Store Apprentice Review

Being an Aldi apprentice is quite a tough task. Just stepping into the retail world gives you a range of responsibilities, such as putting out stock onto a specific part of the shop floor by yourself, helping customers and serving them at the tills. You are assigned a task at the beginning of your shift whether you'll be on shop floor or on the tills. Sometimes, you can be on both, proving to be quite challenging!

Yes! Working at aldi makes you a better at communication with customers and staff. Because speaking with customers all the time is essential, you are constantly improving. During the course you learn more about the insight of retail, health and safety, shoplifting, working as a team etc. These skills can be applied onto other real life jobs too!

I really enjoy the programme! During the time you work at the store, it's very emotionally, physically and mentally demanding and proven difficult for me too just stepping into the retail world. The team are an amazing bunch! They're supportive in every way, and if you need help, the office doors are always opened. I've spoken with my store manager once since I was going through a hard time. He helped me understand it's just an obstacle in life, and it's important to keep moving forward! It met my expectations really well! It's just like school, where I can speak with my managers rather than my teachers if I've had an issue with work.

Working at Aldi has shown that every employee is looked as an individual and a vital part of the team. You are given constant constructive feedback from the managers in reviews, informal quarterly discussions and just day to day tasks. You get involved in everything whilst working at Aldi! You work at every part of the store and you gain the skills of appreciation to become your very own manager.

The structure of the programme is laid out at the beginning of the course, just before you starting! You are informed of what happens, and then you get cracking onto it! The induction is pretty simple, just some simple shop floor work before the store opens! You are trained very well too by the managers and store assistants! I was trained very well in about 6 months. I knew how everything worked inside out as a Store Apprentice Assistant role. You are informed of all the roles involved in the store.

My tutor is a lovely lady working from an external company. She provides you with as much support as possible. She's very easy to contact. The modern age of phones helps me contact her easily. She can help me out if I'm stuck on a question from my theory work. She's a very happy and cheerful person and she's very approachable in terms of speaking to her like she's a friend. I couldn't ask for a better tutor.

I've had a few problems in the past with work and the managers helped me address the issues. They're here to support you no matter what. In terms of training, the managers follow a thorough procedure when training their employees. They told me how the selling processes work, how to work the tills and how to work fast and efficiently on the shop floor. They're very optimistic people, and are generally happy when supporting you! A thumbs up from me!

Being an apprentice and earning £6 an hour whilst living with my parents is a luxury. I never thought I could buy the things I could never imagine I'd could ever afford. I do have to pay for bus tickets when travelling to work though, that's a downside.

Aldi helps support the Teenage Cancer Trust. They help run charity events outside of work, such as bake sales, fun runs, marathons and football tournaments! My team have several get-togethers throughout the year. We've had the Christmas party which was a blast. We're having a summer party too!

Yes

Aldi is an amazing place to work at. They help you find new friends, improve your mental, physical and communicative skills significantly too! You get a very good income as an apprentice, almost x2 more than the minimum for apprentices. You work only 30 hours a week, same as going to school! You only have to come in 4 times a week, and when you're 18, you only work 3 times a week!

When applying for Aldi, it's important to be patient. The application process can take around a month to complete since it's not the old style of applying where you just hand in your CV and that's it, you're in. Nope. You are hand picked from thousands of applications. It's important to stand out from the crowd, be yourself, be honest, friendly and cheerful! Your interview should flow smoothly given you're prepared to say why you are willing to do this apprenticeship! An 'Aldi Experience' will determine whether you're physically enabled enough continue with the apprenticeship application process, followed by a short interview afterwards. After you've been accepted, welcome on board! Remember to ask questions constantly on how things work. Being silent will only hurt you and cause even more irritation rather than not asking a question. You're here to learn and prosper! At Aldi, you learn as you go. It would honestly be better if they would tell you how things work prior to you trying to figure out yourself.