Industrial Placement Review

I have worked with so many fantastic people that have helped me, encouraged me, challenged me and overall made my experience with ALDI fantastic. The improvement that I have seen in myself from start to finish is huge and I believe that very few placements would have been able to offer me the same.

I worked alongside passionate, knowledgable and friendly team members everyday. They gave me honest and clear feedback that allowed me to continuously improve.

I strongly believe that the extent to which you develop throughout the year is heavily guided by your Mentor. The time they invest in giving you feedback & possible development points that are relevant to you and your leadership style is proportional to how much you improve in my opinion. For myself, I had a fantastic mentor who allowed me to develop significantly during the placement year.

The job does consist of long hours and tough deadlines, that is something to be aware of. But at the same time, you are given real responsibility to help develop solutions for problems that could impact the business at a store, regional or national level.

During your time working in store, you will be trusted to cover salaried managers, this means being responsible for the daily function of that store as the most senior manager present. When working on projects, you will be given real responsibility to help propose and implement a solution for a problem that the region is currently facing. This allows you to see your impact directly across all of the stores in the region.

You will be given the chance to manage a number of teams, in a fast paced environment that is changing frequently. The greatest takeaway from this placement year for myself has been my personal development. I am now a lot more knowledgable about my leadership style, how I would solve problems from start to finish, how to handle my time effectively and I have developed a strong understanding of the business environment. During my studies, I have not been able to completely understand every component and department that works together to allow a business to run, this is an area which I have gained a huge amount of knowledge about and will allow me to provide real-world examples of during my final year of university.

The office was a professional environment that felt daunting to be a part of at first but as time went on and I started to build a relationship with the people in the office, that feeling faded.

The training plan was not completely adhered to but I did not think that was relevant or impacted my year. Firstly, COVID-19 meant that the general structure had to be adjusted to where help was needed the most as the priorities changed. It was then slightly changed to allow me to spend time different stores and alongside different Area Managers which was a huge positive.

As I mentioned earlier, my mentor played a huge part in my development. I was given honest and real feedback alongside different opportunities that were not part of the planned structure but were fantastic experiences.

I am hugely interested in coming back to ALDI after my final year of university.

The other placement students will be one of your most trusted contacts. They are going through the exact same experiences as you are so the support that you can give one another is significant.

The cost of living was relatively expensive but I chose the location due to its proximity to my homes stores. The location that you choose within the region itself is important as travel distance from one side to the other can be long and expensive.

There were not a huge amount of activities taking place outside of work mainly due to COVID-19 during the second half of my placement.