Industrial Placement Student Review

Overall, I have thoroughly enjoyed my placement year with Aldi. It has allowed me to develop as an individual and as a young professional within work. This has stemmed from the scope of opportunities presented to me throughout my time with the company. Although some of these tasks initially took me out of my comfort zone due to the enormous responsibility that comes with everything you do, they have certainly been rewarding and beneficial. Upon reflection, making the most of all opportunities that were granted to me has resulted in my experience being so influential and the reason why I wanted to complete my placement year with Aldi. I enjoyed the scope of learning that was also presented to me by being able to move around the business, starting in Store and ending the year in Head Office, working amongst all the different departments. This allows you to get a rounded understanding of the Company which not many people can say they have gained from their Placement Year.

Throughout my time with Aldi I have felt considerably valued by all employees that I have worked alongside. After being in Store for only a handful of weeks, I was expected to be trained as a fully competent ASM, in charge of running the store and responsible for all tasks and decisions made. This made me feel extremely valued as I was trusted with this after such a short space of time and also trusted to complete these tasks successfully. At the beginning, I lacked the confidence and didn’t believe I could perform to a high enough standard that was required, however my confidence was soon lifted as I began my training in a store with great and friendly staff members that believed in me. It was difficult as I was the youngest individual in my store and I was essentially managing people three times older than me. Although this was quite a daunting prospect initially, I soon realized this would not be an issue in my store as I was greeted with a warm welcome by the entire team and treated the same as any other manager in the store. Similarly, when spending time with my Area Manager, I was asked to complete highly important tasks quite frequently rather than just spending my time observing the role. This made me feel valued as it showed I was competent at the role. I even had the opportunity to complete tasks without my Area Managers presence for the day, essentially covering the role whilst he was off. This was a great opportunity and I felt extremely privileged for this level of responsibility to have been trusted with me.

The amount of support I received could have been better from within the Company. Throughout my time I only had a handful of performance discussions with my mentor prior to my quarterly updates with my Store Operations Director. The updates with my personnel leader were extremely beneficial as it allowed me to understand my current performance from a Directors perspective and be provided with plenty of feedback that I was able to take on board and learn from. In order for the support I received to have been better, I felt I would have benefitted greater by having regular feedback with my Store Manager after new managerial tasks that I covered within store to let me know of my progress and how each task went. I only received this once throughout my whole time in store and I felt by working so close with my Store Manager it would have been of greater influence to me to receive this on a regular basis. However I received great support from my University and was in regular contact with my Placement Supervisor during the year.

There wasn’t a day that went by during my placement where I was stuck for something to do. Each day was packed full of tasks to complete and this is what made my role so enjoyable. Store is a very fast paced environment and you are expected to complete tasks quickly and efficiently. More often than not I would stay longer than my scheduled shift time, however this was to ensure the store was in a comfortable position ready for the close in the evening. Similarly when I moved to Head Office, I was presented with deadlines for each task I was asked to complete and these were of a good time frame which ensured I was busy each day.

I was provided with huge amounts of responsibility from the first day I started my Placement. In store this consisted of; running shifts, being the safe key holder, opening and closing the store and completing orders. Additionally, I was also given big projects at Head Office that influenced the Business and some of these projects were of high importance, e.g. Auditing stores. Therefore it was important that these were accurate. From this, I was also expected to provide feedback to Store Managers which was really enjoyable and it allowed me to learn so much by doing this.

The training I received definitely made me much more strict when completing my University work throughout my Placement. Initially it was difficult to plan the time to complete this, however in the time that I managed to set aside, I was much more productive. Additionally, due to being involved in a reflective piece of work as part of my degree, it allowed me to deeply look into my time at Aldi and how what I have learnt at University links in with the practice within Aldi.

The general atmosphere in Store and at Head Office has been really good. Everyone was extremely welcoming to myself and the other placement students and I instantly fitted in to both environments. I think it is really important to develop a good relationship with colleagues as you are working with them very closely on a day-day basis. Similarly, creating a good relationship with each department at Head Office is also important as all departments link, so when I required assistance from another department they were happy to help, which was extremely useful when travelling around the Office. During my time at Head Office, there were also a few team activities that I could get involved with for Charity events. E.g. Bake Off.

I think the Placement Scheme is set up and managed well overall. I predominantly stuck to my plan throughout my time with Aldi and I feel the time was evenly distributed between the different roles I took on. However I was provided with a few opportunities to go to new stores as a trained ASM rather than spending my entire time at the store that I trained in. However none of these opportunities followed through for various reasons which I was disappointed about.

A lot of training at Aldi is firmly pushed by the individual themselves and it is up to you to ensure you make the most of your time in the Company. This can be difficult at times, especially during my training as I was working alongside a trainee Area Manager. This was great as we were both completing the same training at the same stores so we were both able to lean on each other for support and guidance. However this did affect me slightly, as my training was pushed to one side for a prolonged period of time as the TAM’s training was pushed more by the Management Team. During this time I felt as though I was forgotten about for a while, however this only made me work harder to ensure I felt fully competent in the role before I left my Store time.

The future prospects at Aldi are great and if an individual does well during their Placement with Aldi, they could be offered the chance to come back as an Area Manager and complete the graduate scheme.

It was difficult to organise social outings with the other Placement students due to us being so spread out amongst the region. However, we have managed to meet outside of work a couple of times since being at Head Office where we are all together. Additionally, I was able to attend my second stores Christmas Night Out which was really enjoyable. However, other than this, there isn't many opportunities to socialise with fellow colleagues outside of work.

I go to University in Liverpool, however I am originally from Preston. But due to the Placement being based in the Neston Region I decided to stay in Liverpool and live with friends going into their final year, because of this i was paying rent. However this was more affordable due to being given a small student loan to help with this. But as a whole, living in Liverpool is very affordable and it was nice to still have the Student experience whilst working.

I was living in Liverpool so the nightlife was great and I was spoilt for choice due to living close to the city centre.

There were no events or activities organised by Aldi that myself and the other placement students could get involved with. However we did arrange a few outings amongst ourselves a few times whilst at Head Office so it was convenient for everyone.