Summer placement Review

by Unilever

Best Student Employer

This review was submitted over 4 years ago, so some of the information it contains may no longer be relevant.

Rating

3.6/5
  • The Role
    4.3
  • The Company
    3.4
  • The Culture
    3.0

    The Role

  • 1. To what extent did you enjoy your work placement or internship?
  • I really enjoyed the work placement here within the Finance Business Partner team. I had an individual project which I worked on throughout the internship as well as side projects such as learning how to use programmes like Power BI, in addition to ad hoc tasks on excel. I also went on business trips to Liverpool and Leatherhead.

    4/5

  • 2. To what extent did you feel valued by your colleagues?
  • I felt very valued within my team. I was given consistent feedback with frequent weekly catch-ups with my line manager. My team also begun each week with a team meeting where we would go around the room and share our current projects, this was when I had an opportunity to share my findings and learn how I could get involved in other team members work.

    5/5

  • 3. To what extent were you given support and guidance by management/your supervisor(s)?
  • My line manger was also there for me to answer any questions, even though he has a very busy schedule. He helped make sense of some of the work and projects I helped with and was also there for simple questions on excel. I was given support in taking a broad perspective of the business and was introduced to colleagues across the business who spoke to me about their disparate roles.

    5/5

  • 4. How busy were you on a daily basis?
  • I was pretty busy on a daily basis. Over the course of the internship I had an individual project which I worked on, which required me to analyse data, reach out to different regional teams and ask questions to get over problems arising when trying to draw conclusions. I also travelled to the various manufacturing sites across the UK to learn about the different roles Unilever offers. I also helped out with ad hoc tasks from formatting presentations to data analysis on excel.

    4/5

  • 5. How much responsibility were you given during your placement?
  • During my placement I was given lots of responsibility in updated performance decks as well as presenting finding of my individual project to senior management. One of my highlights was building a performance tracker for the Global Vice President of Fabric Conditioners. As the only intern within the HomeCare finance team, I was given lots to do.

    4/5

  • 6. To what extent did/will the skills you developed, and training you received, assist you in your degree studies and beyond?
  • During my internship I learned a lot about the role of making use of data and telling a story using platforms such as excel. I also learned how to express these findings in the form of well constructed and thought out presentations, which greatly improved my public speaking skills. I also completed online training on internal programmes such as Degreed to learn how to use new programmes such as PowerBi and forecast modelling.

    5/5

    The Company

  • 7. What was the general atmosphere in your office?
  • The office at 100VE has a great atmosphere with really motivated and fun employees. For example, I was lucky to have been around when we had the HomeCare Finance day away which was a blast and I got to know the team a lot better! The office also has a great culture in that many teams go out for drinks after work.

    5/5

  • 8. How well organised was the overall work placement or internship set up?
  • The work placement was well organised once I had begun. However, one of the downsides was communication from HR about the location of our placement. This was quite disruptive as interns could be placed anywhere across the UK and were not told until 2 weeks before we begun, which made it incredibly hard to find accommodation with such short notice and no extra compensation for finding accommodation in central London.

    3/5

  • 9. In terms of personal training and development, to what extent did the company or firm invest in you?
  • As a placement student I was not expecting any specific training. However, having been here has allowed me unlimited access to the internal training programmes and courses on Degreed. This has been a great opportunity to brush up my microsoft offices skills as well as learn new programmes and data analysis skills. I have really been able to develop my public speaking throught consistent public presenting.

    4/5

  • 10. What were the perks on your work placement?
  • Subsidised Canteen

    Sports and Social Club

    Subsidised/Company Gym

    National Travel

    Company Parties/Events

    Staff Sales/Staff Shop

    Working from home

    3/5

  • 11. How appealing are future employment prospects within the organisation?
  • Future employment prospects do seem to be high here as the Unilever brand represents a competitive application process with individuals from a wide variety of cultures. I think that there is a lot of mobility amongst roles within the firm, so I believe there is plenty of future employment prospects.

    4/5

    The Culture

  • 12. Was there a good social scene amongst any fellow placement students/colleagues?
  • Yes, there is quite a good social scene amongst fellow placement students. There are events and drinks organized amongst ourselves,however there could be more events Unilever could have organised. However, the induction days in Dorking were great and well organized and allowed us to meet all the interns working across the UK.

    4/5

  • 13. What was the cost of living and socialising in the area you worked in?
  • My office was located in Blackfriars in central london, making it very very expensive to go out after work. I think it would have been nice if Unilever had organized events for employees after work as the cost of socialising in central london is very expensive. Perhaps some sort of lunch voucher or subsidized kitchen could also be an improvement.

    2/5

  • 14. What was the Nightlife like in the area you worked?
  • There isn't that much Nightlife where I am working, however a lot of employees go to the local pub near the 100VE office which was nice. Nightlife as described earlear is very expensive and peraps better in other areas of london. However, it is a nice experience seeing coworkers after work

    3/5

  • 15. Were there many opportunities to get involved in activities outside of work?
  • There were often activities taking place after work whether it was heading to the pub or sports events. I think there could have been perhaps more socials organised by the company as most activities were usually initiated by individuals rather than the firm. However, i am aware there are initiatives such as Enactus and cooking classes which take place outside the office.

    4/5

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Details

Internship (1 Month+)

London

September 2019


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