M&S is searching for 67 Norwich 'moment makers' to help sprinkle the magic on customers' Christmas shopping trips.

The supermarket has begun its seasonal recruitment drive ahead of the festive season and is looking for workers in a variety of roles across its clothing, home and food departments.

M&S said the increase in staff would help it to make every moment special for customers – from purchasing presents to picking up the turkey.

The supermarket is one of several big names recruiting for the Christmas season with 1,400 seasonal roles on offer at a Jobcentre job fair in Norwich last month as businesses get ready for the festive rush.

To be a moment maker someone will need to be able to bring a smiles to customers' faces during the busy festive shopping rush.

Kerry Panter, M&S head of region for East Anglia, said: 'Making every moment special for our customers in Norwich is our mission and it's never more important than at Christmas time.

'Every year we value additional colleagues who help us deliver even better service for the local community.

'While retail experience is helpful, what we're really after are colleagues who are ready to roll their sleeves up and be part of a hard-working team – moment makers for our customers.'

The business is hiring 19,000 temporary staff across the UK and last year nearly 1,000 seasonal workers were offered permanent contracts after the festive period ended.

Other companies bolstering their festive teams in the county include turkey producer Bernard Matthews, confectioner Kinnerton and postal service Royal Mail.

Stephen Lankester, Jobcentre district operations leader for Norfolk, said there had been an increase in seasonal recruitment this year.

He said: 'The labour market has been very buoyant. There are some local companies and a lot of the more recognisable names as well which is good.

'We have been very successful in filling lots of the vacancies and some companies have been hiring for Christmas for the last two months.

'Our Norwich job fair in September had 1,400 seasonal jobs available and there were around 1,500 for the whole of Norfolk which feels higher than last year.

'It is good to have that positivity.'