Assisitant brand manager Review

I really enjoyed my placement at Unilever! Initially I found it a challenge as it was something un-related to my degree at university, but I have gained so many new skills and experiences from it and I now feel more certain about my career choices after university.

There is a real sense of community within the teams at Unilever. Throughout my placement we had lots of team away days and socials outside of work and everyone was always really caring and considerate about how each other were feeling.

The support I had from my manager was fantastic. At the start of my placement I was set my objectives for the full year and we had monthly development meetings where we would discuss my areas of strength whilst highlighting any areas for development.

I found that I was much busier some weeks than others depending on the time of year and upcoming projects. If you find you are not as busy as usual, there is always something you can be doing to help out the wider team you just have to be proactive!

You are given so much responsibility during your placement year and treated like anyone else in the business! I was taking the lead on my own projects, working with cross functional teams such as sales and supply chain to ensure the product was delivered to market on time.

I have developed so many skills that I will take forward to university and my future career. The key skills I developed have been communication, confidence, resilience, project management and time management.

The office always had a really cheerful atmosphere. Everyone is really approachable and I was never afraid to get up from my desk and go over to speak to people instead of just communicating through email; often this helps to build relationships with different colleagues too! We had team huddles on a monday morning which was nice as you could hear what all the different brands had been working on the previous week.

I think the scheme was very well organised. We had an induction event at the start of placement to welcome us into the company where we were provided with the key information we needed. This was great as you felt very relaxed about starting the placement, especially as you got to know people that would be starting with you! I was always clear on expectations and procsses, and I think the work plan template we were given worked really well tobe clear on what was required of you throughout the role.

There was a very diverse range of training sessions available at the start of placement, however they were not compulsory and it was up to us to be proactive in signing up to these. You definitely felt the benefit of attending these as I was initally overwhelmed with how many new systems we had to become familiar with! I feel as though I have been given a lot of personal training and pushed to my best abilities, however I feel in general this would be dependent on your manager and their ways of working.

As I really enjoyed my placement year at Unilever, the graduate scheme is definitely something I would consider, especially now I have an idea of the type of role that would appeal to me.

The placement scheme was very social and I have made friends for life! At the start of placement throughout the summer, we would arrange weekly socials through our group chat. At the weekends we would go for drinks and do fun things such as crazy golf. I also lived with other people on placement which I really enjoyed.

The cost of living in London was not cheap! I lived in Wimbledon and my salary did easily cover my rent and leave me with disposable income, I just had to make sure I managed my money as I enjoy going out for drinks etc and these were definitely not student prices!

The nightlife was hit and miss as there are so many different types of clubs and bars in London. I had some really fun nights out (I reccomend Ballie Ballerson) and also visited places I wouldn't again! My friends and I would usually go for drinks at different bars instead of going to the clubs as it always took a long time to get there and back!

Unilever gave you so many opportunities; I was able to run a workshop to a class of secondary school children as part of the Dove Self-esteem project and as I worked on the brand I also got to be a judge for the Dove Self-esteem project competition, where schools had entered with initiative on how they wanted to better their communitues. I got to attend a PR event (I even met Gemma Collins), I was a judge for the Enactus competition and I also got to attend WE Day at the O2 which was amazing!