Industrial Placement Student Review

If you are up for a really challenging year then this placement could be for you but you must be prepared for it! Overall it was a good experience but a very tough year. You won't really have a social life if you join as a placement student so be aware of this!

Working in store - the other colleagues were really friendly and welcoming. If you work hard this will pay off in terms of gaining respect from your colleagues. Working the regional office, it is very much you and the other interns with little communication to other colleagues outside of this, so you don't necessarily feel particularly valued.

Support and training whilst working in store was great, if you put the effort it this will be rewarded by a good level of support and guidance. You will also have a mentor for the year - support and guidance very much depends on what mentor you get. Some had a good experience and others didn't.

You will be really busy whilst working in store - 50 hours weeks are very tiring. In terms of working at regional office depending on what project you are given, determines how busy you are. I found a lot of time at office I was bored because we didn't have much to do.

You are given loads of responsibility, in the first couple of months you will be running an Aldi store. The responsibility is given very early on which is great as you can really throw yourself into it. Again, whilst working on a project you very much get to decide how you want to do it.

The broad range of skills you learn from this year will be really beneficial in the future - for both University and whatever career path you decide to take. Working in such time pressured and challenging environment with the level of responsibility given really allows you to develop a wide array of skills.

The atmosphere in the main office is friendly and people are welcoming on the whole. However, the placement students are kept in a room separate from the main office. This is quite isolating as it doesn't give you much opportunity to get to know the other office staff. Working for months on end in a room with a few of you can get quite dull!

The first half of the year and working in store is really organised, as you follow quite a strict training plan. However, when we got to regional office time this seemed to go straight out the window. We turned up on the first day and people didn't even know we were meant to be coming. The plan then changed a lot which was a shame.

The training you receive in store at the beginning of the year is good - following a very detailed plan allows you to really get the most out of you and the skills you have to learn. There could have been a little more training in the office however you are spending your time working on projects.

If you want to get on the graduate scheme after completing the placement year and you have had a successful year - there is a good opportunity. For others, you may realise that retail isn't for you. This job requires a huge amount of commitment and having been told its 'Aldi over everything' it isn't for everyone. You must be prepared to give up a lot and not have much of a social life at all.

Absolutely no social scene whatsoever. This is mainly due to the fact that the other placement students are dotted around the region. Working in store for the first half of the year means you don't get an opportunity to see them because you all working different days and hours. The company do not promote social activities.

I lived at home for the first half of the year which was great as I could save my money and I was based in stores relatively close to home. In the second half I moved, the cost of living was cheap which helped. However there is absolutely no socialising - unless all students lived together.

Absolutely no night life - there wasn't a lot going for where I worked so it could get really boring. I recommend signing up for the gym and trying to keep as busy as possible because it could feel really isolating. If you want to work somewhere with nightlife don't work for Aldi because you won't have much chance to go out.

There really weren't any activities outside of work to get involved in! Unless you organise things between the other placement students there is a very poor level of socialising and doing activities. The placement students are kept quite separate from the other managers which means we weren't invited to events.