Apprentice Review

My role involves being on the tills, delivering good customer service, working deliveries and making sure the shop is tidy. Depending on which managers are in and how busy the store is you can be doing something different most days.

I have developed existing skills in customer service since starting my apprenticeship, it has improved my confidence a lot too. I have learned some new skills in working deliveries and being safe whilst in the warehouse and on the shop floor. When I complete my apprenticeship i'll have a qualification in customer service which will be beneficial to my CV.

On days where i'm doing a variety of jobs I really enjoy it, but a lot of the time i'm stuck on a till for 7/8 hours which becomes tedious. I like working with our team as everyone pulls their weight and can have a laugh whilst still getting everything done. I did expect to be doing more shop floor and manager training which is disappointing.

In our store I don't feel valued at all, I am on a till every day (priority till most days) and when I am on the shop floor I get told i'm doing things wrong all the time. There's no positivity or encouragement from management and you're expected to do the same job as the store assistants for 2/3 of the pay.

The college side of the apprenticeship is really well structured, however the training in store is really inconsistent. Our store manager didn't know she would be training apprentices until a couple of days before we started and in our first week we were expected to attend a training course in the middle of nowhere with one days notice. In the first couple of weeks the training was good and I was taught the basics of working in the store, however once I was till trained my training was forgotten about and since then i've just been on a till almost every day.

From my tutor at college I receive lots of support, the college has a lot of services to help me with problems outside of work too.

I don't receive much support from my employer, most of the time I feel that if I bring up a problem with one of the managers i'm being a nuisance.

As I walk to work I don't have any travel expenses, I would like to move out but that isn't possible at the moment as I only earn £5.30 an hour. It is a better rate than most apprenticeships however.

There is an Aldi fun day in July to celebrate 25 years and there are staff nights out sometimes

No

You'd be better off applying for a job as a stock/store assistant and working your way up as you'll get more money and it's likely they'll promote you anyway if you're good at your job

The application process takes a while and you won't hear anything back for ages which is disconcerting. In the group interview it's important to speak up and act confident otherwise you won't be noticed by the interviewers.