Store Apprentice Review

My day to day role is as a Store Apprentice. My tasks are: - To card the store (removing all the loose cardboard from the shelves and bring the rest of the stock forward, so that it is visible to all customers) - Bale the card from the carding cage (put all the cardboard into the baler to be crushed, ready for transport) - Put the stock onto the shelves or into the freezers/chillers - Working at the tills (I am still in training so this is occasional) - Organising the Specials, getting as much of the stock as possible into as few tables as I can

I have learnt a wide variety of new skills, such as how to card a store, how to put stock out properly (rotating the stock so that the newer dates go behind the older dates so that they’re sold before the longer-lasting stock), how to find the right products in the store as quickly as possible and how to use the tills (using all the different number codes etc.). A skill I have developed upon is my communication skills. Due to customers not knowing where certain products are, or having questions they want answering, my communication skills have developed from answering their questions and queries.

I enjoy my programme a lot. When I left school, I had decided that I wanted to go into a job into retail. After hearing about the Aldi apprenticeship scheme, I thought to look into it as I shop at Aldi myself. Since starting I have found that the Aldi apprenticeship is exactly what I want to be doing.

I feel very valued by Aldi. The staff always give praise for the tasks that I complete.

My programme is very well structured. There is always a task for me to complete that either expands on knowledge that I already have, or it gives me new skills. The initial training part of my apprenticeship was very well organised. I learnt everything in a specific order that gave me the key knowledge and skills first, so that the next tasks were easier to understand. The training was also ordered by difficulty too, so that I wasn’t thrown immediately into the hardest tasks.

I receive a lot of support from my training provider. Every 5 weeks, my mentor visits and we discuss everything that I have learnt in the previous 5 weeks. During the visit, I am given a few tasks that consolidate the knowledge I have learnt over the previous 5 weeks, from in-store and from home study. After the visit, I am given a series of tasks to complete as home study. I also have the email address of my mentor, so if I ever need any help or advice, whether it’s about the home study tasks, or the apprenticeship itself, I am able to send them an email, and I always receive a quick response.

I also receive a lot of support from my employers. The staff at my store are always willing to help me when I need help, or give me advice or tips when doing tasks. Whenever I make a mistake, instead of being criticised for it, instead, I am told what I did wrong, along with advice on how to prevent the same mistake being made again, or how to improve on it next time. I also have the store email address and telephone number, so if I need any help or advice, I can just call or email.

My salary meets my costs perfectly. The store that I work at is only a 5 minute walk away from where I live, so travel costs are not a problem, and I still live at home, so I don’t have many costs to pay, although I do pay for the electricity. Therefore the rest is social and savings.

There are many events outside of work for staff to participate in. In the MyAldi app, which is the app which is used to show employee rotas, store rotas, payslips etc. there is a section called TCT Events Calendar, which gives a big list of opportunities for employees to take part in to raise money. There are marathons, cycling, trekking and more extreme activities such as skydiving and muddy running. Aldi also has their own football tournament.

Yes

I would recommend Aldi to a friend, as I think Aldi is one of the best retail stores to work for. They are a very popular store, and becoming even more popular by the day. They are also known for their excellent apprenticeship scheme, and their wages, which are higher than average. The staff working for the company are really nice, and the stores have a good atmosphere. The stores themselves are more logical than other stores such as Tesco, in terms of their layouts. Therefore I would definitely recommend Aldi to a friend, as I personally think it is an excellent company to work for.

The piece of advice I think is most important to others applying for Aldi is not to panic. Although the application process may seem daunting and scary, it is actually not as bad as you may be thinking. The application questions are fairly simple to answer and the interviews are less formal than others, meaning there is no need to be nervous. Overall I personally think that the application process was excellent, and there was no need for me to have felt as nervous as I did. Another piece of advice that I would give is to be ready for very hard, but very rewarding work, as the skills you can take away from working at Aldi are very important and valuable.