Industrial Placement Student HR Review

by Unilever

Best Student Employer

Rating

3.4/5
  • Skills
    3.8
  • Responsibilities
    4.0
  • Support & Guidance
    2.5
  • Culture
    3.5
  • Your Impressions
    3.3

    Overview

  • 1. Please give an overview of your role and what this involves on a day-to-day basis.
  • On a daily basis I will handle the admin for learning signups across the UKI, as well as manage 3 email accounts (my own, my FC teams and the UKI Learning teams). I will also assist with projects around attraction of graduates, placement students and apprentices. Lastly, I will help onboard the previous three categories when they join us. I can expect to take many calls throughout a normal working day.


    Skills

  • 2. Have you learnt any new skills, or developed your existing skills?
  • I developed my skills in Microsoft office proficiently. Particularly excel, which is so useful to modern working, I can do things on there that I did not even know existed prior to my placement. Secondly, my time management and organisation has vastly improved, through the use of outlook and keeping an orderly notepad / to do list.


  • How would you rate the training provided during your experience?
  • 4/5

  • How would you rate your development of industry-specific skills during the experience?
  • 4/5

  • How would you rate your development of personal / soft skills during the experience?
  • 3/5

  • Please rate how these skills have helped you in your career development
  • 4/5

    Responsibilities

  • 3. Were you given much responsibility during your placement / internship?
  • Yes I was given a tremendous amount of responsibility. I was told this would be the case before joining. I also worked across two teams and so I knew I’d have a larger workload than if I didn’t. I was trusted to lead on projects myself and carry out tasks at times without even feeding back to a line manger. I certainly wasn’t making teas and coffees


  • Please rate how meaningful the work you were doing was
  • 4/5

    Support & Guidance

  • 4. How much support and guidance did you receive during your placement / internship?
  • I think the support and guidance I received was okay. I think at the start of my placement I did receive a lot because I was new and people expect you need that training. As things went on however I do think my training lessened as I was expected to perform independently, which is fine to a point. However, I do believe my line manager could’ve done more to support nearer the end.


  • How would you rate the support and guidance from your line manager?
  • 3/5

  • How would you rate the support and guidance from the wider team?
  • 2/5

    Culture

  • 5. What was the company culture and general atmosphere like?
  • I think the overall company culture around sustainability and forward thinking work is good on the surface for such a large company. However, I think once you delve into the company there is a cultural issue around working hours. Line managers will tell you not to work beyond 5, until they need something from you and then this will be abandoned to get this done.


  • How would you rate the inclusiveness of the culture?
  • 4/5

  • How would you rate the social opportunities?
  • 2/5

  • How would you rate the diversity initiatives?
  • 4/5

  • How would you rate the charity, sustainability and corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives?
  • 4/5

    Your Impressions

  • 6. To what extent did you enjoy your placement / internship?
  • My placement enjoyment was sort of split. I did enjoy the first 7/8 months as I am learning and taking on responsibility. However, I feel in my last 5 months I had a large workload which did not allow me to go beyond just getting the job done and I was criticised for not excelling, however felt incapable of doing so. This really frustrated me and made me go into my shell.


  • Please rate your level of enjoyment on your placement / internship
  • 3/5

  • Please rate how your experience met your expectations
  • 3/5

  • Please rate the future employment prospects at Unilever
  • 4/5

  • 7. Would you recommend Unilever to a friend?
  • Yes


  • 8. What advice would you give to others applying to Unilever
  • I would say to them to probably go for it. It’s a good company that looks good on your CV and you will pick up valuable experience along the way. Even if by the end you fall out of love with the working culture like myself, you can still take the useful things what they’ve taught you into something you prefer.


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Details

Placement (10 Months+)

Human Resources

South East

June 2021


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