Applied online and received an email about 2 months later inviting me to a group interview. I didn't really know what to expect but I practiced the normal competency based questions etc thinking I would get a one-to-one interview. I arrived 45mins before the interview start time (they ask you to arrive earlier) where there were about 4 people already waiting. We were left in the reception area of the building for about 40mins before anyone came down to greet us, in this time take the opportunity to talk to the other candidates. It really helped me pick out which of them would be my biggest competition based on their work experience and degree subject etc. The competition was tough, a couple came from top universities and others had amazing work experience at big firms which threw me a little as I had just graduated with little experience. The assistant to the Managing Director came down to take our names and sign us in, there were supposed to be 12 candidates that day but only 6 including myself had showed up, me being the only female. The day was pretty laid back considering the horror stories I had read online. We were in a board room where we began the usual ice breaker activity introduce the person next to you. Then, we were given a sheet which stated a problem a store manager was having and a number of steps he should take to resolve the problem. First we had to individually sort the steps into an order, we were then split into two groups where we had to try and come up with an order ( more difficult as it sounds as everyone has different ideas on the order of things). The MD then asked us to tell him the worst things we had heard about being on their graduate scheme, everyone managed to give at least three examples of bad things they had heard and surprisingly the majority of them were true. He explained that he wanted every candidate to understand what they were getting into before starting and then chickening out when it got tough, which is fair enough, thats why theres a £40k salary. As the day went on, he told us stories about his past with Aldi and explained the role in detail to us. in between he gave us 3 mins to think about a subject we could talk about for 2 minutes. We had to stand up and give a little speech on whatever we could think to talk about. I chose to talk about my volunteering past but others chose Made in Chelsea and Cyber Warfare. Then he split us into two again this time he gave us 5 mins to prepare a debate, one team for and the against the Olympics. I found this part the most difficult, I don't really have an interest in sports so my knowledge of the pros/cons is not great. Along with that being the only female there I was swamped by loud males who were passionate about the topic which made it hard for me to get a word in edgeways. That was it, no individual interview just the group activities so just make sure you get your personality across and make sure you speak! I received a letter in the post about 3/4 days later with the outcome of the interview.

Application was straight forward Video interview was around 6 questions with one minute to think and one minute to record Online test were easier than most jobs on Penn resources- numerical, reading and pattern. Assessment Centre was two hours we discussed a topic for our store walk: Competitor analysis, branding and merchandise, Corporate social responsibility. Then we were given 4 CVs to read and select the best one based off skills, location, feedback. then I had the final interview: CV screening, I was asked who were therein stakeholders in my life, how I would deal with demands of the job ect