Retail Management Placement Review

The role varies throughout the 12 month placement. The first 7 months are spent in store learning the daily and weekly processes of store assistants and store management. Upon finishing time in store you spend time with your allocated mentor (who is an Area Manager), shadowing them in their role. After shadowing you then spend 3 months taking on project work for the region to better improve the businesses profitability and customer experience and employee wellbeing. Finally, you spend the last month shadowing your mentor once again whilst also taking on some of their responsibilities to display what you have learnt over the last 11 months.

I have developed both professionally and personally in a number of ways that I wouldn’t have imagined before the year started. The responsibility that is given to you at Aldi is unlike any other placement year which has led to my confidence with regard to communicating growing significantly. Additionally, I have learnt new leadership and motivational skills due to having to be in charge of teams in stores and project work. This placement also develops your resilience and problem solving skills to a significant extent.

As stated previously, I believe that Aldi place more responsibility on placement students than any other placement organisation. From the very first day until the very last I was to undergo tasks by myself, provide feedback to experienced store managers and store staff and hold updates with these managers to ensure that they were performing to a high standard. Additionally, I worked on a set of projects that were to be implemented region wide within Aldi which is responsibility and experience that you simply cannot gain anywhere else. Ultimately, there is a real culture of trust at Aldi from top to bottom and that has been displayed on various occasions throughout my placement year which has been extremely beneficial to my development.

At Aldi I was assigned a mentor months before my placement began in which they outlined the year long plan in detail. On my first day (contract signing day) I met the placement students from the year prior as well as a large number of current area managers and mentors to ask them any questions and settle any nerves. Throughout the duration of the placement I received feedback from store management, my mentor, and also my direct leader in order to develop myself further and push myself to improve. This feedback system is very useful as there will always be some opportunities of growth to keep me driven.

The company culture at Aldi is very welcoming. From head office to those in store everyone knows how important it is to work as a team and what their role involves. It is no secret that Aldi requires you to be a driven individual and to set and work to very high standards however I feel as if they strike the perfect balance between high demands and expectations and friendliness and support.

Naturally I enjoy hard work and the pride that comes with accomplishing something that takes determination to get through and achieve therefore I enjoyed this placement a lot. And although this placement is very tough at times, specifically within store time, it is very rewarding. I met amazing people and achieved things I would never have imagined myself achieving at just 20/21 years of age which I gained a lot of enjoyment from.

Yes

I think the most important thing when applying to Aldi is to demonstrate that you can not only work to a high standard and be a driven individual and leader but also be yourself. It is so easy to get caught up in the high intensity required at Aldi that you can lose sight of the very basics which is forming great relationships within your teams and leading these teams. Therefore demonstrating your ability to be kind and liked is very important alongside your competencies when applying.