A fundamental part of Specsavers
A career as a contact lens optician
Working with the UK & Ireland’s largest high street supplier of contact lenses has its advantages. For a start you can fit your patients with great products at the best possible prices and provide exceptional aftercare. Making a positive difference to people’s lives every day. The reason you became a contact lens optician. And then there are all the opportunities for professional development and career progression. No doubt that matters to you too.
We take contact lenses seriously at Specsavers and we are making them an integral part of every interaction with patients in our stores.
The great thing about contact lenses is that the effect is instant: you put a contact lens in the customer’s eye and instantly they can see and understand how it will improve their life. That’s very satisfying. I’ve had people hug me before!
Maddy McDonald
Contact lens optician
The contact lenses we are fitting now are much more advanced. There has been some real innovation over the past few years that mean that they are more comfortable and healthier than they have ever been.
Shane Bhimani
Clinical Optometrist Director
Outstanding training and development
As a contact lens optician at Specsavers, you can make the most of our world-class training and development programmes.
Take part in lectures, peer discussions and workshops at the professional advancement conference (PAC), the largest one-day optical conference in Europe, or join one of our regional conferences, the MiniPACs. Engage with the features, case studies and CPD modules in our online professional journal, Profile. Contribute to regular in-store peer discussions. Use all these resources as stepping stones to higher qualifications, postgraduate study and professional leadership roles.
And more - advanced contact lens practice
Beyond the first year of practice we produce a bundle of CET-accredited training which develops your expertise to deal with more challenging cases – custom-made lenses, fitting and managing very young or post-60 patients, dry eye management, caring for people with ongoing health issues such as allergies or diabetes, keratoconics, RGP fitting and aftercare, fitting for leisure, sports or occupational needs. Online CET is supplemented by discussion workshops on advanced CL topics at the miniPACs.
And you can work towards the BCLA Certificate in Dry Eye as part of a new education programme launched by the British Contact Lens Association.
Go above and beyond
So many career options are open to you as a contact lens optician at Specsavers.
Become an advanced contact lens practitioner. Nurture the next generation as a supervisor of trainee contact lens opticians. Facilitate learning and development in store as a lead professional. Move into a support office role as a professional training consultant. Volunteer for a charity. Develop your management skills with ILM certificates in leadership. Begin the pathway to owning your store as a joint venture partner – an opportunity unique to Specsavers. Do any or all of the above. The choice is yours.