Business & IT Analyst Review

My placement with Unilever was enjoyable in one sense because being part of a large organisation was a good experience for the future. I therefore enjoyed the environment and atmosphere on offer during my placement. On the other hand, I found the actual work I was given very unfulfilling so although the surface level experience was an interesting one, the majority of the placement was not very enjoyable.

The nature of working in such a large organisation means I didn't feel overly valued. I had a close relationship with my line manager and my HR contact who were both supportive and made me feel like a valued member of the business. However, the ability to get to know my wider team personally and feel like a valued member of the wider team was somewhat limited - it often seems like people are too busy and there are too many levels to the organisation for some colleagues to have any visibility of the work I was completing.

The placement was structured quite well to facilitate support throughout the year. I had a place within my team with a line manager and director who I worked with for my day to day job but I also had a 'contact manager' who acted as an external body to oversee my placement and be responsible for my wellbeing and satisfaction. I also think Unilever is a great company to get support and guidance from your peers, as interns we were constantly encouraged to network and engage with people who had succeeded in the business to get some advice for our own futures.

This isn't true for all interns, it is more specific to the role I was given but my workload was really inadequate most of the year. I constantly found myself asking for more work to no avail so spent a large portion of my time trying to find work for myself. In general, my workload was just very poorly managed - I'd spend a lot of time with nothing to do, waiting for some work and then when I did get work it would all come at once for a short period of time, rather than having a consistent workload.

I had little to no responsibility given to me during my placement, however, I do not believe this a reflection on Unilever's placement scheme, more a reflection of the specific experience I had with my manager. Other members of my team and my contact manager strove to improve my working conditions and give me more responsibility, however, my line manager micro-managed me and I found for most of my placement I was treated like a child. This is not a reflection on the placement scheme as I know other interns who were given many opportunities to work independently and had a lot of responsibility for their own projects.

I am unsure how much the skills I have developed will assist me in my degree but I think they will be very useful beyond university. I don't feel I developed many skills in my day to day activities within the company but the introduction to the work and business environment has been a very useful and interesting learning opportunity which will be useful in any future job.

The office atmosphere was quite laid back. We had a lot of open space and natural lighting which made for a nice working environment. Beyond this, the people were all very approachable and were always happy to give advice for my placement year and future. It also wasn't as corporate or as serious as I was expecting, although I think this was the case in my specific office, not all Unilever offices.

The overall placement scheme was organised very well. All the interns had an induction weekend together where we were able to get to know each other and establish connections for the upcoming year. This weekend also outlined what to expect in the upcoming year and the placement in general had a very clear structure and we all had clear points of contact etc within our specific functions.

I was encouraged to take part in some online courses on our learning platform Degreed however these weren't courses with a certification and any courses that were accredited wee only available for Unilever employees, not interns. Therefore although I was encouraged to spent some time learning, there wasn't a real investment in my development, it seemed more like something I was recommended to do by my manager to pass time.

There is a review at the end of my placement where my manager can decide whether or not to recommend me for the grad scheme. If I am recommended then I will be fast tracked to the assessment centre for the grad scheme. Therefore, performing well on placement helps bypass some of the early steps of the application process for future employment but you will still go through some assessment.

The social scene during placement was probably the highlight of my 12 months. The induction weekend was a great way to meet everyone else who would be on placement that year and there is also a great network of grads, many of whom had done a placement before. All the placement students were also put into a Facebook group before starting placement which gave us an opportunity to arrange accommodation with people who were based in the same office.

My placement role was based in the Port Sunlight office which is near Liverpool. At first, this seemed like a bad thing as I thought my placement would be in London but it turned out to be a blessing as I was able to find nice, modern accommodation right in the city centre for less than half the price some colleagues were paying in London and most general costs of living were lower in the North.

There was quite a good group of interns, grads and apprentices based in my office and a lot of us lived near each other in Liverpool city centre so it really created an ideal situation for nightlife and socialising. Liverpool has tonnes of bars and clubs and they are all really cheap in comparison to other parts of the country.

There weren't many activities to get involved in outside work unless it was something you had arranged yourself. As I didn't have any friends or family in Liverpool, I spent most of my time out of work with people I had met in work but these were all things we arranged personally, they were not set up by the company.