Human Resources Intern Review

This industrial placement at Unilever has given me a great opportunity to learn and build upon skills that I began to develop at university in a working environment. You are given responsibility from day one to lead and manage projects, whilst having the support from your team. I have enjoyed my year at Unilever in HR, where I have gained business insights and help me decide on my future career path.

From the beginning of my HR Industrial Placement I was given big projects to lead upon, which made me feel valued and trusted by the team. A lot of my team either worked part time or from another location, so I had learn to communicate via skype and emails a lot, however I still felt I was valued and had their support.

I had a line manager, along with two other employees who I worked with directly on different aspects of HR. I could approach them if I had any questions or needed any additional support, however the culture of Unilever is to encourage employees to first of all try to find the answers themselves as that is the best way to learn and develop. I received regular feedback from them to ensure continuous development as well as two formal reviews against the Standards of Leadership (one at six months and one at the end of placement). I also had a mentor whom I met with on a regular basis to discuss how my placement was going and if I needed any additional. I had access to additional eLearning courses to develop skills in areas such as assertiveness and project management.

The nature of my HR Industrial Placement and my work plan meant that my work load fluctuated depending on what events or projects I had to deliver on at the time. I always had tasks to complete, just at times I was busier than others due to the nature of the recruitment process and cycle in which my team manages.

You are given a lot of responsibility from day one. My role was split into three different areas within HR, so I lead on a variety of projects and events looking at onboarding, attraction and learning and development, whilst having the support of my managers.

Throughout my placement I developed upon a lot of skills that I will use during my final year of university and for my future career. My team ensured I had access to eLearning courses that I completed during the course of my placement to develop in skills such as assertiveness, time management and project management. I now feel that my confidence has grown since the start of placement, particularly when presenting and interacting with a variety of different employees.

The UK Head Office in Leatherhead has a great atmosphere, with a discounted staff shop, gym, canteen and free Ben and Jerry's ice cream! There are lots of breakout areas where you can go and work away from your desk.

The placement was well organised with two structured reviews, one at six months and one at the end of placement. I found out my location quite late, so it didn't leave me a lot of time to find housing which was quite stressful.

Unilever and my team have invested a lot in my personal development, from providing me with access to eLearnings, face to face trainings, a mentor and having regular review sessions giving me constructive feedback in order to develop myself. Since the start of placement I have had the opportunity to develop my skills in the workplace that I will use and apply in my future career.

I have enjoyed working for Unilever this year! The culture and energy in the office is great and I look forward to coming into work each day.

Unilever didn't host any social events for the placement students, except from the induction event at the start of placement and then bringing all the interns together for a mid and end of year review session. There was a good atmosphere among the interns at the Leatherhead Office where we would meet up and I went on holiday with a big group of them! The only downside is that placement students don't tend to live in the same areas which makes meeting up for social events hard.

Expensive! Both rent and travel in the areas between Leatherhead and London are costly and I have had to take a student loan out to help cover the costs of living.

The area that I lived in, didn't have a good nightlife, we had to travel either to London or Kingston for a night out, however I spent most of my weekends travelling to see friends and family.