Industrial Placement - Supply Chain Review

Overall, I think this is a very good placement scheme and an enjoyable experience. Unilever's friendly atmosphere helped me to settle in from day one, and I've really enjoyed working with some great people. I was lucky enough to be based in the London office which really helped socially, as most of the other interns are based in London or Leatherhead and we would meet up regularly outside of work.

Even when part of a busy project, my managers still put aside time to explain things to me and answer any questions I had. You are also provided with wider support beyond your line manager, such as the placement leads and functional buddies. Everyone is friendly and eager to provide help whenever you need it.

For me, this varied substantially throughout the project as I was part of a digital transformation project team. My role didn't sit neatly under a function and I didn't really have day to day tasks to carry out. Some weeks were very busy, for example in the run up to a new technology release, while others were quieter. Overall, this balances out OK, just make sure you're not staying too late in office!

I have learned a great deal of new skills, and made strides developing those which were already existing. I was hoping to come out of this experience knowing what I would want to do once finishing uni, and while that isn't the case, my eyes have been opened to consider different roles which I would not have thought about before this placement. Unilever also provides a great deal of training opportunities, and they are flexible to suit you if you have particular interests.

Even in the 100VE office, where I was based most of the time, the atmosphere isn't as serious and formal as you might expect in central London. The dress code is a relaxed smart-casual and lots of people wear jeans. Most of the desks are hot-desks, so you're free to move about, and there are plenty of 'hang-out' spaces to meet others for a quick chat. The restaurant serves excellent food (some is a bit pricey for a student though), and there's a roof terrace open in the summer with fantastic views of London. There's usually plenty of office events going on throughout the year wherever you are based - we had Emeli Sande singing in the restaurant for international women's day!

Unilever treated me like a valuable employee, and did a lot to invest in me over the course of the placement. I gained a lot of knowledge from the time my managers and colleagues spent with me in the early stages, and was given opportunities to travel abroad as well. The company encourage you to make the most of the huge resources they have in online training and there are also many workshops you can take part in (e.g. skills training, mindfullness, purpose)

Unilever do offer a grad scheme, and a fast-tracked programme onto this for industrial placement students. The fast-tracked scheme is very competitive and difficult to get onto because they only enrol about 40-50 grads each year. As a result, they only put about 1 or 2 placement students through the fast-tracked programme each year.

Yes. I can't speak for other locations, but we had group chat amongst us and regularly organsied socials outside of the office. There was quite a big group of us living in the London/Clapham/Wimbledon areas which was nice and meant we often met up after work for drinks or at the weekend.

Being based in London, the cost of living was expensive. I lived with three other Unilever placement students to help share costs but even then, rent alone took around half of my income. Pubs / bars / clubs are pricey so it makes it difficult to go out too often. You can find lots to do for free in London though, but this doesn't make up for the cost of everything else. I got a student loan during my placement year - this helped me not to spend too much time worrying about money!

It's London so nightlife was good. There are so many different places to explore, that you never have to go to the same place twice if you don't want to. There is something to suit everybody. As mentioned before, drinks are expensive even at 'cheap' places so be sure to pre before heading out.