Shopper marketing placement student Review

I am responsible for designing the POS in store that attracts customers to products. This involves choosing different touchpoints as marketing leverage for brands such as marmite, magnum, pot noodle, etc. I am also responsible for analysing the sales data and looking at what performed well/not so well and how improvements can be made next time. I am also involved in the budgets and forecasting amounts to be spent throughout the year on certain campaigns

I like to think I have learnt a lot of communication skills. Being in sales, you interact with the clients and various stakeholders a lot so are exposed to speaking and networking with lots of different people both without the business and externally. Also, organisation skills. There is always a lot going on so it is really important that I prioritise certain projects and ensure I am meeting correct deadlines. To-do lists have really helped me

Lots of responsibility! I wasn't expecting it. You are put in charge of projects by yourself (obviously can ask for support) but they trust you to make decisions/take actions based on your own knowledge which can be quite scary but with the right support and training in place, it gets easier over time You are trusted to lead meetings with buyers and important individuals, make decisions about touchpoints for marketing, and so on

I think this all depends on the team you work in. I am very lucky that I have a very supportive team, who are willing to offer guidance and support whenever I ask. One thing I would recommend is just trusting yourself and not being afraid to make mistakes as that's how you learn the most. Line managers and other placement students are a good point of call to reach out to for support

The company culture at unilever is really positive. You can tell they really care about their employees and want the best for them. An example is wellbeing wednesday where every wednesday you get a 2 hour lunch break to enjoy some time away from the laptop. The atmosphere is very casual - not too high stress or overwhelming which I think is really important coming in as a new placement student. I really recommend it all

I am really enjoying my placement at Unilever. I think you are given a good amount of responsibility, so you feel important but not too much that it is overwhelming. The company culture is really supportive and there are lots of opps to learn more about the business and ways of working As lots of other placement students are hired, it's a really good way to meet more individuals and socialise outside of work

Yes

I would say they look for people that are passionate about the business and want to learn more about working for an FMCG company so do your research and learn more. Also, be yourself. Unilever is less bothered about high grades and coming from russell-group unis, it is more about how you present yourself as a person and the passion you bring to the role. The assessment centre is a really good way for you to show this