Requirements Planner Review

It has its up's and downs but overall it has been a valuable learning experience. You are put straight into your role and expected to perform from day 1, which is great insight into what it will be like when we go into full time work. Unilever are a very flexible company to work for, letting you work the hours that you want and work from home.

During my placement, I was a requirements planner and the majority of people who I interacted with on a day to day basis didn't even realise that I was a placement student. I have really felt an important member of the planning team and feel that I was contributing significantly and look back and see things that are in place directly there because of me.

The placement scheme at Unilever is very structured and there are processes put in place to provide maximum support to placement students. However, HR do not check up on placement students reulararly throughout their placement to make sure that they are getting the support that they should. It wasn't until the end of my placement that I had a lot less support compared to other placement students. Unfortunately, this will really be based on what function that you choose, your team and who your line manager is.

Towards the beginning and of my placement the amount of work that I was given was very minimal, and I found myself struggling to find things to do. However, for the main bulk of my placement I was constantly busy and always having things to do. Sometimes I felt quite overwhelmed with the amount of work that I needed to complete, however Unilever is a very flexible company, and so the majority of the time I worked 8am until 4pm so I was quite happy to put in a few extra hours to catch up.

I haven't heard of a placement student yet that hasn't been a fundamental part of their team. We have all been given responsibility for day-to-day tasks and big projects that we can be held accountable for. Having lots of responsibility really helps give you purpose in your work, and it is great being able to see a project from start to finish and know that you had a significant impact in getting there,

Having strong excel skills is fundamental to working within Unilever, no matter what function that you are in. Although Unilever offices are very different to most other companies, with their causal dress code (yes, t-shirts and trainers are allowed) and seeing everyone in the office always walking around with an ice cream in their hand, it has really given me insight into how people work within such a large organisation, the benefits and also the drawbacks.

Unilever's offices are very casual. There is not dress code in any of the offices or factories which creates a very casual working environment (yes, you can wear jeans and t-shirts). Having this casual atmosphere helps keep people relaxed during their work. Unilever is a very flexible company and therefore allow you to choose the hours that you work. This is really good if you have other commitments are work and again helps keep the working environment very happy. Not matter what function you are in, everyone one is always willing to help and would happily give you some time if you need support.

There is a set structure that the placement scheme follows, however no body checks up on this during the placement to make sure that what is expected of line managers is actually happening. There are set review periods which is useful for you to really understand what you are doing well, what you need to improve on and how you can do that. Unilever are very slow in telling you where you will be based for your placement, usually you don't find out until you are very close to starting your placement. If you have a specific location where you would like to be based, let them know as early as possible and usually they will do their best to base you where you want to be.

There is no external training that is provide by Unilever whilst you are on your placement year. However, if you get on to the grad scheme, they will help support you through qualifications that they expect you to have. There are lots of training opportunities within Unilever that are run every month by employees. These can either be learning more about the business if you are a new starter or getting better on excel. Additionally, if you want to learn more about the company, there is always going to be someone from around the business that is willing to spend time with you to explain something.

I personally did not want the grad scheme with Unilever, as I don't think that it fitted in with what I am looking for. During my placement year, I was given a full time job to do as a requirements planner. This is role that I would be able to apply for after finishing University and join as a full time employee. I have been told that I should remain in contact with the team, as they have thought that I am a highly effective team member and they would to see me return to the role after University.

I have chosen to live at home during my placement year, because I wanted to try and save some money and it just so happened that I was able to commute from home. I defiantly would recommend to any, to try and ask for a location that is close to your house. Although its fun living in a house with a load of other placement students, working a full week, there isn't usually much extra time for socialising. As there were only a couple of pubs near the office, the main place that we could go out was London. This then became very expensive as we were paying for train tickets and drinks which is a lot of money. However, it was only a 20 minute train into Clapham junction for the office, so there were always a lot of choice of bar that we could go to.

There wasn't much of a nightlight in the area that we worked. If we wanted to go out, it had to be in London. This then made it very difficult to get home, and would sometimes mean cutting the night short because we had to get the last train home. Going out in London was always really fun as there was a always somewhere new to go for drinks and always a happy hour (which did help keep the cost of the ngiht down).