According to reports, the retailer will open eight “full-line” stores – those that stock clothes, food and homeware – in cities such as Liverpool, Birmingham and Leeds in the next year. 

In addition, 12 food halls will also be opened as part of an overhaul of the company’s stores. Once completed, the changes will see a reduction overall in the number of M&S’s traditional shops as the firm looks to expand its grocery trade.

New Simply Food outlets will be opened in towns including Stockport, Barnsley and Largs in North Ayrshire, Scotland.

Elsewhere, Birmingham-based business outsourcing specialist Sigma Connected, which offers customer contact centre services across the energy, water, insurance and financial services sectors, is to create 500 new vacancies in the first quarter of this year.

The roles, which will cover contact centre agent, supervisor and management roles, will be based at home as part of the company’s remote-working approach. They will add to Sigma’s 4,000-strong workforce, which has already seen 600 additional people employed this year.

In the transport sector, train operator Northern is looking to recruit as many as 280 drivers and conductors across the North of England this year.

The new team members are being recruited as part of a natural replenishment of the workforce as other team members retire, earn promotion or move on to the next stage of their career outside Northern.

The driver roles, which are based in Carlisle, Darlington, Hull, Leeds, Newcastle, Sheffield, Skipton and York, come with a starting salary of £23k a year, rising to £54.5k once fully qualified.

The conductor roles are based in Carlisle, Doncaster, Harrogate, Huddersfield, Hull, Leeds, Middlesbrough, Newcastle, Sheffield, Skipton and York, with salaries starting at £22k, rising to £29k once fully qualified.

Staying with transport, the country’s biggest bus and coach operator, Stagecoach, has launched the search for a new cohort of graduates to join its UK-wide business from September.

Applications have opened for 10 people to join its two-year extensive graduate training programme. Successful applicants will have a valuable opportunity to learn the bus and coach business inside-out, with time spent in operations, engineering, financial, marketing and commercial departments at a range of locations up and down the country from Inverness to Exeter.

As part of its sustainability strategy, Stagecoach has committed to fostering a diverse and inclusive workforce that targets 40% of females in leadership roles with 25% of the workforce identifying as being from ethnic minorities by 2026.

A number of Stagecoach’s senior team started life on its graduate scheme, with a regional director, five managing directors and 10 other directors successfully completing the scheme before progressing their career through the business.

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