IP student Review

Store time can be extremely challenging. This largely depends on what store you are placed in as some stores have a reputation for being much harder than others. Overall the placement will certainly test your resilience. Despite this, it can also be enjoyable. There is great test variety meaning a 10 hour shift will feel more like 5. Days are not boring and you can often be asked to do exciting things such as spending time in head office in different departments.

From day 1 tasks are timed in store. Even though you haven’t done anything like that before you won’t be shown what to do or have it properly explained. If you ask for guidance you may then come in the next day and find someone else wants the task done a completely different way. This can be confusing and affect confidence. The store assistants are generally great to work with. Whilst you can receive a Thankyou from them, you can receive little thanks on a day to day basis.

I felt that my manager could sometimes not recognise my struggles. If your store manager is good and wants to get to know you then you will thrive. However if their role is overly critique this can make it difficult for you to feel a part of the team. It will depend on who your mentor/manager is. Other managers can be extremely helpful and supportive and understand your struggles which ensures you do well. You will feel very alone during store time as you won’t have anybody who is in the same position as you.

Very busy. There is always something to do at Aldi. During store time it can be extremely fast paced and pressurising, requiring you to split a very large number of tasks between a very small store team. This can often mean you are staying late or having to come in early to the majority of your shifts. When spending time with your AM, you can be very busy supervising. Sometimes this comes at a natural loss of quality of the task however, and you may get told off. It can also be difficult having to come in on days off having the expectation of staying late after a hard 10 hour shift.

You are given lots of responsibility from day 1. This is great for development, for example you are able to give direct feedback to stores and ask your stored to perform certain tasks. Few other placements will offer this. You can also be responsible to set store deadlines and supervise these are achieved, and feed back accordingly. However, this also means that if something goes wrong (which it often does when you don’t have much experience) this is on your head and you will receive the negative feedback.

I have trained in multiple areas throughout the year which will help me in almost all modules in my final year. In terms of skills developed, resilience, understanding of others, people skills, management skills, organisation are some key examples of those which will no doubt help in future jobs. Many people say that working at Aldi makes you so productive that you end up doing very well during final year. Ability to interact with others will definitely improve by working in store teams from places across the region.

In the office people generally didn’t speak. It can be quiet and a very different culture to other companies. There is no reception area or no greeting as you enter the building. Upstairs it is quiet with small teams. In the store, generally you are required to work as fast as you can so won’t get much time to talk about anything outside of work. Work will be your life once you start. Certain times such as around Christmas can be very exciting and enjoyable. At other times, days can be repetitive and sometimes boring.

This was affected due to COVID but overall organised. You are given a set plan of what will happen throughout the year. This will be subject to change as the company changes and business needs change. If an area manager needs help with something you will be the people asked to go and help. Around Christmas or holidays you could be asked to complete projects elsewhere. This can be exciting. Sometimes I felt that day to day tasks could have been more organised in terms of ensuring learning points are achieved.

They did invest, high pay and company car etc. Certain people will be happy to spend a lot of time with you and ensure you understand what you are doing. Others may see you as an IP student and in the store may not want to teach you everything, but instead see you as being a tool to help the store with what needs doing on that day. Training is sometimes not long enough one-to-one, and sometimes you find that you (and others you speak to) actually don’t know what you are doing.

The area manager job is very high paid but comes with a lot of pressure, meaning you will be held accountable for things that you may not have had training on, but will be expected to ask about it. There is little work life balance and your life will need to be dedicated to the company. Having said that, the pay is great for someone this age and if the area manager gets easier stores they will find their days much easier.

There is no social scene. You rarely see the other students as they will be placed in other areas. It is hard to stay in touch at first when you don’t really know each other. You also can’t really go out with people from store teams as this may be deemed unprofessional. You will be working most weekends so may also lose many of your friends and find it hard to stay in touch with them.

Most people chose to live at home. You could also stay in a student house which wouldn’t be too expensive considering the salary, but will be difficult with parties going on when you are up at 4am to get to work. In terms of socialising, you will be working a minimum of 50 hours a week and will have work on your mind for the days off, so won’t have much time to socialise and enjoy your life.

There was no nightlife with people from work, overall the same stands as above, you may have little time to socialise and see your mates. If you live in a city it will be good but it is probably best to stay at home for the year. You won’t have time to go out when you are on a 12-10, then have a day off then 5-3 the next day, which placement students often are.

There are some opportunities such as Martithons throughout the year. I think some of the area managers meet up outside of work to discuss their struggles as they understand each other. Other than that you will work a lot so won’t have much time for anything else. Some area managers are given areas of responsibility however which they are required to do outside their job role, but this wouldn’t really be an exciting activity. H