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Aldi video interview explained
Nowadays, almost all job applicants at Aldi have to pass a short video interview. It is the first part of the recruitment process, and you won’t talk with anyone from Aldi yet. You will just record your answers to the questions you see on the screen of your smartphone or laptop. This is how it works:
- They ask you to say your name and the position you are applying for.
- A question appears on the screen, and you have one minute to answer it. Your answer is recorded.
- There are typically five total questions (though they sometimes mix it up a bit), basically the questions you will learn how to answer while reading this post (Why Aldi, your motivation, conflict with a colleague/customer, availability, etc).
Please bear in mind that their expectations are no super high at this point of the hiring process. With the video interview they just want to see that you are serious about your application, have a good command of English, and know why you want to work for Aldi. The key is to look motivated yet composed at the same time. Calmly answer their questions, and do force to say something more if you still have 30 seconds left. You say what you want to, and then just calmly sit and wait for the next question.
It is also important to not get distracted by one bad answer. Stay in the moment. Maybe you won’t say exactly what you want while dealing with one of the question. That’s fine though, since (as I’ve already said), their expectations are not super high at this point. Just focus on the next question, keep positive body language, and go through the entire video interview. Let’s have a look at the question now (you may face these 10 questions in both face to face and video interview setting).
Why do you want to work for Aldi?
In reality you do not care, and simply want to work in a retail store that pays decent money–which Aldi does. But as you can probably guess, this won’t make for a good interview answer to this question, or to the alternative they commonly use: “What appeals to you about working for Aldi?”
Do your research, and try to find something about Aldi that resonates with you. It can be the emphasis they place on teamwork, excellent training for new hires, employee benefits (for example covering health insurance), or simply their main motto “We exist to offer the best value for our customers.”
You want to work for a chain of supermarkets with such a lofty vision–at least you should say so in an interview. Deep down you know it is nothing original, and most store have similar core values, but you won’t reveals this public secret in an interview with Aldi :).
Another alternative is referring to more prosaic reasons. For example, if the store is just five minutes away from your apartment, it will be easy for you to commute to work. And hence you decided to apply. Since this question is quite popular, we have 7 sample answers online for it. Check it here: Why do you want to work for Aldi?
Can you tell us something about your working experience?
No experience is required really, but you should at least convince them that you have basic working habits, and won’t be late to work every other day.
Try to talk positively about your former jobs. Stress the lessons you learned, and duties you were responsible for, especially if they match with the duties you’ll carry out daily at Aldi. And be prepared the “Why did you leave your last job?” question, because they will likely ask you about your reasons to leave your former employer–if this isn’t your first ever job application.
When you have done no work before, ensure them that you are eager to learn and not lazy. You should show confidence in your ability to handle the work in a supermarket. Once you are confident, the hiring managers will share your confidence. The opposite is also true.
Special Tip: What if I told you that you can practice your answers to all ALDI interview questions, getting an immediate feedback from a life-like AI interview coach? And that you can start doing it for free, and it is a lot of fun too? 🙂 Check out this page on our partner website, Real Mock Interviews, pick a question and start practicing for free, either on your mobile phone or on your computer. Check it out now and see for yourself!
What do you know about Aldi?
Job interview is neither a history lesson nor a school exam. And while you can share some facts about Aldi, to demonstrate that you aren’t totally ignorant, such as that they operate in more than 20 countries, or are in business since 1961, you should focus on something else in your answer.
Try to talk about Aldi from a perspective of a customer, and an employee.
For example, do they have better selection of fruits and vegetables when compared with their competitors in the area? And what about the drinks selection? Does Aldi promote any local products? And do they have better or worse prices for the groceries? That’s what you should focus on while answering “What do you know about Aldi?“.
Then you mention also other things–whether the stores are friendly for disabled people, if they have clean toilets :), availability of parking places, etc. You can also talk about Aldi from a perspective of an employee, and in an ideal case you should praise the company for something:
- fair system of rewards and employee benefits
- excellent training program
- some flexibility in terms of shift patterns
- anything else you’ve heard from other employees, especially good things
What does an excellent customer service mean to you?
For almost every retailer excellent customer service is a top priority, and Aldi is no exception. You can define such a service in various ways. For example, you can say that when a customer feels welcome, respected and attended to, from the moment they enter the supermarket until they leave, we can certainly say that they had a great customer experience.
But you can talk also about other things, such as logical organization of the store and displaying of merchandise (so they can find whatever they need), services they can use (luggage lockers, toilets, information desk, ATM), and similar things.
More than anything else, you should ensure your interviewers that whatever Aldi recognizes as an excellent customer service, you are ready and eager to deliver it, to and each and every customer–once you understand it during the training.
Special Tip: We have a also a separate article, where you can find 7 sample answers to “What is your definition of an outstanding customer service” question. Check it out if you are not sure about your answer.
This is a repetitive work. How do you plan to motivate yourself in the job?
The worst possible answer is saying that you expect your superiors to motivate you. Such motivation never works in a long run, and interviewers at Aldi are well aware of the fact. But you have a few options for a good answer.
One is claiming that you prefer repetitive jobs. You have your qualities but you aren’t the most creative person in the world (if you were, you would apply for a completely different job). For you it is important to know what exactly is expected from you (in terms of both tasks and behavior), and then you enjoy taking care of your duties, day after day, without a need to strain your mental capacities.
Another option is referring to teamwork, and your colleagues at Aldi. You enjoy being a part of a team, and do not want to let your colleagues down with a poor performance. And you are sure that you’ll have some fun together and will encourage each other in work. This is a realistic answer, because teamwork is an important part of Aldi’s working culture.
How do you feel about working on weekends, or doing 12 hour long shifts?
This is one of the drawbacks of working in any supermarket–they are almost always open, and someone has to be there. On some weekends it will be your colleagues, and on some it will be you.
And this is exactly the attitude you want to show in an interview–that you are ready to sacrifice one or two weekends each month, staying in work, so your colleagues can enjoy some quality time with their family or friends. Certainly on other weekends they will pay you back the favor.
Talking about long shifts (10, 12, or even 14 hours), you should ensure the hiring managers that you can remain focused during a long shift, and count with doing long shifts in the job. You read the job description carefully and know what will be expected from you.
How would you deal with a difficult (angry, simple, hostile, uncooperative) customer?
You can start by ensuring the interviewers that you are well aware of the fact that all kinds of people do their shopping at Aldi, and that not all customers will be nice to you, or to other staff members.
You will try your best to remain courteous in any circumstances, and won’t get into arguments with the customers. If you want, you can also elaborate on different types of customers from the question:
- Trying to understand the reason of their anger, you will try to pacify the customer with your kindness and with your effort to solve their complaint.
- You will have all the patience in the world with a simple person, explaining them the same thing over and over, until they finally have the answers to their questions.
- Reporting the hostile customer to a nearest security guard you will protect other customers and colleagues from their aggressive behavior.
- And with an uncooperative customer you will courteously try to understand the reason why they do not want to cooperate, and will address the situation accordingly.
Special tip: You can download all questions for Aldi interviews in a simple, one page long PDF, and practice your interview answers anytime later:
What would you do if you did not agree with an opinion of your superior or supervisor?
This a tricky question, one of the few questions about Aldi’s business model and working culture you may have to deal with in the interview. They expect you to respect the line of hierarchy in the supermarket, and follow the directions of the supervisors. On the other hand, Aldi strives to deliver an excellent customer service, and to treat their employees well. If you think that something could be done better, or is not fair at all to the customer or employee, you should share your feedback with someone in the store.
Tell the interviewers that you would talk to a superior. You would explain them your reasoning, share your opinion. And if they were ignorant, you would not mind approaching the store manager. However, at the end, after you shared your feedback and suggestions, you will let them to decide, and you will respect their decision.
Basically you fell obliged to share your opinion (trying to improve things for customers and employees), but at the same time respect your superiors and their responsibility to make decisions.
May also interest you: How to overcome interview nerves.
You overheard two colleague gossiping something about someone in the store which wasn’t true. What would you do?
I suggest you to say that you would simply ignore it, and focus on your job. Gossips will always be present, in every workplace in the world. But you prefer not to get involved, and you do not like to share any gossips about your colleagues.
If other people waste their time in work with useless talks, it is their problem, not yours. You will try to have good relationship with your colleagues, you do not plan to gossip, but what others do you cannot control.
After everything that has been said in this interview, do you want to add something, or do you have any questions?
You do not necessarily have to ask anything. If your interview went well, if you have a good feeling from the meeting with the managers, you can simply thank them for their time and wish them good luck. Or you can once again emphasize your motivation to work for Aldi, and ensure them that you still want the job, after everything that happened in your interview.
A few good questions you can ask, when you feel like asking something:
- What are the next steps of the hiring process? Is there anything else I can do to improve my chances of getting hired?
- May I ask approximately when will you tell me your decision?
- Can you tell me a little bit more about the shift patterns (training program, anything else)?
What to wear to an interview with Aldi
Try to keep it simple. In a ideal case you should were the same clothes you would wear to the job. If you apply for a store associate, cashier, or a similar job, jeans (or pants) and shirt are completely fine, as long as they are clean and you feel comfortable wearing them.
When you apply for a managerial position, you should put on something more formal, such as a skirt and blouse for women or typical business attire for men. Interview attire tips will tell you a bit more, if you still aren’t sure. At the end of the day, your clothes are always of secondary importance here. Some people waste an entire day thinking what to wear to Aldi interview and trying on different dresses and what not, instead of spending their time preparing for the questions. I hope you won’t make the same mistake!
Aldi group interview – is there any difference?
In certain cases, Aldi may interview up to ten people at the same time, in a group interview settings. This is how it works:
- Each applicant has to write down their personal information, plus answers to a few questions you’d normally answer in the one on one interview: your motivation, availability, strengths.
- Each applicant introduces themselves, typically within one or two minutes. This part can be stressful for people who do not deal well with speaking in front of a group of strangers.
- A store tour follows.
- They may ask you for a face to face interview on the same day afterwards, based on the impression you made during your introduction, the tour (try to ask questions if you find anything interesting), and the answers you provided on the sheet in writing.
One thing to remember for the group interview: Aldi uses this form of interviewing to save time and resources. You do not really compete with other interviewees. Everyone from the group can get a job, and they may as well send everyone home empty-handed! Hence the key is to focus on your own application. Do not waste your energy trying to say something special, or thinking whether others did better than you in the introduction. You do not compete with them in the group interview. Just try your best, answering the questions as you prepared for them beforehand, with the help of this article.
Summary, next steps
Interviews for in-store positions at Aldi, such as Store Associate, Caretaker, or Assistant Store Manager belongs to easier job interviews. You typically won’t compete with many people for the job, and the questions won’t be particularly difficult. What’s more, Aldi is almost always hiring, because they continue to grow as a company, opening new stores in many countries, and also the employee turnover is quite high. Video interviews are also pretty common.
This means that as long as you show some motivation and enthusiasm in your interview, and provide at least decent answers to their questions, they will give you a chance and hire you. Try to relax, read this article again, think about your answers to the questions. And do not forget to read something about Aldi, and to visit the store as a customer before you interview there for a job.
All of this will help you to get familiar with the place, and to prepare for your interview. I wish you good luck!
Matthew
May also help you succeed in your interview at Aldi:
- Salary negotiation tips – Jobs in supermarkets do not belong to the best paid jobs, but you can definitely win at least a slightly better conditions. Learn the basics of salary negotiation and benefit from it in your interview.
- Store Manager interview questions – Read this article if you apply for a deputy store manager or store manager position with Aldi.
- Body language in an interview – Hiring managers observe a lot of things while talking to you. Do you keep an eye contact? Do you gesticulate? What does your non-verbal language tell about you, and about the authenticity of your interview answers? Learn more in the article.
