Industrial Placement Student Review

The first 7 months of the placement were based in store and were tough and rewarding in equal measures. However, once I adjusted to the demands of the organisation I enjoyed this time. Further still, the time spent at Head Office, rotating around each department, was very interesting and gave me a holistic view of the organisation which I do not feel many other employers offer.

From day one you are given a lot of responsibility. If you use this and perform well, you will gain your colleagues trust and they will value you. However, Aldi is a very professional organisation, so when you are based in store you are encouraged to maintain a ‘distance’ between yourself and your less senior colleagues. This professional culture means that your managers tend to keep a slight professional edge around yourself, which limits how close you can get to them. On the other hand, when you are at Head Office you will build a close bond with the rest of the Industrial Placement students.

Aldi uses lots of feedback to help improve its staff. As a result, there is lots of guidance on how to better yourself and improve as a person. Support was there if you needed it, but you would have to ask for it. A potential area for improvement for the placement would be more training on how to manage and deal with other managers, as this can be challenging.

Aldi runs on a discount retail business model, which is based on being extraordinarily efficient. As a result, time is always a tight constraint, especially during your store time. There was not a single day within the company when I would say I was bored due to a lack of work. On the other hand, there were days in store when I felt overworked and that I had too many jobs to complete.

You are given responsibility from day one at Aldi. The in store training is accelerated so that you take on responsibility for important jobs such as running the store, being the safe-holder and placing orders within a few months. Whilst at times this can seem daunting, it really helps you to develop rapidly. I was also given the task of training members of another stores management team, which was a very enjoyable task. Further still, the project work set at Head Office involves completing work which will affect major decision made within the company. This is hugely rewarding and seeing your work being used by others is hugely rewarding.

Some of the skills you develop are not really relevant to university. However, the soft skills you develop during the year are. These include people management, time management, organisation, decision making under pressure, training staff and completing project work to tight deadlines. During the year I have hugely developed these skills and I feel this will greatly benefit me in the future.

The stores had varying atmospheres. I worked in 2 stores; the first had a positive atmosphere, whilst the second was not as positive. The atmosphere in the store depends greatly on the Store Manager and Area Manager of the store. The office had a very positive atmosphere. Although you are expected to remain professional, the staff in the office are very friendly, helpful and approachable. The time at head office is also enjoyable because you get to spend time with the rest of the Industrial Placement students working in your region.

The placement was well organised and structured. A month or so before starting the placement I was sent my training plan, which details where you will be and who you will be responsible for the placement year. Although this may change slightly, most of the training plan is adhered to. Training within store is not so structured, which is a potential area for improvement of the placement year.

Although you are given training in store, this is very much training so you can get the job done. There was little other training in terms of how to manage people. Any extra training is expected to be carried out in your own time so you do not burden the store you are working in. This can make carrying out your jobs (working around 50 hours a week) and developing as a person difficult.

The placement is intended to be a route onto the graduate Area Manager job at Aldi. As such, if you perform well and want the job, there is a good chance you will be offered the job. However, whether Aldi wants you to return is not revealed until your final week with the company. One issue with the company is that the graduate role is very limited. There have been some aspects of the year I have really enjoyed, but the graduate role is limited to the Area Manager job only.

In store you do not work with other placement students. As such, the social scene for the first 7 months of the placement was very limited, which meant you could feel quite isolated at times. We did have a WhatsApp group which enabled us to stay in touch, but finding a time when we were all free was near impossible due to us working shifts. However, once we were at Head Office the social scene was great, with us going out for lunch and drinks as frequently as we liked.

I lived at home throughout the placement which meant the cost of living was cheap. During the first 7 months of the placement (when based in store), there was little time to socialise. However, whilst at Head Office, generally socialising was done close to Head Office on the Wirral or in Liverpool. These areas are relatively cheap.

Store time is based close to home, so the night life was the same as usual. However, time to go out is very restricted when based in store and you often feel too tired to go out ! When we were at Head Office, we could go out in Liverpool which was really good!

Such activities are limited and very much dependent on which Area Manager you are working for. Most placement students were unaware of such activities, although one of us did play in a football team with other colleagues. When at Head Office we made our own plans, but there was minimal in the way of activities provided by Aldi.