the opportunity to build your personal brand and learn about their own career journey.
- A buddy, either a more senior grad or team member, to help you settle in from the beginning.
Graduate Reviews
- Great management is very inclusive, and team members truly care about your development and growth. There are lots of perks, such as free food and the ability to taste test new stock.
- Work culture and career progression
- As a graduate, I am involved in decision-making and feel as though I have genuine autonomy.
- They value growth and development very highly.
- Great company culture, many support systems as a graduate to allow you to become a competent and high achieving employee in a short amount of time. allow you to own work right away.
- The worst thing about working for Coles is that it is easy to burn out because there is so much commitment and responsibility that everyone carries.
- As a large organization, it can be difficult to adjust and settle in at the beginning.
- How big the company is, so you really need to make an effort to expand your network and office location.
- It is a big business to learn
- Office location
Jobs & Opportunities
- Australia wide