HR Summer Intern Review

I very much enjoyed my 12 week summer internship with FMCG giant, Unilever. I met some really great people, employees and interns alike, and overall it was a really enjoyable experience. I learnt a lot and I feel that I developed many new skills that will benefit me in any future career.

Very valued by colleagues! My team had some important projects lined up for me to work on and the work I was doing was having a positive impact for my team, which in turn made me feel valued. My team was always appreciative of the work that I completed and I felt like any other member of the team.

I was given a reasonable amount of support, but I would have liked to have had more support from my line manager. Due to the demanding nature of her role and at a time when the business was going through a lot of internal changes, she had less time to dedicate to me. However, other members of my team were always on hand to guide me.

On a day to day basis, I was fairly busy, but at no points did I feel overwhelmed. The project work I was assigned took up the majority of my time, but I also found the time to network and explore other departments. There were some days that I stayed later or arrived to the office earlier, but for the majority I was working 9am to 5pm.

I was impressed with the amount of responsibility I was given on my placement and had the opportunity to manage a couple of projects. I worked with internal and external stakeholders in order to meet objectives and complete the projects. I enjoyed being able to manage my own diary and meetings.

The skills that I develop during the time truly are skills for life! Not only did I develop keys skills, such as networking, presentation and analytical skills, but I also greatly grew in confidence during my time at Unilever. The time management skills I developed will also help me in my final year of university

I found there to be a good general atmosphere in the office. It was reasonable quiet as it was over the summer period when most people tend to be on holiday, but I still found it to be buzzy and an exciting environment to be in. As I was in the global head office, it was a fast paced environment to be in. I found everyone in the office to be friendly and I was able to build strong relationships with colleague.

I found the summer internship to be reasonably well organised. My only criticism was that I only found out where I was based (location wise) a month before starting so it was a bit of a rush to sort out accommodation. Aside from that, the placement was well structured, with training session organised and an end of placement review.

I felt well invested in. There were a number of online training courses we could complete.

The summer placement is a fast track route onto the graduate scheme (although you still need to attend an assessment centre). If you work hard, it is likely that you will be fast tracked.

There was a really great scene amongst placement students! We all became close friends and would spend most lunch times together, when we didn't have meetings etc. We would often go out and get food from somewhere nearby the office and, in the evenings, we would go for drinks after work. My team was also quite sociable and I went for dinner with them several times.

The cost of living was high being in Central London. My biggest two expenses were accommodation and travel costs. Although I had a reasonable salary for an intern, I do not think that it reflected the cost of living in London and there was no difference in salary for interns based in London and the north of England, where cost of living is clearly much lower.

Being based in Blackfriars, Central London, the night life was really good! There are so many nice bars and restaurants nearby, plus the added benefits of being so close to the beautiful St Paul's Cathedral. It is also really easy to get to other parts of London, such as Shoreditch, where there is a really great night scene.

So many opportunities to get involved in activities outside of work! There is a really great free gym in the office, which offers fitness classes. As Unilever has implemented a system of agile and flexible working, we were encouraged to use the gym throughout the day. There were also a number of sports teams that employees could join. Furthermore, there were so many charity events to get involved in, as well as, community outreach projects.