Summer Marketing Placement Review

Working on Ireland Beauty & Personal Care Role. This was a very varied role and included day to day working on pricing, budget management and keeping e-commerce content up to date. It also involves sitting on meetings with agencies collaborating on media and influencer plans and content. Unilever commits to products with purpose. Involved in organising the launching of Dove day in Ireland. From communicating with schools and employees and collaborating with influencers for the media plan. Joined during summer which is peak planning for the following year. Able to see the development process of creating new products, how they are taken from the UK to Ireland market and selling to retailers.

Unilever provides you access to their online training platform called Degreed. This allows you to take control of your learning whenever you have a spare moment. For example I used this to take the opportunity to do a Ecommerce accelerator giving me an in depth overview of the key to winning on all things e-commerce. Also trained on performance tracking platforms such as Nielsen, Kantar, Livewire and PowerBI. Walked through pricing mechanisms and taught how new products are priced to market.

You are given high level of responsibility during this internship. For example I was given responsibility over organising the launch of Dove day in Ireland, from writing to schools and organising Unilever employees to signup and briefing more senior colleagues on the plan for the launch. You will always have a touch point to ask for help if needed, but there are always opportunities to take on more responsibility should be feel you are coping with your given workload. Your line manager will set you goals and outline your responsibilities at the beginning of your placement giving you an indication of what you can expect during your placement.

As I was placed on the Ireland team, but working from the UK my placement was virtual although when I applied it was expected to be in person. While this did make it originally more challenging, your team generally makes a great effort to touch based frequently. Although you should take initiative to ensure you are asking for any help required. An in person internship should make this much easier. Had I been on a UK team I would have been hybrid working.

As a virtual experience this was harder to get a sense of than had I been in the office. Generally however, they emphasise employee welfare. During summer hours you finish early at 3, and during winter you have a 2 hour lunch break on a Wednesday to ensure you can get some time outside during the day. They are also strict on ensuring you do not work overtime and have flexibility in picking your hours. For example 8-4 v 9-5.

Highly enjoyed the internship. A lovely team, lots of responsibility and development opportunities, with high emphasis on employee welfare. At the end of the internship opportunity to be either fast tracked to last stage of the application of the grad scheme or for direct entry opportunities. The only improvement would have been if I could have had more opportunities to go into the office but due to restrictions this was unfortunately not possible but something that will hopefully not affect future interns.

Yes

If you are wanting to apply to Unilever make sure you do your research to understand the companies values and ethics. They place a high value on sustainability and products with purpose, understanding the only companies that will grow will grow sustainability. They also emphasise the importance of a growth mindset, ensuring you take every opportunity to expand your skills and actively look for solutions to problems. Do not just wait to be delegated to by your manager