Placement Year Review at Lidl

The Role

Role Description

Witin the placement you have the choice to work in many different areas, starting as a store assistant, quickly progressing to duty manager then learning the store manager role for a store and shadowing a district manager. I also had the chance to work in head office in several departments, work in a regional distribution centre for a month in logistics, selection, administration and also experienced time in the property department.

1. To what extent did you enjoy your work placement or internship?

★★★★★★★★★★

Rated 10/10

The placement has been so enjoyable as mainly the amount and depth of training has been superb, to be trained to have all the responsibility of a store manager in such a short time is fantastic and to experience all different aspects of the company and gain a understanding of the company and other departments is excellent.

2. To what extent did you feel valued by your colleagues?

★★★★★★★★★★

Rated 10/10

On your first day you will start in a store near to you and be trained up from there, my store manager was very gratefull for my work and effort and would go out of their way to show me tasks they were carrying out and explain tasks and roles to me, they are also very willing to show you things and you can ask anytihng.

3. To what extent were you given support and guidance by management/your supervisor(s)?

★★★★★★★★★★

Rated 10/10

I feel it is important to show initiative and by wanting to learn they are very happy to show you, by being trained up in store this helped the managers as having an extra manager on board can only be a positive for them as well. The placement manager is also keen to help in anyway and if you ever did want more support you would be sure to get it.

4. How busy were you on a daily basis?

★★★★★★★★★★

Rated 10/10

Well i was never board.. there are always new things to be learnt, today in my eight month in the tills crashed in my store and i had to restart them at the busiest time of day, one day is never the same somthing can always happen and you have to be prepared.. you never really get to sit down and put your feet up but is that what you would really want? You learn a lot and have a lot of responsibility to its not for you if your lazy and want a cushy 9-5 job.

5. How much responsibility were you given during your placement?

★★★★★★★★★★

Rated 10/10

I personally had four weeks as a sales assistant then spent a month at the regional distribution centre and then two weeks in head office. After which i returned to the store i started at and then within one week was opening and closing the store, cashing up cashiers and being left in charge. A few weeks later i was ordering stock, doing staff rotas and felt confident dealing with most other issues. While i was in the property office i spent time looking at current sites and looked at future sites which were not to be disclosed, looked at plans and even had the chance to draw up my own plans for a store to fit on a site which they then liked and worked from it which was really pleasing.

6. To what extent did/will the skills you developed, and training you received, assist you in your degree studies and beyond?

★★★★★★★★★★

Rated 10/10

The experience and skills developed have been amazing. This placement gives you a lot more skills than a degree could. The responsibility and amount of information and background of the company you get to learn about. I think you could take the skills and knowledge with you further on into any business. Hopefully after university i can come back to lidl and then this would obsiously be very beneficial.

The Organisation

7. What was the general atmosphere in your office?

★★★★★★★★☆☆

Rated 8/10

not office but store.. some days it could be hard as you have to deal with staff complaining or customer complaints and can experience problems like late deliveries having to ask staff to stay late, maybe yourself having to stay late, having problems with staff not turning in etc and then having to work extra hard but this is only occasionally. When things run smooth the atmosphere is great and you look forward to going in to work.

8. How well organised was the overall work placement or internship set up?

★★★★★★★★★☆

Rated 9/10

The placement scheme is really well organised, i think it is so lucky to have so much responsibility and be trained so fast and you have to be willing. The chance to go to head office and the distributution centre is priceless and you can learn so much from it and see so much that you wouldnt have thought about and the store managers dont get the chance to do this so as a placement student you are very lucky and to be honest the store managers are jealous of what you get to see and learn.

9. In terms of personal training and development, to what extent did the company or firm invest in you?

★★★★★★★★★★

Rated 10/10

The company do invest a lot, you are trained to a store manager level, you get the chance to work on store openings, they put you up in head office for two weeks and you have appraisals throughout the placement, you are regularly in contact with the placement supervisor and have several training days in london.

10. What were the perks on your work placement?

★★★★★★★★☆☆

Rated 8/10

• Above 25 days holiday

11. How appealing are future employment prospects within the organisation?

★★★★★★★★☆☆

Rated 8/10

I would relish the opportunity to progress within the compnay and would deffinately like to come back and work with them after university and also like the opportunity to work in the store possibly part time whilst in my last year and also be an ambassidor whilst at university to promote the placement programme.

Other Information

12. Was there a good social scene amongst any fellow placement students/colleagues?

★★★★★★★★★★

Rated 10/10

As you work in a store you only regularly see the other students however in the region i worked in (runcorn) there were four of us so when we worked together at runcorn we sociallised and the same when we went to london to work at head office. Whilst in store you obviously have the chance to sociallise with the other staff from there.

13. What was the cost of living and socialising in the area you worked in?

★★★★★★★★★★

Rated 10/10

If you choose to stay in the sales side and work up to store manager level you will work in a store near to your home so there is no need to relocate.

14. What was the Nightlife like in the area you worked?

★★★★★★★★★★

Rated 10/10

i still lived where i went to university so could go out now and again with my friends from uni which was good.

15. Were there many opportunities to get involved in activities outside of work?

★★★★★☆☆☆☆☆

Rated 5/10

not organised by the company but the staff in my store we organised our own 5 a side night.

In addition to these questions, is there any extra information you would like to leave about your experiences on your work placement that other students may be interested in?

I think this placement is one of the best out there for the amount of responsibility you are given and the amount of interest takin in you. The company dont take on that many people so this appealed to me as you were more respected and are not just a number, the regional director knows your name for example which i dont feel would happen in many other companies of this size. They invest in you and train you quickly at first you have to be willing to do four weeks as a store assistant but this is crucial to see things from their point of view and work your way up, it wouldnt be fair to start of as a manager as you wouldnt have any knowledge of the store assistants role. I think its also really good that if you enjoy a particular area of the business you then have the choice to work in that sectore as the programme is split into modules and you can choose what sector you would like to work in and after 12 weeks you then have an appraisal.

Review 8/25 for Lidl

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