48 Week Placement Student Review

The placement was highly enjoyable; being able to experience such a wide variety of departments within the same company was extremely rewarding and benefiting. The opportunities, training & development and experiences available to me where endless. Being able to create your own pathway throughout the year was also reassuring, allowing me develop my own skills and broaden my knowledge base.

One of the main difficulties I faced at the start of the Placement was integrating with the Stores personnel. Due to the size of some Lidl stores they sometimes have a small number of core staff employed, which have worked together for many years. Someone entering that group for the first time naturally faces difficulties in becoming part of the team. However if your confident and personable, then friendships are made very quickly and the initial barriers are overcome.

The opportunity to work with such Senior employees such as Regional Directors, Property Executives and employees from Head Office has allowed me to mature greatly, utilising the skills from my previous employment and develop them under their guidance.

Durining initial training there are parts that aren't always interesting and they day can be slow however once training is completed and you are working full time it is a different matter. Wotking in store as a Deputy Manager/Store Manager come with a lot of work and responisbilty, as the placement progresses you gain a great work load where you have to really plan your day out and structure it in order to achieve the work.

During my placement I was faced with a variety of responsibilities, the biggest responsibility was running a Lidl store straight after training. Being responsible for holding the keys to a store was a big challenge, along with the other added responsibilities that come with it, such as running a shift, ensuring employees are happy with their roles and that they are doing their tasks correctly. Being in control of a safe, cashing up, running the figures at the end of the day and general cash handling is also a very big responsibility. That responsibility further increase’s when banking the cash, ensuring that procedures have been followed, the relevant checks have been carried out and paperwork completed. The first time when closing down a store and taking control of the safe is very nerve racking and is on your mind, however the support structure and training in place is reassuring.

This year has increased my focus when working, understanding the importance of time and self management in order to meet deadlines, knowing the consequences if they are not met, causing a knock on effect to the bigger picture. The skills, knowledge and greater understanding of business will all be applied to my final year at University when writing my dissertation.

I personally like meeting and getting to know new people, the placement has allowed me to meet many different people, from Store Assistants, District Managers, Customers, Contractors, Regional Directors and Seniors. This has allowed me to develop my personal skills and learn about their different experiences allowing me to further develop myself. The friendships really developed over the 48 weeks making the working atmosphere really enjoyable.

The placement is very well organised and set up by the Placement Officer, continuous contact is maintained via email and one to one meetings. The training materials are well thought out and structured, I received them before the placement started giving me a chance to read the notes before starting.

The company is very keen in investing in its placement students for the future some of the training courses I was involved in include: Data Protection – • Definitions • Principles • Data Protection Act • Importance to Lidl • Responsibilities • Data Handling Human Resource Management – • Personnel Policies • Discipline & Grievances • Equal Opportunities • Harassment • Maternity Trading Law – • Pest Control Alcohol Licensing Course – • Types of Licence • Restrictions • Applications All of the training given was run via Head Office and are not just valuable to Lidl but also be beneficial to me if I was to move into another job.

Over the 48 week placement I have realised the potential and benefits that Lidl has to offer for a future career. Lidl are very keen on investing in placement students in the hope they will continue working for the company after University. On completing my placement I have been offered to become Trainee District Manager once finishing my degree at university.

When there were training days all the placement students would be placed together and would stay in the same hotel together. The training days were very well planned allowing time at the end of training for everyone to catch up along with different activities for everyone to get involved in.

Lidl on all occasions organised hotels, accommodation, travel and food, all expenses were paid for by the company.