Placement Student Review

The placement year at Lidl is something that I would recommend to anyone! I have thoroughly enjoyed working in all the different departments (Sales, Warehouse and Admin) throughout the year and consequently gained a great overview of not just Lidl, but the retail market as a whole.

The respect and recognition that I received from my colleagues in all the departments was something that I was extremely grateful for. They treated me like a valued member of the team and would be open to questions and ideas, and appreciated my input on day-to-day decisions. After building relationships with my colleagues, they soon become close friends and I will remain in contact with many of them during my final year.

All my managers were extremely supportive, as they would do everything in their power to ensure that I developed and gained a great understanding of their department and Lidl as a whole. They would invite me to many key meetings and also delegated projects to me, so that it would benefit my development.

This varied depending on the department. When I was in store, I was extremely busy on a daily basis, however in other departments there was a bigger variance due to the nature of the work that I was doing.

The responsibility that I was given was something that I had never anticipated! The team trusted in my ability and appreciated that I may make a few mistakes along the way, but that is ok. The responsibility was extremely rewarding as the more I developed and the more I progressed, the more responsibility I obtained.

The training that I received throughout the placement year was exceptional. Lidl really invest in their people and this can be seen through the copious amount of time and resources that they dedicate to train their employees. My confidence and presentation skills are the main skills that have developed considerably over the duration of the year. This is as a result of presenting to over 30 people at welcome events and also leading the team briefs in the warehouse. This will help me significantly in final year- I will relish any opportunity to present to my peers and lecturers so that I can develop this skill even further.

The atmosphere in the office was always very lively with something going on all the time. The office space is open plan which helped to build a positive fun atmosphere.

The placement was very well structured and organised as I had a specific training plan that was developed for each department that I was in. I did however need to push the training at some points due to the busy fast paced nature of the business training sometimes had to take a back seat.

Whist I was conducting my placement year, there were four graduates in my region. We would often meet for lunch whilst we were in the same department and sometimes go for drinks after work.

The cost of living and socialising was absolutely ideal - Up north has its advantages!

There are many charitable activities to get involved in outside of work. E.g The Tough Mudder, Banana Man Triathlon.