From initial application to offer, the recruitment process took about 2 months. Although challenging, I found the experience very positive and I heard back about each stage quickly. There are five stages to the recruitment process. Stage 1 involves completing an initial application form with your personal details and answering some competency-based questions about your skills and experience. You are also required to complete a situational judgement based test. Stage 2 involves completing a psychometric test with three elements; verbal, numerical and diagrammatical reasoning. Personally, I find these sorts of tests challenging but I made it through so don't let it put you off applying! The practise tests are much easier than the graded ones so be aware of that. If you've passed the first two stages, you will then be invited to complete a video interview. This is an automated process where questions will pop up on the screen. You will have some preparation time and then roughly a minute to give your answer. I had done a lot of preparation for this stage so found the time to give answers quite limited. I had about 9 questions, some personal, some about Aldi and then some competency-based questions. Stage 4 is a group assessment based in Bolton. You've done really well if you've made it to group assessment as it is so competitive to reach this stage. Although it may be quite a stressful few days preparing in the run-up, I personally found it a really positive and rewarding experience. The session was split into two sections; presentations and group task. My advice for the presentation would be to have a really good overview of Aldi and your store walk. I had prepared well for about 6 obvious topics to come up; store layout, products etc. However, some of the presentation topics on the day were ones I hadn't thought about but because I'd done a lot of research during my store walk, it went smoothly. You'll be fine if you do your research. For the group task, my advice is to be a leader but also make sure you listen to others and give them a chance to give their opinion. Work as a team together. Assessors will be tough and will ask you some difficult questions, but you will need to be resilient for the area manager role so it is a good test! The last stage, final interview, is in your allocated area and with the Regional Managing Director. It is a real honour to get to this stage and an amazing opportunity to engage with someone so high up in the company. The interview was a lot less intense than I was expecting. It was more an opportunity for them to get to know me and see if I was someone they would want in their team.