Industrial Placement Student Review

I have thoroughly enjoyed my placement with Aldi, the fast paced and ever changing environment ensures the job is never dull and no two days are the same. At times the placement was rather challenging in trying to obtain the work life balance however through perseverance and dedication I was able to overcome many of the obstacles and truly enjoy my experience with the company.

During my time working both in store and head office all of the employees were extremely welcoming. You spend time with a wide variety of people this requires both personable skills and the ability to communicate well. The nature of the placement of scheme means that you are younger in comparison to other colleagues and therefore this can be challenging.

From the first day each placement student is provided with an Area Manager as a mentor, this person is there to help you with any quieires or issues you may have throughout the year, provide you with regular feedback and discuss your performance. This is in addition to the help and support offered by my colleagues in store.

I was extremely busy throughout my year with Aldi each day a vast majority of tasks were required for completion with goals set by higher management in relation to accurate completion of these goals. With this in mind often time went very fast in store as you would become fully engaged with the task at hand and very rarely ran out of things to do.

During my time in store I played a vital leadership role and was given huge responsibility. This involved making orders worth thousands of pounds, opening and closing the store and being in charge of the safe, this can be quite daunting at first but extremely rewarding. During my time in head office responsibility was also a key factor, carrying out projects such as recalling large amounts of high value items in order to redistribute to other stores.

The skills I have learnt and developed in the past year will not only assist me with my future studies but in day to day life both inside and out of work.I have learnt key management skills, how to present myself in a professional manner and now hold a new level of self confidence.

The atmosphere in Aldi in general is extremely positive throughout, and unlike no other I've experienced in any work place before. The upbeat attitude of all the employees creates a fantastic working environment and makes coming to work more enjoyable.

Although the placement was very well structured, from when we received our plan it was apparent that this was subject to change. Often tasks weren't included in the plan but had to be completed. However this actually was an interesting part of the placement as every day was different.

Throughout both my head office and store time, Aldi invested a large amount of time into my training. The updates with my Store Manger, Area Manager and Store Operations Director throughout the year to discuss my process and performance helped massively with my training and development.

From the first day it is made clear that the natural progression for a placement student would be to graduate and return as an area manager, throughout my year I met many area managers that had in fact followed this route, this shows that the goal is in fact obtainable and gives each placement student something to work towards. After my placement year with Aldi and my time spent with my area manager, I would love to return to Aldi as a Trainee Area Manager. I thoroughly enjoyed my year in every part of the business especially with my mentor and can see myself in this job role in the future.

For the first 7 months in store, I rarely saw the other IP's, the shift patterns made it difficult to socialise as a group. However for the past four months all 11 of us have been based at head office which has made the experience more socially enjoyable in comparison to store time.

I lived at home during my store time so the cost of living was low.

Liverpool is the closest large city to head office which offers a fantastic night and social life.

There was an event at the start and end of the year in which all of the IP's throughout the country were invited to, to talk about their experiences they've had. This was thoroughly enjoyable.