Placement Student Review

The Lidl Placement scheme was perfect for me, as I went into the year not knowing what I want to do as a career. It is a rotational program with flexibility for you to try many different departments across the company. Although some of these departments I didn’t enjoy working in as much as others, it was still valuable due to the level of responsibility afforded to you. I still don’t really know what I want to do after uni, however this placement has made me realise that that doesn’t necessarily matter, because if you’re willing to learn and adapt you can succeed nearly anywhere

This varied a lot department to department. In store you’re trained up to a shift manager level, but depending on the team you’re with will depend on how much they’ll let you implement that. In my time in property I have been left to run the facilities department by myself for a whole week, so there I was clearly valued

The training at Lidl is really good, and there is always someone that you could ask a question to and they would have the answer. You’re very involved with all sorts of different management roles throughout the year, from store managers to area managers to heads of departments. The regional training consultants regularly stay in touch and make sure you’re getting as much as possible out of the experience as possible.

Again this depends department to department but on the whole Lidl is a very fast paced company, with lots going on at once. I was kept busy in most departments, but never felt like I was being pushed too hard. At times it can feel like they’ve ran out of things for you to do, but if you ask 99% of the time there will be something to do.

In store not much, in logistics I got quite a bit, running shift on one occasion, managing over 40 people. In property I ran the facilities department for a week, facilitating over 50 stores. Even in the head office experience, when you’re only there for 2 weeks, I felt like I was treated with a lot more respect than your average new starter

The skills I have learnt (multitasking, work-ethic, communication, team work, etc) I will be able to use endlessly throughout my career. On the other hand, I don’t think there was anything much that was relatable to my degree, however I didn’t pick the placement based on this so am not too concerned

I got on very well with my store team, it was really nice to go into work and see them everyday, I still pop into my old store on the way home occasionally to say hi. Everyone in the Warehouse is friendly and welcoming, it is quite a jovial atmosphere and that is continued in the property offices upstairs.

Extremely well organised! Probably the best element of this placement is how well all of your different departmental experiences come together. Most departments have a decent detailed training plan ready for you when you first join their department. And although the placement is well structured there is still the flexibility of being able to add some time here or there.

Lidl spend a lot of money on training events, regular trips to special training in London, and the option of putting yourself on additional training days is a great feature of my region

Many people in the company actively talk to you about coming back and joining full time which is an exciting prospect!

You don’t get to meet the other placement students from other regions very often, but the 2 weeks you spend in head office is a great way to spend some social time with them and in my experience after this we all became very close. In my region we had regular meals with the graduate scheme students as well which was really nice

I commuted long distance so couldn’t comment on the local town, although it is mainly old people. If you are going to commute, try and keep it under an hour. I enjoy driving but have been commuting nearly 3 hours every day and it has really wiped me out this year.

It is a business park by a very small town/village, so non existent really

No not really although I’m sure if I’d asked I could have done something for the companies charity