Early Careers Industrial Placement Student Review

My role entails managing several projects relating to the recruitment cycle we host annually. This ranges from organising and delivering assessment centres, to developing mandatory training for our early careers talent to upskill them as they join Unilever.
Day to day, my role is very varied but involves engaging with a variety of stakeholders and working on projects that respond to the businesses needs and requests of our team. Most of the time it involves curating presentations to deliver, creating information packs for our new joiners, responding to queries from the early careers population from within the business and those due to join and brainstorming ways we can introduce new activities to enhance the experience of those within early careers.

I have been given plenty of responsibility during my placement year. Truthfully, every project I have been given I have been provided with a brief and left to make this my own and how I see it working so I have always had autonomy and therefore responsibility to deliver the project to meet expectations but in my own way.
I have been delegated projects with varying levels of stakeholder seniority, budget, impact and scale from small internal events to large external events catering to 100+ attendees.

I have definitely developed my communication skills by learning to adapt my language, tone and style to suit the specific audience. I have also seen a huge improvement in my time management, as I am now able to effectively and efficiently prioritise my tasks meaning I am able to deliver results by a deadline. I have learnt how to constructively deliver feedback, and to share my thoughts and feelings professionally.
I have learnt how to lead a team of others, and particularly how to hold others to account in order to deliver through others. Additionally, I have learnt how to create and maintain strong stakeholder relationships and build a useful network within the business which helps me to deliver on my projects.

I have received a lot of support and guidance from my team members and line manager. The apprentice and other placement student on my team have been extremely helpful to bounce ideas off of and lean on for support, and my line manager and wider team have also been great at offers support and guidance when I ask for it.

The company culture is very sociable, with plenty of opportunity to get involved in activities outside of the role such as volunteering for the Dove Self Esteem project, and participating in the Great Walk for charity. Everyone I have interacted with has been very friendly and welcoming. The great thing about Unilever is there are so many grads, placement students and apprentices that there is always someone from a similar background and experience to you that you can reach out to.

I have enjoyed my placement year, as I have gained the skills I sought to develop, made industry connections, enhanced my understanding of commercial businesses and the FMCG industry, and challenged myself to take on responsibility and management of others.
Overall, I am glad that I undertook a placement year as I feel it has demonstrated the skills I excel in, allowed me to discover the ways I like to work and will inform what I do next in my career.

Yes