Apprentice Coordinator Review

I work in the apprenticeship delivery team supporting on attraction and recruitment activities as well as wider youth-employability initiatives. My main responsibilities involve working with attraction stakeholders to promote Unilever's apprenticeship vacancies as well as working on off-line attraction activities such as outreach events and open evenings. Also working on recruitment of Business & Technology apprentices.

I am completing the Level 4 Associate Project Manager Apprenticeship. Therefore, my role is mainly project based which works well to then link back to my training. The training mainly consists of regular assignments and online learning in the build up to a theory exam and an End Point Assessment. We are supported by having a tutor and numerous online and off-line resources to support our development.

I really enjoy my programme. I am part of a really great team that is always there to answer any questions and support where possible. Unilever's culture is also very appealing and has a friendly, welcoming atmosphere. The programme has allowed me to work on multiple projects at the same time and really helped to develop certain skills that I had been wanting to develop prior to starting the programme.

I feel hugely valued by Unilever simply because of the trust and responsibility that they have handed me right from the start of my journey here.

The programme is highly organised and structured. We have a great 2-day induction where we are introduced to Unilever, the company, values as well as the opportunity to engage with senior leaders and of course our apprentice peers. The programme side is always in-tune with the job role and both go hand-in-hand. There is also a great mentoring programme where apprentices can have 1-2-1 mentoring with an employee from outside of their day to day function to get a different kind of exposure.

The support provided by the training provider is good. This is in the form of online working as well as site visits and classroom sessions. Tutors are always available at the end of a phone call or email in order to help support any tricky questions on Project Management. I have really enjoyed learning about the world of Project Management.

We receive huge amounts of support from Unilever. This is a mixture of our team, mentors, wider teams as well as the current apprentices on site. I remember feeling very welcomed by the existing apprentices on site. I also received a great welcome from an existing apprentice in my team who was able to show me the ropes.

The salary meets my costs well as I have limited accomodation costs and minimal travel costs due to my proximity to the site. There are also opportunities for apprentices to receive an increase in their salary year by year depending on their performance. Unilever has a shuttle bus service at their Leatherhead office which can be taken directly to the main office from Leatherhead station.

The are lots of opportunities outside of work to socialise. There is an apprentice community team who regularly organise nights out, sporting events and internal events for apprentices to engage and have fun with. There are also lots of company wide events and initiatives to take part in such as sports clubs and volunteering.

Yes

I would recommend Unilever to anyone who is looking to have a great and meaningful start to their career and gain invaluable work experience and skills right from the word go. The apprenticeship has provided me with a platform to push on with my career and who knows where it will take me!

Be yourself, be yourself, be yourself. It is often hard being yourself in an assessment day but just remember that the hiring managers want to see and engage with the real you! I would also recommend doing lots of research in to Unilever before attending any part of the recruitment process.