Retail Placement Student Review

I enjoyed my placement a lot due to the varied work and opportunities I was given. Throughout the year there were various events and projects that kept the job interesting including time at their Head Office working in the Advertising department and an end-of-year event in Windsor. Although it was mainly positive, Lidl is tough. When in store, I sometimes had to be in for a 5am shift where I would be putting stock out or baking for three hours. It was important to push my own training in order to move on once I had learnt a job! Sometimes the job could be quite boring whilst in Logistics and I found myself twiddling my thumbs. At this point I found myself looking to spend time in other departments, where it became very useful to meet other people that I would in future be able to come back to and ask for help when doing projects. Overall I feel the year helped to develop me as a person, as Lidl threw me into a number of departments working with lots of different people.

Everyone is very welcoming in each department. This is due to the fact your work can make a real difference and staff value your help. As an example, I worked in Logistics, and was able to run a shift in the Shippings and Recievings department if other staff were off sick or the warehouse was struggling and needed extra help. When working in store, Lidl use as little staff as possible so it was very useful for them to have me to working there, and even running shifts when needed.

My Regional Training Consultants (RTC) were extremely supportive of me and if I had any queries/issues they would be there to help me solve the problem. I had monthly check ups with my supervisors while in Sales and Logistics. Whilst in the Training department, I was working side by side with my RTC so they always knew how I was getting on. When I was working in store, the support could have been a bit better from my store manager but this only encouraged me to be more proactive with my training.

My placement year was split into 3 parts. Sales i.e. working in store - 4 months. Logistics - 3 months. Training - 4 months. Therefore the workload varied in each department. Whilst working in a store, my workload was constantly busy. There is always something to do in store, from putting out stock to ordering products for the whole store. Nearer to the end of my time in store I was also able to run shifts. This resulted in my being very busy as I was organising other people as well as myself. Whilst in Logistics, I worked in the warehouse in a section called Selection. This involved using computer systems to ensure store orders were monitored and accurately picked. Sitting on the desk in a warehouse can get very busy as you are answering calls from stores, ensuring orders are correct, answering queries from 'pickers' (staff in the warehouse) and doing daily line checks. Other times it can be very quiet, and I found myself having time to work on my university placement project. It is important to be proactive as the job can get quite boring so I spent time in Transport and Goods In as well. I would say my least busy periods were whilst I was working in Logistics. Whilst working in Training, I had the opportunity to organise training sessions, view and add to reports showing levels of training, organise a charity event and go into stores to help from a training perspective (which I was given a company car to do).

Whilst in store there is a lot of pressure to pick all jobs up quite quickly, this is normal for all staff due to the fast paced environment of Lidl but on Placement, you are also learning the Assistant Manager jobs at the same time so there is lots of responsibility on your head. If you are proactive and push for the opportunity, it is possible to be running shifts by the end of the 4 months which is a good development tool and something I was able to do. Whilst working in Logistics, once I had picked up the role I found it quite straightforward and felt I didn't have much responsibility. I spent a lot of my time spending time in other departments which was not on my training plan so it was more about learning than having any responsibility. When I was in the Training department I was able to fully organise Training sessions and present to new starters in Welcome Events. I also organised and ran a charity fundraiser, which involved managing other placements and graduates to raise over £3000. I had a project week doing audits in stores, with the information being fed back to Head of Sales. During my time in head office I worked with another placement student to put slides together which were then presented to the Board of Directors. I enjoyed the responsibility I was given.

The Lidl placement scheme has allowed me to develop many skills. The following will definitely help me in my final year of university as well as when I apply for graduate schemes. I am now confident in working strongly in a team (throughout my year I did this with plenty of different teams) in a workplace environment, knowing that I can contribute beneficially. I was given the opportunity to manage people, something I had never experienced in a workplace before but will now give me an advantage in future jobs. I presented in welcome events to 30+ people, something that made me incredibly nervous but I can now say I have improved on. Most of all, although I was supported by my line manager and people I worked alongside, I learnt when to know to push my own training and be proactive which will certainly assist in my degree and beyond.

Store - friendly, fast-paced Warehouse - laid back, good laugh Training office - friendly, foodies General atmosphere was always good. In store if a HoS or Area manager was visiting then the atmosphere would change as there would be pressure on staff to get all jobs done correctly and thoroughly.

I would say it is well organised for the most part because your year is divided into 3 parts which give clear direction of what you will do. However when in store I think there was a lack of planning of my training until I pushed for it myself. In Logistics I was told to follow a basic training plan for a desk clerk which involved 12 days of picking (which I did not do as it would have been a waste of my time). Whilst in Training I did not have a training plan as such however I didn't mind this as the work load changes and is reactive to what is going on and this keeps it interesting. All placement students were originally planned to go for a meeting in Leatherhead in January which was cancelled last minute (a shame because we were all looking forward to it). Overall I think the year was generally well organised.

I am happy with the time invested in my personal training and development. Lidl are very used to having graduates and placement students so whichever department I was in they would be willing to help me. I had an end of term review with each department where I was given feedback. I had meetings with my line manager where we discussed what skills I wanted to develop and what I could do to develop these skills.

I would like to return to Lidl if there is a head office role available that I think would suit me. I would not want to go on the current graduate scheme as it only offers store manager level and I do not think that job is for me after working in store.

Yes, in the region there are other graduates and placement students. I went out with them for food and drinks on a number of occasions. Nationally, all placement students got together three times during the year which was lots of fun. I spent two weeks in head office with half of the placement students which was very sociable. There was also a company party for someone who was leaving, with some of the cost paid for by Lidl.

I worked at Newton Aycliffe. The area is fairly cheap but not a sociable place for a younger crowd as it is a village. I travelled 40 mins to work every day so I did not live in the area.

Non-existent.

Yes there were fund-raising activities but apart from that not much.