Alex James

Marketing Manager and Web Copy-writer

Being blind from birth has meant Alex has had to face a lot more challenges than most. After graduating in French and Asia-Pacific studies from the University of Leeds, he trained to become a journalist, but found it impossible to get a job on a newspaper due to his disability. After 18 months out of work, he made contact with a charity called Blind in Business, who suggested he apply to graduate programmes. Tesco.com was the first one he chose and he was astonished when they offered him a position.

Alex was really impressed by the level of support provided by Tesco.com. This allowed him to complete, with the help of a support worker, a placement in a store, which he had thought would have been impossible due to his visual impairment. He then completed placements in supply chain, marketing and IT, where he produced a report on how the web site could be made more accessible to visually impaired customers.

Alex is now putting his journalistic skills to good use, working as a web copy-writer.  This involves producing text to go on the web site, writing buying guides to products and occasionally creating profiles of Tesco.com employees! Special technology allows him to deal with the same workload, and work at the same speed, as sighted people in the office.

Alex says: "The great thing about Tesco is that they see me for who I am rather than someone with a disability. I feel like I’m part of the team here, and I have had a really high level of support. I am very lucky to work for Tesco.com; this is a really good place to work, whether you have a disability or not."