Month: October 2016

Guest Post: Naeem Desai – Life on the Lidl Graduate Management Programme, part 2

/ Sarah Steadman

Naeem is a graduate of MSc Management, and has recently started on the Lidl Graduate Management Programme. He will be sharing his experiences over the coming months.

My first day in the Regional Distribution Centre (RDC) started with an introduction to the team, including the Regional Director and Senior Managers. I was then trained on how to do the job of a Warehouse Operative, and I was picking stock that would be sent out to the 96 stores serviced by the RDC. It wasn’t long after this that I was training new employees on how to do the same role.

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The amount of responsibility given to me was phenomenal and by the end of the first week I was given my own recruitment project to manage, which essentially was to recruit and train new employees for the RDC, and to manage the Human Resource matters for over two hundred existing employees. I was trusted and considered capable of managing such an important project independently. I’m continuously challenging myself because I want to develop. I’m learning so many new things, and juggling so many different tasks. Having so much responsibility helps me grow as a person, and I love every minute of what I do. It’s true what they say; no two days are the same at Lidl.

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Here’s an example of what one-day looks like in the life of a Lidl Graduate:

7:45 Tea and Oreos!!

8:00 Team Briefing Meeting

8:30 Prepare For Recruitment Project Meeting

9:00 New Employee Company Inductions

10:30 Train New Employees

11:45 Lunch

12:15 First Round Interviews

14:00 Second Round Interviews

16:15 Employee Disciplinary Hearing

17:30 Recruitment Project Meeting

18:30 Finished For The Day!

 

Guest Post: Naeem Desai – Life on the Lidl Graduate Management Development Programme

/ Sarah Steadman

Naeem Desai graduated from MSc Management in 2016. Before even graduating, he had received offers of employment from four of the major graduate recruiters, including a place on the highly competitive Lidl Graduate Management Development Programme. It was this position that he chose to accept, and over the coming months, Naeem will share his experiences of this challenging and fast paced programme.

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I was standing outside the Management School when I got the call from Lidl regarding the outcome of my final interview. I was so nervous, practically shaking as I talked to the recruiter, whilst pacing up and down along the side of the building. I was so eager to hear the decision. I burst into laughter as I was told I had been accepted onto the Graduate Management Development Programme! It felt surreal. It took me days to digest that I got the job I always wanted. All of my hard work had paid off. Here I was, six months later, at the Graduate Welcome Event in London. The two-day event comprised of a comprehensive introduction to the company and the graduate scheme. I was told I would be spending six months in the Regional Distribution Centre, and six months in a high-turnover store, after which I would assume the role of a Graduate Team Manager or Graduate Area Manager. Finally, the wait was over, and I was starting in my region on Monday. I left the event knowing that accepting this position was one of the best decisions I ever made.