General Managment Industrial Placement Student Review

Store time was horrendous you get worked extremely hard and people expect too much from you too early on in your training. It is fair to say I felt like dropping out on numerous days due to not being treated fairly and people being horrible to me. Head Office time was very interesting, I was alongside other interns and I learnt a lot but it was very pressurising and involved a lot of presenting.

I feel valued by the other interns and enjoyed spending time with them in Head Office. However, from the company as a whole, not valued at all. The support within Aldi is not there. You can also work extremely hard on a piece of work and not even get a thank you for it.

My initial manager did not give me the support I needed. You often feel alone within Aldi and that you have no one to speak to about your problems. If your manager does not give you the support you need the only other people to contact are the directors and it does not feel comfortable to do this.

Very busy which is good because even though the days are long they go very quick!

We were given a lot of responsibility on our placement. We were given the keys to a store within 6 weeks and did a lot of projects where we were given lots of responsibility in head office, for example, phasing double deckers into the delivery schedule and choosing locations for new stores.

I think it will help me bring practical examples in the work place into my university essays as examples. I have already completed an essay for university this year which I included examples from Aldi in. I got a very high first showing that having real life examples is beneficial for your degree.

In store the atmosphere is very negative because people feel demotivated due to their work not being appreciated and feedback always focussing on negatives. In head office there are some very friendly staff that are willing to help you so the atmosphere is much nicer.

The placement year is very well structured and you get given a detailed training plan saying where you will be and when throughout the year. However, the training is very inconsistent. Some managers are willing to invest time in you and want you to do well, however, others do not.

As mentioned previously this is very dependent on the store you are in. Some managers invest time in you and others do not. Throughout my placement I have felt very unsupported and do not believe the firm have invested in me how they should have.

There is the opportunity to come back as an Area Manager which is store based. However, there is not opportunity to come back and work in Head Office which would be more appealing to me.

Aldi do not like you to socialise. You are only allowed to socialise with people on the same level as you, in my case just the interns. When you are in store you are the only intern in the store so it can feel very lonely as you are not allowed to socialise with anyone else. In, Head Office we work in twos and threes with other interns on projects. This is much better and I enjoyed working with the other interns. However, there is no social scene involved; only meals with no alcohol. I have made good friends with the other interns and will remain friends with them after the placement has finished.

When I signed my contract I was told I would be based half an hour or less from where I chose to live. However, I got placed in a store an hour from where I lived. This meant that I was driving two hours a day on top of working 10/ 11 hour shifts which could start at 5/6am and end at 10/11pm meaning that I was constantly tired and therefore did not socialise in my area. I was also driving back from work in states where I did not feel fit to drive on a regular basis and my manager just told me to get on with it. In addition, I got no petrol money for this meaning it took a big chunk out of my wage. If I had worked in the area I was living in the cost of living would have been fine.

Due to the reasons above I did not get much chance to enjoy the nightlife in my area. However, when I did it was good.

No, the only option was a netball team that some of the girls had organised themselves.