This review was submitted over 4 years ago, so some of the information it contains may no longer be relevant.
Rating
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The Role
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The Company
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The Culture
- 1. To what extent did you enjoy your work placement or internship?
- 2. To what extent did you feel valued by your colleagues?
- 3. To what extent were you given support and guidance by management/your supervisor(s)?
- 4. How busy were you on a daily basis?
- 5. How much responsibility were you given during your placement?
- 6. To what extent did/will the skills you developed, and training you received, assist you in your degree studies and beyond?
- 7. What was the general atmosphere in your office?
- 8. How well organised was the overall work placement or internship set up?
- 9. In terms of personal training and development, to what extent did the company or firm invest in you?
- 10. What were the perks on your work placement?
- 11. How appealing are future employment prospects within the organisation?
- 12. Was there a good social scene amongst any fellow placement students/colleagues?
- 13. What was the cost of living and socialising in the area you worked in?
- 14. What was the Nightlife like in the area you worked?
- 15. Were there many opportunities to get involved in activities outside of work?
The Role
I very much enjoyed my time at Unilever, the culture is brilliant and I was really contributing from day one and given real responsibility right from the off. The people are great too and there wasnt a single day that I woke up and thought 'oh no not another day at the office', which I think speaks a great deal.
Everyone at the company is very supportive and helpful, furthermore they are all great people. No matter how busy someone is they will always find time to help your development, which is a real help and helps you to grow into the role very quickly.
Both the line managers I have had on this placement have been very supportive. They have challenged me to step outside my comfort zone and be pro-active in the way I go about learning. They were also both very good at judging where I was in my development path and finding opportunitys / projects for me to do move forward in my development.
It varies between roles and the time of month. In my first role i would have some very busy days where i wouldnt finish until late into the evening. Whereas in my second role it was more of a 9-6 job (except for a busy week whenever month end came around). I was never bored and always had something to be working on but I rarely felt like i had too much on my plate to cope. If this had of been the case I know that I could have spoken to my line manager to prioritise my workload.
Alot. And from day one. As soon as I had settled into the role I was given tasks with real responsibility and towards the end of my time I was; preparing and delivering presentations to groups of 40 odd people, I was submitting reports that went to the head of finance and I was doing other similar task with a huge amount of responsibility.
I am studying for a BSc in Economics, which meant that this year wasnt strictly relevant to my course, it would be ideally suited to a student doing financial management or similar. That said I have learnt a huge deal about myself, about how i work well and how to get the best out of my time. It is these things which will help vastly come my final year in Uni.
The Company
The atmosphere was great. A perfect mix between professionalism and team banter. This of course will vary depending on which type of role you are in. When business partnering the marketeers you are surrounded by creative thinkers, but even on a purely finance team there are always great characters which leads to a great atmosphere.
It was well organised, I always knew what was expected of me and I knew what I had to do to meet the goals I was being judged against. During my placement one of my line managers moved roles, which meant for a month I had no direct report on my team, but that was unique to my experience and didnt detract from the way the placement was run.
Everyone was willing to take time out of their day to help my development. People were happy to help with all sorts of requests. I was able to take a day out of the office to visit a factory to get a better understanding of the production side of things, and I attended one or two training sessions during my time. I feel that a few more training sessions could have been organised however, maybe some sessions aimed purely at the placement students, to aide development.
Subsidised Canteen
Sports and Social Club
Subsidised/Company Gym
Company Parties/Events
Staff Sales/Staff Shop
Working from home
If you have a successful placement year at Unilever you are fast-tracked onto one of the final assessment days. This is a good incentive to work hard, and you need to work hard as the standards expected of you are high. I feel that whilst getting fast-tracker to this stage is a great opportunity it would be better if you could be offered a job for an exceptional placement. As if you do badly on the assessment day you wont get the job, even if you had a brilliant year here.
The Culture
In my intake there was only one other finance placement so not a huge social scene between the two of us, however within Unilever as a whole there is a decent social scene. In finance we have monthly get togethers outside of work to do all sorts of things from bowling to go-karting to going to the races. There is also normally at least one day out of the office as a team bondng day, and the christmas party is usually pretty good too (indoor bumper cars and a free bar).
I opted to live away from London so as to reduce my cost of living. This meant around £400/month for a double with en suite and a fairly cheap commute. However if you want to live in the city and commute out (which alot of people do) you could be looking at anything up to double that amount. I know the other student who was here when I was spent the majority of his wage on his housing. But then that will be the same for any job you find in the city.
Leatherhead has about 3 pubs and that's it. The company has an onsite bar but it shuts very early. However a short train ride to Clapham or Waterloo brings you into the hub of the city and all the socialising you want, and as this is where most employees live, you are sure to have plenty of your work mates out with you.
There were some limited opportunities. Several chances to go to a local school and educate about healthy eating, and several social clubs you could join up to (football, cricket, etc). I guess ultimately it is as good as you make it.
Details
Placement (10 Months+)
London
August 2011