Aldi Retail Placement Scheme Review

No two days were ever the same meaning you are always engaged on the job. The placement was split into 2 parts, 6 months in store and 6 months in head office working through different departments and on project work, really shows you how the business works and gives you a great insight into Retail.

Providing you work hard your colleagues will treat you as part of the team from day one. Within around 9 weeks of training you will be considered as an assistant store manager in the store you work in. To be given this much responsibility from your store management team and the business really makes you feel like a valued team member.

Feedback is given on a daily basis. The great thing is that it is always black and white. If your can improve on aspects of the way you are doing your job expect to hear about it, and if you are doing well expect to hear about it too! I found this to be very beneficial as you can always strive for continuous improvement and build on the good attributes you already have.

You are always busy so don't expect to be sat around doing nothing...ever! I understand that this type of on the go working isn't for everyone but I really enjoyed it.

As I have mentioned above to be part of an Aldi store management team after around 9 weeks is a lot of responsibility. There are no other placements, both from looking myself and hearing from friends on placement, that offer this much responsibility and in this sense Aldi is unrivaled. I also ran a re-merchandising project for my region in which we did every single store. This included pre re-merchandising planning, delivery scheduling, and ultimately managing a team of Aldi employees and contractors on a nightly basis to re-merchandise a store. Like I said a lot of responsibility!

I really enjoyed my placement year with Aldi and see it as a stepping stone to being on the graduate scheme. This placement scheme is not for everyone, you need to be willing to work extremely hard all the time and for some people a 48+ hour week might be too much. If you want to look back on your placement year and say I have really developed my skill set and made a lasting contribution to the business your placement is with, then Aldi is the place for you.

My store team were great with me and I really enjoyed working with them. Also, when I made the change over to the second half of the placement and was at the regional Head office you are always made to feel welcome and as part of the team.

You will be given a training plan/placement schedule on your first day which tells you what you are going to be doing and when you are going to be doing it.

Providing I get a 2:1 I have been offered a job on the graduate scheme.

Whilst in store we went on staff nights out and after my project was finished we went for a meal and night out. I was the only student on placement but my understanding is that in the future more placement students are going to be recruited.

I lived at home whilst on placement. You will be placed in a store close to your home.

I worked all over so not really a relevant question.

A 48 hour week takes up most of your time but if your the type of person Aldi wants you will find time to do the things you like doing. For me that was playing and coaching tennis.