Industrial Placement Student Review

The placement was incredibly challenging and I received a huge amount of work satisfaction whilst working in store. I had the opportunity to take ownership of my work and make implementable changes. Although at times the workload was far too much and this took a toll of my social life.

Whilst in store I felt as if I had formed a family. Whilst in the Head office I felt as if I was an inconvenience. Throughout the year I had great support off my Area Manager mentor, who really valued me, and allowed myself to become integrated into the store team. By the end of the time in store, I really felt I had contributed and my work was valued.

I received support on an ongoing basis from my Area Manager, I was able to ask for this as and when required. We underwent performance reviews and planned targets for me to achieve.

I was incredibly busy and often stayed longer than my hours, as I was contracted to 48 hours a week, this is a huge amount of work. And can be very overwhelming. I felt there was a great amount of pressure to stay, and if I didn't do so, this was reflected poorly upon myself.

I was given a huge amount of responsibility, from running 2 stores to managing my own project without supervision. I managed the operations of store which turned over £1 million a month, including doing orders for the entire store. Whilst in head office I was rarely supervised and allocated specific projects.

The skills I developed are generally interpersonal skills: Management, communication, drive, hard-work, tenacity are just a few. These will benefit me in my future career hugely and are life skills. In terms of my degree, I learnt a lot based around the retail industry, but this does not correlate too well with my degree.

The office had a strict culture and was a warm environment. This did not give a great atmosphere. We did not always have desks to work at, and the teams where very segregated.

The placement year was very well organised, we had a 52 week plan on arrival, which was followed exactly. We were able to request any relevant changes. It was not often that we did no have work to do. All the resources were provided upon arrival. As where the relevant managers and directors.

Little personal training in terms of courses and academic training. But we had a structure Aldi training guide, which was very extensive and had computer examinations.

The prospects are appealing as you are not required to apply through the process again and are offered a place directly onto the Area Manager team.

We were not encouraged to socialise with other placement students, which was incredibly isolating at times.

Living and socialising costs in the north west area are relatively cheap, but this varies as your location is not certain. There was no emphasis on socialising therefore this does not hugely apply.

N/A

No opportunities where encouraged.