Placement scheme Review

I really enjoyed my year with Aldi, there was a clear plan put in place so i knew exactly what i was doing each week, which i found really helpful. It is a challenging year, you are given a lot of responsibility across the whole business and required to produce work at a high level.

I always felt as if i was valued by everyone at Aldi, there is a great atmosphere both in store and at head office.

I was given a mentor who was an area manager in my region, i would regularly have catch ups with them and I shadowed them for a few weeks on my placement year. I also had quarterly reviews with my director where we spoke about how everything was going and whether i was unto date with my training plan.

When i was in store i was always very busy, there was never i quiet moment and you could end up working longer hours because there was so much to do. I found that when i was shadowing people, then there were some quieter moments.

You are thrown in at the deep end! From the start you are given management responsibility in store and there are targets that need to be hit and it is your responsibility to make that happen. It was great to be given the responsibility as when you do perform well there is a great deal of satisfaction and there's no time to look at the clock!!

I think dealing with people is the most important skill i learnt, from employees to customers there are so many different characters that you have to be able to speak to and manage. The skills i picked up working with others (e.g. excel) will help me a lot as i go back to university and for the future.

During the placement you get to spend time with each department and that is where you get to know people a lot better and everyone is very friendly and easy to get on with.

Before i started my placement i had my 12 month plan sorted, there were a few minor changes to this, but it generally remained the same.

There is a training plan, although some of the time this isn't stuck to and it can often be up to the store manager as to how they like to train you. I did spend time with managers going over aspects of the store, but it is important to make sure you cover all areas.

Very good! I was offered the graduate job after finishing my placement year

I got on very well with the other placement students but we didn't socialise outside of work.

I lived at home during my year so that helped me out a great deal financially. Living in the Midlands is fairly cheap anyway, so I was financially stable.

I was living at home, so i'd go out with friends to local pubs and bars, but it's a bit different to being at uni

Due to working in retail, you do have to work on the weekends, so i could only play sport every so often as the matches were on Saturdays, but when i was in head office this wasn't a problem.