Industrial Placement Review

I thoroughly enjoyed the placement year; working in store and in each department in Head Office is very rewarding and means that the job is extremely varied. When in store, no day is the same and you are left running the store within about a month of joining.

My colleagues valued the work that I did both in store and head office. You are treated as part of the team from the start.

Management provided all the support I needed, the Store Manager would give regular feedback and provide support where it was needed. I also had regular updates with my Area Manager where we would discuss my progress and any issues that I had.

Every day is extremely busy at Aldi, you never have a moment where you are looking for something to do! This is the same for everyone throughout the company, meaning everyone has the same work ethic.

Aldi gives you a lot of responsibility from when you join, within about a month of starting we were left running shifts by yourself and left responsible for a store. In head office you complete project work, you are left to complete it and then present it to the directors at the end of the work.

I have learnt numerous skills on the placement which will be valuable for my final year of studies and in later life. Aldi's training is very thorough and I have learnt a lot about the company and the way it operates and other skills such as people skills and the ability to manage a team.

Working in store is extremely fast paced as there are always so many jobs that need to be done. This can be tiring as you are trying to do many jobs at once but this is rewarding as you are left managing a team and running your own shifts. The office is a very different environment to working in store, as you are desk based and rotate between the different departments. Everyone is extremely friendly in both store and the office and there is always someone to talk to if you need help.

The placement year was very well organised. Before my contract signing I met with my Area Manager to introduce myself and we were given a week by week training plan for the year. The training plan changed slightly during the year but on the whole it stayed the same and still left us equal amounts of time in each of the departments.

Aldi invested a vast amount of time into my training - the Store Manager completed the in store training and was allocated time to do so. In head office the staff of the relevant department completed our training, again a lot of time was spent going through the day to day running of the departments. I also had regular updates with my Store Operations Director where we would discuss my progress and I would receive feedback on my performance.

Following the placement year, I would like to return to Aldi as a Trainee Area Manager. I find the job enjoyable, highly rewarding and it is a job that I can see myself returning to.

When working in store there is no social scene between other placement students as you are all working in different stores across the region. However, when based in head office, you see the other IPs in the office on a daily basis and this provides opportunities to socialise with the other IPs.

I lived at home for the placement year so costs were minimal.

I lived at home so the nightlife didn't compare to university!

Working in store didn't provide opportunities to do activities outside of work due to all IPs being spread across the region and the unsocial shift times. However, there were opportunities to do activities outside of work during head office training.