Future Careers IP

Within my role I get involved with everything programme management and attraction related. This generally revolves around our placement students, graduates and apprentices. One day I could be designing a two-page spread advertising our graduate roles and the next I could be leading a talk to the newly joined graduates about what their next 3 years ahead specifically entails!

My highlight has certainly been the responsibility I have had to lead and manage my own projects. This certainly comes with its own sense of pressure of course, but the buzz you get when you deliver a great project for your team and customers is brilliant and you can feel yourself learning with every milestone reached.

My main challenge has been the working from home aspect. I am sure every placement student embarking on a 2020-21 programme can relate to the same difficulties. Having said that, I truly believe Unilever could not have managed this any better. I feel fully integrated into my team and have gone from feeling like I may be dead weight before I joined, to now being an integral part of a team where my abilities and contributions are respected alongside any other ‘full Unilever employee’.

My role has taught me so many valuable skills in such a short space of time. Perhaps the most important is to stand up and speak up for what you believe in. It is easy to feel like your ideas do not matter as much when you join a company of this magnitude, however, you’d be surprised how valuable a fresh outside perspective is. My team just want to find a combination between the most efficient and enjoyable way to pull off a project and whether that comes from a young IP’s mouth, or a seasoned manager, it does not matter.

My advice would be to someone after me would be to dive into anything and everything. You will be surprised by how many opportunities beckon at Unilever if you just accept things, network and go looking for opportunities when you feel comfortable enough.