Mercadona advertises jobs across the country

With a series of store revamps ongoing across the country, involving expansions and new services, the chain has been advertising for permanent staff every month this year, but as always, will take on additional, temporary employees for the high season.

Year-round, over 90% of Mercadona employees are on permanent job contracts, and the starting salary for the first year is €1,328 gross per month, rising to nearly €1,500 by the third year.

For most roles, applicants do not need prior experience, as full training will be given on the job, and the only qualifications required are the ESO (Spain's answer to GCSEs) or the equivalent.

Non-Spaniards seeking to work there will, of course, need to be able to speak and understand Spanish, although if they live in cosmopolitan areas, it is likely the addition of their native language would be considered a bonus.

Positions are offered this month, full-time, for shelf-stackers, cashiers, delicatessen, meat and fish counters, delivery workers and storeroom workers, along with jobs in the logistics centres.

Offers are open in nearly every province, including in San Isidro (Alicante province), Sabadell, Caldes de Montbui, Ripollet, Sant Feliu de Llobregat, Esplugues de Llobregat, Rubí, Sant Cugat dels Vallès, Granollers and Mollet del Vallès (Barcelona province), Olot (Girona province), Ibiza town, Campos and Sa Pobla in the Balearic Islands, Paterna (Valencia province), Fuengirola, Marbella and Málaga (Málaga province), Bormujos (Sevilla province), Calafell (Tarragona province), Tarazona (Zaragoza province), and in the Greater Madrid region, in Las Rozas, Majadahonda, Pozuelo de Alarcón, Valdemorillo, Villanueva del Pardillo, Mejorada del Campo, Rivas-Vaciamadrid, San Martín de Valdeiglesias and El Álamo.

Other provinces with jobs up for grabs are A Coruña and Ourense, in Galicia; Zamora, Valladolid and León (Castilla y León); Álava and Guipúzcoa (Basque Country); Cuenca, Toledo and Ciudad Real (Castilla-La Mancha); and the regions of Navarra, Asturias and La Rioja.

Part-time jobs cover Friday, Saturday and Monday – Mercadona's policy is never to open on a Sunday – a total of 20 hours for a gross monthly salary of €663, or for 15 hours with a gross monthly salary of €497.

The Paterna (Valencia) jobs are in the co-innovation centre for packaging technicians, implantation technicians, online communication and online marketing or sales, with a starting full-time salary of €22,722 gross per year rising to €34,494 within three years.

As at the end of 2018, chairman and founder Juan Roig reported that he had 85,000 employees in the group, having created 1,800 new permanent jobs after sales rose by 6%.

Most stores offer online sales with a delivery option, or delivery can be arranged at the check-out counter.

Next month, a logistics-cum-delivery centre will open in Barcelona, in the Zona Franca, which will employ 300 people.

For 2019, Roig predicts sales increases of 3.7%, reaching an annual turnover of €25.2 billion, and to be able to take on a further 1,000 extra permanent staff.