Chemistry apprentice with fragrance Review

On a day to day basis, I am formulating shampoos or conditioners in the lab and testing out new fragrance technologies for each product and ensuring that they are stable. As well as this, I attend team and project meetings regularly and I am currently being trained to become a Fragrance Specialist. This involves raw materials training every Thursday. The role is not lab based like my current formulation role. However, it involves communicating with various fragrance houses in order to obtain a new or improved fragrance for home care products (fab detergent and conditioner). Fragrance is deemed to be one of the most important aspects of a product and so it is essential that the fragrance performs across all stages of a washing process. I currently study at Wirral Metropolitan College for a HNC in Chemistry one day a week which is a 2 year course that I do over 1 year.

Upon arriving at Unilever, I attending multiple training sessions to ensure I was working safely onsite. Some of these included: manual handling, COSHH and Risk, Fire training and lab safety. With studying at college, I have gained various lab skills such as working on various types of analysis machinary which include: IR spectrometer and GC. I have developed my existing organsiational and communication skills due to projects I have worked on having a tight time frame and therefore work and results needs to be completed quickly and efficiently. As well as this, I have been responsible for reporting back my findings to my collegues in various meetings and over the phone with external companies.

I thoroughly enjoy working at Unilever. I have made some great friends and everyone is more than happy to help you with any aspect of work or college life if you ask. The New Technologies Hair Design team that I am part of currently has always had work for me to do, whether it be a small formulation batch or a large project to handle within the team, I am always busy and learning new things which is one of the main reasons I enjoy the programme. I am extremely interested in Fragrance and have been lucky to work alongside fragrance experts within the company and gain as much knowledge as I can.

I feel extremely appreciated with the work I have completed within Unilever. On a regular basis, I have been praised for my contributions to projects and my improvement throughout my time here at the company, especially throughoutmy fragrance training. When being a part of a shampoo project, my work was always valued, with various team project leaders wanting me to share my results with them due to the large amount of work and positive findings I had found. This also led to an innovation project getting carried forward.

Induction into the programme was carried out very quickly and effectively as well as training. These two aspects of the programme are very important and with it being carried out quickly, it led me to get started on projects sooner which was beneficial to me for learning new skills and also to my team with the results I obtained. My mentor has been brilliant throughout the programme so far. I can talk to her whenever I need to whether it be problems to do with a project or general advice on other tasks within the programme. I have felt very well supported with my mentor always checking on me to ensure I am never too stressed and have a good balance between work and college life.

I receive help from a collegue within Unilever for Chemistry work. I can contact her anytime and arrange a session on a chemistry topic I am struggling with. As well as this there is a Health and Wellbeing website to complete an online forum to help with various problems you may have, whether it be inside or outside or work. This will get you in touch with a professional that can help with any aspect you are struggling with. Some training sessions were more enjoyable than others, interative sessions such as Fire safety were better than COSHH and Risk which was a 3 hour meeting with no interaction.

My mentor is extremely supportive, she is always there for me to talk to with any aspect of the programme that I might be struggling with. I have bi-weekly meetings set up with her to discuss how my work is progressing and how I am managaing with work and college life.

Very well, I manage my salary well but I am always able to afford daily expenses such as travel and social events.

There are various activites to attend of a lunch time within the work community such as a running club, yoga and there is an onsite gym with a variety of classes both beofre and after work. Within both the Hair team and Laundry team there are company events which normally consist of a meal out with an external company and the team. We also have a team builidng away day booked in June.

Yes

It is a great, friendly place to work that doesn't just use an apprentice as a "spare set of hands". There are multiple opportunites in Unilever which allow you to grow within your role and I have learnt so much after just 7 months of working here.

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