Management Trainee Review

Enjoyed working with so many different people in different teams.

Extremely. The work that we did was on current projects that during our time at Aldi have actually been implemented. All office work that you do is seen by relevant directors and if good enough the Managing director.

There is a mentor programme that is designed to give support throughout the year. From experience they are all very good and knowledgeable, but the culture in the company means that people move around quite a lot so the chances are your mentor will change at some point in the process.

You are never bored, there is always something to do especially in store time which is good as you don't clock watch. Sometimes you feel as though you are expected to do move than what you think is possible but this make you work more efficiently to get the tasks completed.

After a couple of weeks in our second store we were responsible for running the shop which feels daunting at the time but it's a really good experience. From then on you are quite regularly the only manager in store with many assistants to guide. In office time the project you work on are live and the results you get to are used whilst you are still on placement.

I have gained lots of different skills, you will not be exposed to more management experience than what you get at Aldi.

The office atmosphere is professional but still relaxed. There is a good layout meaning that you get to work with both assistants and directors. The store is a good atmosphere when you become one of the team. You're always trying to get everything done as well and fast as possible and when it comes together everyone is genuinely pleased.

It is very structured from the beginning. Before we started there was a training plan so I could look and see what I'd be doing in any week throughout the year. However, due to the nature of retail the plans changed a lot throughout. The general plan remained the same but sometimes things get dropped on you last minute.

They trained me up to have never worked in retail before to running a store by myself in a matter of weeks which is a huge investment. In terms of project work in head office, the work they set us was live and they genuinely wanted to know and action the outcomes.

It's a tough role ahead but it's an enjoyable one where there is always something to do. You get to be a manager of multiple store with everyone in them stores looking to you for direction.

There was nothing organised by the company except for a Christmas meal. We all got together a couple of times outside of work which was fun. Project work in head office meant working in small teams of placement students and we all caught up at lunch.

I lived at home during the placement so the costs didn't really differ from normal

In the local area there wasn't really anything, but all placement students lived quite far apart. When we got together it was in Liverpool as in was the biggest and closest place for us all to get to.

Not really. There were a couple of sports teams run by the area managers but these tended to be an invite only event.