Graham Hetherington, managing director, Aldi

Graham Hetherington, managing director, Aldi

The money is impressive. Aldi pays shop floor staff a minimum £8.53 per hour, making it the best paying supermarket in Britain (the national living wage is £7.20 per hour, the Living Wage Foundation’s recommended base rate is £8.25 per hour.)

But the graduate scheme is where Aldi shines. With a starting salary of £42,000, rising to £73,450 after four years, Aldi is quite clear they will earn every penny. But the reward is clear progression through the ranks.

“I was super impressed,” said one judge. “They are second only to one of the big accountancy firms and are knocking spots off their rivals. And those rivals will sink because the good talent is going to Aldi. If you want to go into general business management via retail, in my day it was P&G and Mars.

“But those companies won’t get the best brains that don’t do accountancy and law, because they will go to Aldi.”