So I’ve just finished uni and have applied to @ldi for a graduate area manager position. This week I have a group interview and am looking for some advice about what to expect, particularly if any of you have interviewed for this particular chain.

Thanks,

Kick off early with a few knob gags, then put your pants on your head and run around the room shouting “WAAAAAAAAAAAA! WAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!” loudly.

Good luck!

Have they not given you any indication of what to expect?

Graduate position is going to be some standard tell me about yourself questions and then competency-based questions.

don’t try and be the smart-arse, watch and listen

No indication apart from fill in a paper application and bring it along, I rang to confirm my attendance and asked if there anything else in particular i should bring but they just said the application. At the minute i’m not expecting much in the way of one-on-one time, i’m more expecting team activities where I’d attempt to stand out but not dominate.

i endured a couple of these. it kinda depends who else is in there with you

the ones i did involved a bit of standing up and talking in front of the rest of the group. they might ask you to do a group exercise and then present (i.e. blag)

just be confident and don’t get distracted by anyone who’s trying to suck up to the interviewers!

good luck

It’ll be scenario based stuff aimed at looking at group dyanmics.

[tannoy] geetee1972 to the forum [tannoy]

Wait until others have sounded off (they will). Give factual points and speak confidently. If you can derive some simple numbers from data available that will put you in good stead and be noted.

You’re doing well when the observers all look down and write something on their notepads 🙂

Be yourself.

Group exercises – 15 minutes to bang out a presentation on a subject etc. Normally there’ll be some face to face competency interviews & possibly your standard SHL maths & comprehension tests. Key thing is avoid being the knob who talks over everyone else. If you can calm down the knob who talks over everyone else, you’ll do well 😉

Any website / book / careers dept guidance on assessment centres should let you know what to expect. In fact, googling “aldi assessment centre” will give you an exact run down pretty quickly.

Once you’re past the selection stages, I understand you get £40k, an Audi and a hundred hour week.

Shoot the little girl, not the aliens.

As above.
Don’t try to take over, that is what lots of the others will try to do and you’ll end up looking silly.

I had one of these interviews with Aldi. I was invited back for the 2nd round, but had taken careful note of their wish to buy our lives and not leave us with spare time or Saturdays off. Balls to that thought I and politely refused the second round. Retail is not really for me.

Theres some detailed accounts on wikijob, although they don’t sound to encouraging especially this one http://www.wikijob.co.uk/forum/retail-fmcg-manufacturing/lidl-first-interview-information

Sorry I’m on annual leave today 😀

Nothing really to add here other than be yourself. Group interviews are a fairly weak assessment methodology so most likely they are being done to save time and just see who you are. They aren’t going to have much to do with your ability to do the job.

The one thing you MUST do is extensive research on the company. Learn absolutely as much about the company as you can but then use your knowledge sparingly. Dont try to show off.

Good luck.

Watch all the previous series of The Apprentice and try and combine the most bizzare/hateful/genius personality traits of the ‘stand outs’. You’re bound to do well….

Don’t forget: ‘Don’t tell me the skies the limit when there are footsteps on the moon’….

Horatio – that’s a lidl interview, not aldi. Though aldi scare stories sound just as bad.

Key figures, turnover, expansion rates, company history, key pivotal moments in the history, competetors, brand knowledge/awareness, company ethos, annual report info detailing future plans, swot analysis prior to going in there as you will do that for example. Know how the stores work and how they keep costs down, and how there seasonal middle isle crap has a massive fast turnover of cheap chinese tat that people love and impulse buy. These are all areas that being knowledgeable in will help out.

Carry yourself confidently, dont mutter, speak clear and concisely, have some authority in your mannerism, look corporate but not over the top, maybes slip in a non conventional pair of shoes, belt, shirt etc soo you look and feel confident in what you wear and not like you are a burton menequin. tiniest bit of corporate colour on a shirt, i.e. orange and black stripe as long as its subtle will stand you in good stead, but make it very subtle. Maybe orange cufflinks? Get a hair cut too.

Dont worry if you muck something up, just leave the spade at the door and dont try bullshit your way out. Just say sorry i dont know.

And lastly just think about what type of person they want. Hard working, commercially savvy, think on your feet, approachable yet very firm and authoritive and lastly make small talk with the one who makes the final decision, try spark a conversation over coffee or lunch and that will help. Its not what you know at the end of the day

LAstly, their potatoes are out of the same field as waitrose and sainsburys, just not the right size for them guys!

Group interview or group assessment? Group interviews would strike me as pointless; group assessments are common.

Usually you’re given some information about a situation you’ll be unfamiliar with (as airline pilots we were given a cruise ship in bad weather), and asked to come to a conclusion to present to the management board.

Your conclusion doesn’t matter – you could jointly agree to sink the ship and claim on the insurance for all they care – but they’re studying to see how you interact.

Don’t be too shy, don’t step on other people, make sure you bring quieter people into the discussion, and if you have an important point to get across, ensure that it’s made. Easy stuff.

Done an Aldi group interview a couple of years ago. Expect it to be conducted by a fairly aggressive and status orientated individual, so be careful not to challenge them too much. I believe they differ from region to region but we were given three minutes to come up with a two min presentation on any subject other than ourselves, then did a series of problem solving exercises.

If you have to do a group discussion, i.e. interviewer raises a topic (usually a recent news item or something) and then you have to discuss as a group, try not to get annoyed if you can’t speak when you want to. Raising your voice to be heard or speaking over people might make them think you’re a bad listener.

If you don’t know the topic you could try to be a facilitator in the discussion.

All (well most) excellent points and have been noted! Thanks!

Don’t mention the war.

Any war or just THE war?

listen, ask, acknowledge, make decsions, involve others.

Don’t go… Aldi? Gaaaaaah!

You had it yet? Get the job?