Industrial Placement Review

The workload that I was given was incredibly challenging. However, this made the time fly by and made the placement throroughly enjoyable.

The staff at Aldi are all extremely busy but they always make time for you. The first line in the employee training book states "Aldi look after their staff". From the year I have spent with the company, I have realised that Aldi is a company built around its people and so you are well looked after while on placement.

Updates are regularly planned into the diary during the placement and an honest assessment of your performance is provided at every stage. This is set to increase for next year.

The workload you are given is a huge amount. If you want a placement with no responsibility then don't chose Aldi. The responsibility is given to you through important project work where it is up to you to produce the project to your best standard. Therefore, you are made to work hard to achieve a high quality of work.

The first 6 months I was involved in store time. This means that I worked up to assistant management level and was given full responsability of the store while the store manager isn't present. During my office time, I was given a final project that I was given full responsibility to complete.

The main skill for university is that I can now effectively manage my time after being given multiple projects to focus on.

The atmosphere of the office is very professional as you would expect from a multinational company.

Aldi have a clear structure to their placement scheme and your role in each department is always valued. Not once do you feel like you are just an extra pair of hands.

In terms of training, you touch upon the Area Manager Graduate Scheme by spending time shadowing current Area Managers. However, I personally developed more than I have done at University and this is down to the high expectations that are placed on you, as well as the regular updates to assess your performance

The Area Manager Graduate Scheme is one of the best available and the Industrial Placement scheme will put you head and shoulders above the other applicants. Furthermore, you spend a lot of time in head office during the placement scheme so you can understand the business more if you do decide to join the Graduate Scheme.

There are currently no structures in place for out-of-work interaction between the placement students. However, during the time spent with head office, the placement students have developed a tight knit group and socialised outside of work on our own back.

I did the placement in Darlington where house prices and living is very cheap.

The Darlington nightlife is not one of the towns selling points. However, you spend the first six months in store and can request an area which best suits you. This could be in towns such as Newcastle, Leeds and Sheffield with a more prominant nightlife.

There were very limited opportunities. Partly because you're very busy and partly because there is no structured out-of-work activities. However, I believe that this is being looked into and will be changed for next year.