Meet - Specsavers
Specsavers is a great British success story – a family-run retailer, familiar on almost every high street. Our legendary tagline, ‘should’ve gone to Specsavers’, is used by everyone, and its warm and witty marketing has won a place in people’s hearts. We’re proud of how far we’ve come as a business; we want to see you grow with us.
Specsavers began 40 years ago with the vision of two optometrists, Doug and Mary Perkins. Their passion for optometry has led Specsavers to become the largest privately-owned optical group in the world, delivering high-quality, affordable optical and hearing care in over 10 countries. And it continues to shape the lives and experience of around 37,000 colleagues.
Skills we look for
What makes us a great employer
Every store is individually owned
The joint venture partnership at Specsavers is our greatest strength, with every store locally owned and led by its directors – usually an optometrist and a dispensing optician or retailer. For you, this means the store director is free to agree with you the reward and benefits package that is right for you and right for their business.
To learn more about the rewards and benefits here.
Career Progression Opportunities
An apprenticeship with Specsavers is a stepping stone into a career in Optics or Hearcare. Over 90% of our apprentices stay with Specsavers on completion of the Apprenticeship.
Specsavers recently won the Green Initiative Award at the Retail Week Awards 2026.
This recognition reflects our commitment to making a positive difference and transforming the way we operate as we work towards becoming carbon net‑zero by 2050. We’ve already made fantastic progress, from reducing our environmental footprint to embedding sustainable thinking across our business and we’re excited to continue this journey. For future colleagues and apprentices, this means joining a business where sustainability isn’t a side project — it’s part of who we are and the decisions we make every day.
To learn more about our sustainability commitments, visit: Our Sustainability Commitments | Specsavers UK
Colleague Networks
We have a global commitment to create and provide an inclusive culture where everyone feels welcomed, valued and proud to belong. Diversity & Inclusion for us means working to understand and celebrate a variety of cultures, and having a workforce that accurately reflects the communities we serve. This helps us make sure our customers and colleagues feel included in everything we do. If our people feel like they belong, they are more likely to reach their potential, so it’s important to us to constantly explore new ways to be even more inclusive.
We’re proud to say we have a variety of Colleague Network Groups, run by colleagues for colleagues, available to everyone across the business. These groups listen to the needs of all colleagues and focus on championing inclusion for everyone.
Our networks include:
- Neurodiversity
- Diversity and Equality (Embrace)
- LGBTQ+ (Prism)
- Mental Health for men – MenKind
- Empowering women – Empowered Together
Award Winning
We’ve been shouting a little louder about how great Specsavers Apprenticeships are. We have achieved the Princess Royal Training Award, a prestigious award that recognises employers that have created outstanding training and skills development.
For the past four years, we have proudly been recognised as one of the Top 100 Apprenticeship Employers. In 2026, we ranked at #16, this achievement highlights our dedication to nurturing future talent and delivering exceptional training and development opportunities through our apprenticeship programmes.
In 2025 we won the Large Employer category at the National Apprenticeship and Skills Awards.
Apprenticeships Details
Apprenticeship Opportunities
There are 3 core Apprenticeships we offer for key roles in store:
- Optical Assistant – Level 3
- Spectacle Technician – Level 3
- Customer Service – Level 2
These are all crucial roles in our stores.
Ofsted graded us Outstanding
In July 2023, Ofsted spent the week with us, speaking to apprentices and our store colleagues, really understanding how we develop, support and stretch our apprentices to be the best they can be and to truly understand the impact apprenticeships has to young people.
High pass rates
So far on our Level 3 Optical Assistant, our apprentices have achieved 97% Distinction rate.
Locations
Specsavers are recruiting for apprentices all the time, we start new apprentices every week and vacancies are opened and filled on a daily basis.
Our vacancies cover the whole of England and the best way to find if we have a vacancy in your area is to search via our careers page.
To view a list of all store locations, please click here.
Work Experience opportunity
We have launched our interactive work experience programme, giving you a behind-the-scenes look at what really happens at Specsavers and the people who make it all work.
There are seven interactive modules covering:
- Apprenticeships at Specsavers
- Audiology
- Finance
- Marketing
- Optometry
- Retail Support and central operations
- Technology
Whether you’re curious about working in our practices or want to discover the teams driving our success behind the scenes, this programme offers real insight, expert guidance, and a clearer view of where your career could take you.
The closing date to complete our work experience programme is 30th November 2026. To find out more and to register, please visit: Specsavers Work experience programme.
Applying for our Apprenticeships
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Specsavers has its own recruitment team who are responsible for any applications that are submitted via the Apprenticeship service, our careers page or other job boards.
The recruitment teams work through the applications and shortlist based on the criteria for the role. It’s crucial you complete the application accurately so that we can ensure you are eligible for funding and that we can support your application.
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If shortlisted, the recruiter will walk you through the apprenticeship and what to expect before confirming next steps and whether you have been selected for interview by the hiring manager. The recruiter will help prepare you for the interview and answer any questions you may have.
The recruiter will finalise the interview date, if there is any change to your commitment to this, it’s important to let the recruiter know.
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The stores will adapt their questioning based on experience. If this is your first job, it would be a good idea to consider:
Why are you interested in an apprenticeship at Specsavers
Whether you’ve had an eye test at Specsavers, if yes what was it like?
If you haven’t been a Specsavers Customer, what was the last shop you went to, what was good about it and what was bad?
What did you think about the store while you were choosing your glasses?
You may be asked some scenario based questions, for example:
A customer gets angry and starts shouting, what would you do?
A customer looks confused, what would you do?
You were asked to do something by your Manager, but you haven’t been shown how, what would you do?
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Because all of our stores are individually owned, it does mean that hiring managers may recruit and interview in different ways.
In most cases, there will be a face-to-face interview followed by a few hours in store, for you to get to know the store and get closer to the role, as well as the store colleagues and managers getting to know you.
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Some stores carry out assessment days where they bring applicants together and plan activities individually and as a group.
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The recruitment team will receive feedback from the hiring manager. The recruitment team will reach out to the candidate to let them know if they have been successful or unsuccessful.
If successful a start date will be agreed and confirmed with the candidate.
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End
Need some extra support?
This is the Optometry Director at one of stores with some hints and tips for interview.
The stores will adapt their questioning based on experience. If this is your first job, it would be a good idea to consider:
- Why are you interested in an apprenticeship at Specsavers
- Whether you’ve had an eye test at Specsavers, if yes what was it like?
- If you haven’t been a Specsavers Customer, what was the last shop you went to, what was good about it and what was bad?
- What did you think about the store while you were choosing your glasses?
You may be asked some scenario based questions, for example:
- A customer gets angry and starts shouting, what would you do?
- A customer looks confused, what would you do?
- You were asked to do something by your Manager, but you haven’t been shown how, what would you do?
The future
It’s OK if you don’t have your future mapped out, but it is good to have an idea of ambitions, personal or professional and where you see yourself in the future.
What our apprentices do!
“Choosing an apprenticeship was one of the best decisions I’ve made. After my apprenticeship, I progressed into an Optical Assistant role, then spent time dispensing and pre-testing”
“The support I get is incredible. My colleagues always take time to explain things, and I feel comfortable asking questions. Apprenticeships open doors, and they give you the support you need to succeed.”
“I’d recommend the Specsavers apprenticeship to anyone. There are so many options to progress, and I’ve met incredible people along the way.”
Behind the Scenes
Will I be doing different things each day?
Why I chose an Apprenticeship
What support will I get as a Partner?
Apprenticeships at Specsavers
Information & Resources
