R&D Apprentice Review

The apprenticeship I'm on involves 3/4 rotations between different areas of the company over 5 years. In my first rotation, the work on a day-to-day basis varies quite a lot, but some typical activities would be; Making and preparing samples, characterising those samples through different analytical techniques and collating those findings into an easy to use/view format.

For me the first month of the apprenticeship was a steep learning curve, with being trained on various different pieces of equipment, getting up to speed on all the different projects going on and learning how to use all of the digital online systems. After that the skills I developed were more soft skills. For example; presenting, communication and interpersonal skills.

I enjoy the work that I do on the programme, the team is very friendly and I can always go to them if I have any questions. There's also a nice amount of other apprentices around site if I have any specific questions about the apprenticeship or just to talk to.

Since the apprenticeship programme had been running for a few years now, there's already quite a few apprentices who have gone through the programme and given feedback on how to improve it, so it's well structured. There are lots of induction activities that go on in the first couple of weeks that help you understand how everything works, as well as getting given a 'buddy' to ask questions to.

There's always someone to talk to if there's an issue with something and when you first start you get regular check-ins with your line-manager to make sure your getting along okay. And there's an abundance of resources to use if you have a specific problem e.g. IT, HR, Occupational Health etc.

For my apprenticeship I attend 4 block release weeks a year to go to university as well as 20% of my time at work being dedicated to between block university work. The module leaders are always available to answer questions if you email them and typically respond quite quickly. They also schedule regular catch-ups throughout the year whilst you're at work.

So far there's has not been that much overlap between what I'm learning on the course and my actual job role other than the importance of foo Although, this might change later on when the course moves onto other modules that are more relevant to the area I work in.

There are quite often events organised between the apprentices in the evenings or at the weekends and there are sports that go on around site either at lunchtime or in the evenings. For example, football, trim trail, netball. Recently, there was an event where all the apprentices from Unilever across the UK were invited to attend an apprentice connect event to meet each other and network with some of the senior leaders.

Yes

Unilever's a company that is trying to grow sustainably, that supports its workforce and is a really friendly place to work. I find the project I'm on really interesting and engaging and the apprenticeship itself is a great way to continue learning, but also get some real life experience.

Research Unilever, looking at the work they do and understand why you would want to work at Unilever, as apposed to somewhere else, is there something you're particularly passionate about that Unilever is involved in? Think about examples you could talk about in an interview setting, showing how you've overcome situations or achieved something. If you get the chance it's really helpful to do practice interviews. Good luck!