The Partner in Development program
Your gateway to Specsavers partnership
Program overview
About the PID program
Partner in Development is a 9 to 12 month development program through which talented and highly experienced retail professionals from top tier businesses prepare for practice ownership and qualify to become Specsavers joint venture partners (JVP). PID candidates earn a full salary whilst on the program and learn the important optical and operational knowledge required for a potential JVP opportunity.
Benefits
PID is an integrated development program that sees candidates placed in Specsavers store for approximately 9 to 12 months to acquire a solid and detailed understanding of how optics and retail come together within the Specsavers environment. Benefits of completing the program include:
Skills
Complete our comprehensive Optical Learning Journey training program, increasing your understanding of our industry and ensuring you can create a culture of great customer service.
In-store learning
Perform as a contributing team member in the stores you are hosted in and add value, learn and embed necessary optical knowledge and be introduced to Specsavers’ culture, brand, operations and systems.
Mentoring
Be mentored in Specsavers host stores by experienced Specsavers retail / dispensing partners for 9 to 12 months to acquire a solid and detailed understanding of how optics and retail come together.
Support
Access assistance from the dedicated PID support team who will help you realise your partnership goals.
Financially viable
While you are in training you will be paid a competitive market salary, all we ask in return is your continued commitment and enthusiasm for learning.
Networking
Build relationships with like-minded colleagues through workshops, online forums and our buddy system.
Partnership opportunities
When you have successfully been signed off from the PID Program, you will be considered for a joint venture partnership together with an optometrist partner in one of our stores.
Your profile
PID candidates are inspired, ambitious and committed retail professionals who have decided that running their own business and being responsible for their own success is the next move in their lives and careers.
A typical PID candidate will:
- Have extensive retail management experience from within a high volume, customer facing retail environment.
- Be confident in their management and leadership style.
- Be a motivational leader who ensures that their teams always feel valued, trained and can therefore deliver world-class customer service.
- Have achieved outstanding financial results in previous top tier retail businesses.
- Be geographically flexible and open to considering an array of partnership opportunities once signed off from the PID program
Learning journey
Through a phased learning journey over 9 to 12 months, the PID program will provide you with the critical business management, optical knowledge and leadership skills required to successfully lead your own Specsavers business.
Phase 1
Optical focus – Learning journey
Duration: 1-4 months
- Begin dispensing training.
- Sign-off on dispensing by the four-month mark, including a training needs analysis.
- Check-ins with PID support team.
- Ongoing development under supervision of host store partners.
- Regular review of the in-store learning checklist, signed off by host store partners.
- Three-month performance review conducted by various members of the PID support team.
- Next store placement (location reflective of the geo-flexible nature of the program).
Phase 2
Store
operations
Months 5 and 6
- Six-month performance review conducted by various members of the PID support team
- Monthly check-ins with PID support team.
- Regular review of the in-store learning checklist, signed off by host store partners.
- Development, working on operational opportunities in store under partner supervision.
- Next store placement.
Phase 3
Final store placement / completion of PID Program
Months 6 +
Once you have successfully completed your Phase 2 review and passed your probationary period, you will be invited to discuss your final store placement and potential project. This placement will give you the opportunity to demonstrate the skills you have learned during the PID Program in a leadership role.
Performance and review
As part of Specsavers’ commitment to ongoing team member development, three and six-month performance reviews will be held to give and receive feedback and review your progress to identify objectives and development for your next opportunities.
At the completion of phase 3 of your journey, you will present to a panel and share an overview of your PID journey, detailing the initiatives you implemented to improve the store’s performance.
Outcomes
Upon sign off from the PID program, you will:
- Have a comprehensive understanding of the optical landscape and how to lead your team in the delivery of world-class customer service.
- Have an in-depth understanding of the Specsavers business, our values and culture.
- Identify your personal leadership style preferences.
- Have the skills and knowledge to effectively plan and implement change.
- Understand profit and loss accounts and how to analyse a store’s financial performance.
- Have the knowledge to successfully run a Specsavers business to commercial success.
- Be considered for upcoming Specsavers joint venture partnership opportunities.
Journey to partnership
1
Expression of interest
Complete our quick enquiry form here and let us know why you’d like to become a Specsavers PID.
2
Meet the recruitment and retail support team
As part of the PID program recruitment, you will initially meet and be interviewed by a member of the partner recruitment team. If the interview is successful, you will meet and be interviewed by members of our retail support team.
3
Stage One assessment
Our Stage One assessment is a three-hour assessment typically held at the Specsavers Support Office (otherwise known as the G). This assessment allows us to determine your suitability for the PID Program and future partner opportunities.
4
Offer
If successful in passing the Stage 1 Assessment, you will be issued with a Letter of Offer and Employment Contract and the first host store for your PID journey will be confirmed.
5
Onboarding
All PIDs will receive the Specsavers comprehensive PID training manual and a meet and great with the initial host store partners will be arranged.
6
Commence PID Program – 9 to 12-month period
Commence PID Program and spend the next year of your life preparing yourself for business partnership with Specsavers.
7
Performance check ins / Capability gap analysis
A partner recruitment representative will coordinate performance reviews involving host store partners and the retail advancement team at the three and six-month mark. At each performance review, development opportunities will be identified and a plan will be drawn to ensure the PID is reaching their full potential.
8
PID final presentation
At the end of the PID program, you’ll be asked to deliver a presentation to members of the Professional Recruitment and Retail Advancement teams. This is your opportunity to show us everything you’ve learned and that you’re ready to become a Specsavers partner.
9
Partner approved
Once you’re approved to become a partner, the recruitment and retail advancement teams will identify an opportunity for you to partner with an optometrist in your own business.
10
BTS Process
The business transfer team will guide you on how to buy into a Specsavers business, including the differences between purchasing into a new store vs existing store.
11
Congratulations on becoming a Specsavers Joint Venture Partner (JVP)
By this stage you have partnered with and optometrist JVP and are well on the way to leading your store and team to success. As a Specsavers JVP you will earn a guaranteed partner salary as well as share in the profits generated by the business.
Our Joint Venture Partner model

If there is one word that sums up Specsavers, better than any other, it is ‘partnership’. Since 1984 when optometrists and co-founders Doug and Mary Perkins opened the first Specsavers stores, it has been the commitment to working in partnership that has delivered success to literally thousands of Specsavers partners across 10 countries.
Over 36 years on, the passion for partnership burns as brightly as ever. We believe at our very core that goals are best achieved, businesses built and run, targets set and reached by working together, that teamwork is the key – as partners in a joint venture.
The Specsavers Joint Venture Partnership, known to most simply as the Specsavers JVP model, is a support-laden franchise that currently operates in more than 400 Australian and New Zealand store locations. This short document offers a snackable insight into the Specsavers JVP around a number of key facts – so that optometrists, optical dispensers and optical retailers with ambition and a sense of adventure can start the conversation about their own pathway to partnership.
Testimonials
FAQs
Can anyone join the Partner in Development program?
The PID program is a leadership and development program for top retail talent. To be considered for the program, you must have extensive retail management experience from within a high volume, customer facing retail environment.
Is there any cost associated with the PID program?
The PID program is available at no cost for successful candidates. Any travel and accommodation costs and the cost of the program itself are covered by Specsavers. On top of this, we will pay you a market-rate salary throughout the duration of the program.
How much time will I have to commit to the PID program?
Typically, most of our candidates will complete PID journey over the course of 9 to 12 months.
Where does training take place?
PIDs will be provided with most of their learnings in store, alongside a retail / dispenser partner. There are also Optical Learning Journey courses that can be completed online and in a classroom forum.
When is the next PID intake?
PID intakes are determined by the need of the business. We encourage you to express your interest for our next intake.
What partnership opportunities are available?
You can find a list of all current Specsavers partnership opportunities, as well as our Partnership Prospectus on Spectrum. Over the course of your journey as a PID, you will have the opportunity to discuss your business preferences with the Specsavers Partner Recruitment team and the Retail Advancement team, who will advise on suitable opportunities once you have been successfully signed off from the PID program.
How do you successfully complete the PID program?
The success of a PID candidate is determined by their own drive, dedication and self-awareness throughout the program. Specsavers expects a high level of commitment to self-development and supporting the partnership.
Why is it important to be geo-flexible during the PID program and when considering JVP opportunities?
Geo-flexibility is important during your PID training as we aim to place you in host stores with retail/dispensing partners who have the experience and capability to support you during each phase of your development.
When you have successfully completed the PID program and we discuss partnership opportunities with you, the best opportunity for you may not always be local to where you live and therefore it is important that you are geo-flexible.
How much does it cost to buy into a Specsavers Joint Venture Partnership?
Unlike some other franchise models in which you are required to qualify for finance to take out a loan for the purchase of the business, Specsavers provides the support the incoming candidate to become a partner with the business. Why do we do this? It’s simple, in order to live and breathe our Vision and Values – we need passionate and driven partners who place customers and team members above all else. In other words, we place a higher value on securing the right partner regardless of their current financial status.
Does this sound like you? Enquire now.
Reach out to us
For all other general enquiries, please contact Sinéad Convery.
Sinéad Convery
Professional Recruitment Manager – Australia & New Zealand
Phone: +61 (0)409 325 075
Email: sinead.convery@specsavers.com