Internship Review at Unilever

The Role

Role Description

Worked in Consumer Technical Insights (CTI) in Unilever’s Research and Development centre in Liverpool.
-Completed two independent projects for CTI:
- The first was the organisation of an interactive display for a site open day, this gave me important experience of working in a large company and liaising with many people in order to progress a project.
- The second required me to analyse of a large amount data, understand and identify relevant information and present this in an accessible format.
- The placement gave me invaluable experience in time management, decision making and the coordination of a project involving many people.

1. To what extent did you enjoy your work placement or internship?

★★★★★★★★☆☆

Rated 8/10

It took a while to settle in, as with any job, but once I had got used to the environment and what I was doing it was really enjoyable. My projects were both useful and fun and all the people in the whole business were lovely. At times however the work could be a little tedious, for example I had to find a lot of data from different places when what I really wanted to be doing was analysing it. But again I think this is unavoidable in a large company.

2. To what extent did you feel valued by your colleagues?

★★★★★★★☆☆☆

Rated 7/10

Everybody was very nice, and every person I spoke to was so helpful. I had to arrange meetings with a lot of people for one of my projects to see if they could help me with things and no one said no everyone was happy to help.

3. To what extent were you given support and guidance by management/your supervisor(s)?

★★★★★★★★★★

Rated 10/10

Me line manager was great, I got a lot of help from her at the beginning, but also had enough freedom to do the things I wanted with the projects. However I know a few others placement students felt they did not have as much guidance as they would have liked. So this depends on the line manager you get given and can be hit and miss.

4. How busy were you on a daily basis?

★★★★★★★★★☆

Rated 9/10

Most of the time I was fairly busy, with work to do and a few meetings most days. At the start there were times when I did not have very much to do as I could not move forward with either of my projects. However by the end of the placement I was working longer hours in order to get everything done for my projects; again this is quite realistic of normal job with busy spells and quieter spells. I think overall I had a good balance.

5. How much responsibility were you given during your placement?

★★★★★★★★☆☆

Rated 8/10

In my opinion I was given a lot of responsibility for someone who had just joined the company. I was managing the creation of a display for my department for a large site open day and I made a lot of the decisions concerning this project myself, sometimes after discussion with other employees. I was surprised by how much freedom I was given, at first this was quite scary but I came to enjoy it as I could always refer back to my line manager if I needed to or was unsure of a company policy.

6. To what extent did/will the skills you developed, and training you received, assist you in your degree studies and beyond?

★★★★★★★★★★

Rated 10/10

This placement was brilliant in terms of gaining useful skills. I learnt a lot about dealing with people in a large business, about meetings and about running a small project my self. The analytical skills I gained in my data analysis project were also really useful for future use. However again this is dependent on the department you get assigned to, I know some other placement students who were working for example in the labs did not take as many transferable skills away from the placement.

The Organisation

7. What was the general atmosphere in your office?

★★★★☆☆☆☆☆☆

Rated 4/10

In general most people got on with their work and it was quite a quiet atmosphere. However there were regular tea breaks and chats which were nice.

8. How well organised was the overall work placement or internship set up?

★★★★★★★☆☆☆

Rated 7/10

Most things ran very well, we were all assigned managers and places before we arrived and our projects were all set out ready. However as with anything in large businesses there were a few hitches and set backs at the start that needed to be sorted out before we could really start.

9. In terms of personal training and development, to what extent did the company or firm invest in you?

★★★★★☆☆☆☆☆

Rated 5/10

The placement allowed me to develop a lot of skills that would be transferable to other work places, however there were no training sessions specifically aimed at us and I don't feel I gain any specific new set of skills. For example I was not trained on any new computer programs or techniques.

10. What were the perks on your work placement?

★★★★★★★☆☆☆

Rated 7/10

• Flexi Time
• Subsidised Canteen
• Subsidised/Company Gym
• Staff Sales/Staff Shop

11. How appealing are future employment prospects within the organisation?

★★★★★★★★☆☆

Rated 8/10

I would really like to work within Unilever in some way; I liked the way the company worked and how everybody treated each other. I also enjoyed the day to day work. However joining the graduate scheme means moing every six months and this is less appealing to me.

Other Information

12. Was there a good social scene amongst any fellow placement students/colleagues?

★★★★★★★★☆☆

Rated 8/10

We went to the pub quite a lot and had some nights out together. I was also put in touch with a few other placement students and we living together for the summer, luckily we all got on really well. The was a graduate employee who helped arranged events for the placement students so the social scene was good.

13. What was the cost of living and socialising in the area you worked in?

★★★★★★★★★☆

Rated 9/10

I was in Liverpool, where we found a good cheap house to rent for the summer. And the cost of living was not too high. Coming from near London I found Liverpool quite cheap, but this obviously depends on where you come from!

14. What was the Nightlife like in the area you worked?

★★★★★★★★★★

Rated 10/10

Liverpool nightlife is renowned as amazing, I went out a few times but was visiting friends quite a bit at the weekends so I don't think I made the most of it. However it was certainly available.

15. Were there many opportunities to get involved in activities outside of work?

★★☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆

Rated 2/10

Apart from a few trips to the pub, and some country walks that I heard were being arranged there were not a lot of things going on after work.

In addition to these questions, is there any extra information you would like to leave about your experiences on your work placement that other students may be interested in?

I regards to the social aspect I think its what you make of it really, I spent most of my weekends at home with friends or family and as a result did not do very much socialising at the placement. As I was only there for 10 weeks I therefore did not get involved with much social activities, and ended up not experiencing that much of liverpool. So bare this in mind when choosing a placement and when you get there.

Review 46/52 for Unilever

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