The benefits of graduate programmes extend to both employer and applicant and the Aldi Graduate Area Manager Programme is no different. The unique programme offers successful applicants an immediate people-manager role, giving them responsibility, all while being supported with intensive training and by experienced mentors.
Aldi has been voted the most popular graduate recruiter in retail for the last two years running by gradIreland and they are recognised as the leading supermarket retailer in Ireland’s Best Employers 2021. Happy to concur with this high ranking is 23-year-old Bantry native Meghan Enderson who is just about to complete the 2020/2021 programme.
Enderson studied commerce in University College Cork, “a broad degree”, where she eventually specialised in management with a minor in marketing. But she freely admits that retail wasn’t where she thought she would end up eventually.
“I'm quite a hands-on person – even in school I was getting involved in things like setting up a mini company during transition year. I really like to get involved in things and that kind of steered me in the direction of business and management and dealing with people and a hands-on approach. But it wasn't until I did my third-year placement that I started thinking more about retail.”
That placement was with Aldi, and Enderson admits it was “an eye-opener”. “You kind of have this idea in your head of what retail is from your experience just in terms of shopping and outside of working in the industry. But then when I actually worked in the company, it showed me how many different aspects there were to it, which I wouldn't have realised before.”
Enderson’s final year at UCC coincided with the first wave of the Covid-19 pandemic; having been confined to home for the last months of her degree, she used the time to go through the application and interview stages for the Area Manager Graduate Programme.
Having been successful, “the plan was to go to America for a couple of months before starting the programme, but that of course never materialised”, she laughs.
Enderson is keen to impress how structured and varied the programme is: “From the very beginning, you're given the plan for a year and the end goal is the area manager role. You spend the first six months training in store whereby you train in two to three different stores. It covers basic training at the stores, where you're stocking shelves, you're learning how to work the tills, and just getting an understanding really of what's happening on the floor, what's happening in the store and how it would all operate.”
“Looking back, I can understand the value of this because you couldn't come into the area manager role without knowing everything that happens in store.”
But within weeks Enderson was given more responsibility, becoming a deputy store manager, and then an assistant store manager.
I am always meeting new people and working with different stores and different colleagues
“There, you are taking control of the floor, you're dealing with the staff, and planning rotas for the weeks ahead, and given more and more responsibility such as dealing with cash and handling the organisation of key events. Then you eventually progress up to the store manager role where you can be responsible for running all aspects of the store,” she explains.
Moving between bigger and smaller stores, or those in urban or rural areas has helped expose Enderson to the unique demands of each store in her area. “Even though it's the same business, it can be totally different in certain areas. I love variety, and that’s one of the things I really like about this job, I am always meeting new people and working with different stores and different colleagues. I even love the driving involved, because it is time to take stock and think about what I have just learned.”
Enderson is coming to the end of her time shadowing her mentor area manager. “She is teaching me everything she can and then in June, I will get my own three stores that I'm going to be responsible for.”
If it sounds like a steep learning curve, Enderson admits that’s because it is. “It’s a fast trajectory and you really need to be ready for a challenge. After about three months, I was running my own store and now soon, at the age of 23, I am going to be responsible for three stores. But I like that, and I look for that so you have to be that kind of person who is happy to be constantly learning,” she explains.
If you want to get serious exposure to the retail sector and to management, it's just fantastic
The difference for Enderson is that there was a global pandemic raging for the duration of her time in the programme. While there would typically be team-building days and events for the graduates, these obviously weren’t feasible in recent months.
“There's two other graduates who did similar courses to me who began the programme at the same time as me, so we kind of link up together which is great when you’re all having a similar experience. You can kind of bounce ideas off people or ask them ‘did you experience this?’ or ‘how would you deal with this?’” she says. “But it’s one thing I have noticed since I started the job, is that every day or every week, there's always someone to call and say, “how are you getting on”? So far it's been phone calls and Microsoft Teams calls. But when things open up again, we are already planning to go for nice lunches and a team-building day at an adventure camp which will hopefully happen later in the summer.”
Enderson doesn’t hesitate when asked if she would recommend the programme to this year’s cohort. “If you want to get serious exposure to the retail sector and to management, it's just fantastic. What I have learned in the last few months, it could take five or six years to learn anywhere else.”