Industrial Placement Student Review

My placement was brilliant, yet very challenging. You really do get out what you put in, and there is plenty of different experiences throughout the year. It is a great opportunity and I would recommend it to anyone!

I felt particularly valued by my colleagues while working in store. As the stores are very busy places, an extra set of hands are always appreciated. The in-store work is very physical, and you are never off of your feet, however there is great opportunities to work in every aspect of the store, while also given the great support to be trained up to become a manager.

I was given full support and guidance throughout my placement by all of my different managers and supervisors. Throughout the year, you are looked after consistently by the Regional Training Consultant. My RTC had a great relationship with me as he was always available for me to call him with any questions or drop by his office whenever. He also helped tailor my training plan to suit me, which was great as it gave me extra time in the departments that I loved working in.

Within any department in Lidl, particularly store, you are always busy. So busy, the time flies by! Every day you are doing something completely different, and as the placement allows for rotation, you are never stuck in the one job long enough for it to become boring or repetitive.

Throughout my placement I was given a massive amount of responsibility, however not before I was ready. With all the responsibility I was given, there was support to go along with it. I never felt that the responsibility was too much, or too stressful, as I always had people looking out for me or offering me help.

Time management is essential will working for Lidl, as you are completely different tasks throughout your placement, mostly within time constraints. This will be beneficial when working at university with my dissertation. Also organisational skills are important throughout your placement as you are moving jobs and departments frequently, therefore have to be organised to stay on top of the work loads.

There was different atmosphere within each office that I worked with. Generally there was a great atmosphere which made the work more enjoyable.

The region I was located in organised my placement year very well. I always knew where I was and which department I was going to be in. The Regional Training Consultant who was involved frequently kept in touch and kept updated with how I was feeling, what I was interested in doing/learning about. Could not fault the Regional Training Consultants in my region.

Within my region in particular, they were very invested in helping me develop skills and knowledge of departments I was interested in. I am interested and keen to learn about HR/Recruitment, and so my region allowed me to spend extra time in these departments. I was even given the responsibility of conducting telephone interviews.

The graduate scheme is appealing, although it is very similar to the placement programme, however I would love to work for Lidl again.

Among the fellow placement students we had a great social scene. During the two weeks spent at Head Office we all thoroughly enjoyed ourselves, and had a few nights out. It would be good to spend more time with other placement students throughout the year, to hear about their experiences and get support off of one another.

I lived at home therefore it was no different to what I was used to. I travelled an hour to my RDC offices, therefore petrol was expensive.

Great nightlife as it was Glasgow's City Centre.

While in store me and colleagues would socialise regularly after work.