Procurement Assistant Review

My role is that of European Bottles Procurement Assistant. This means i work in project teams to understand what the criteria needs to be met in terms of the bottles. I then communicate this information with suppliers and that is the main part of my job. However, i own the contracts for my team, so i have around 65 contracts under my name with which i update prices and items in order for the bottles to be ordered.

During my time in my role, i have developed many new skills. For example, i now have much more understanding and ability in using Excel. Also, i have benefitted from basic communication skills such as talking to older people but of an equal level and being able to make phone calls as this was something i always struggled with.

I enjoy my programme quite a lot. There have been times where i struggled as it was such a change from being at school but there where many opportunities where i brought this up and it was resolved. More recently i have grown to enjoy my programme more as i am now much better at the job itself.

The programme is well organised but i can see that it would benefit in restructuring. For example, regarding being able to rotate within roles, i personally was held back from this due to my location. Not that this is due to the organisation, but it would be good if they were able to try to help improve this in the future.

I receive a lot of support from my employer, specifically from my line manager. They continually ask about how i am doing and how my studies are going. This is something i appreciate because it is nice to not have to force my issues on them, they are proactive and ask me.

The support i receive from my training provider could be improved since i have sent many emails to tutors but never received a response or they did not answer my question. As a whole, the training provider works well with support and it sets out exactly what you need to do, however, i feel the issue is that i feel i need more attention from the tutors.

I do not feel my role is benefitted at all from my qualification. As the qualification is so vague, it doesn't have any specific skills i can use. I have noticed some of the skills from the course in HR and marketing used in my workplace. But personally i don't feel my qualification helps me in my role.

There are many extra curricular activities able at my workplace, such as football, meeting up after work and the Christmas party. However, since i was in an office that was disconnected from the main cohort of people, i was slightly disadvantaged from being able to use all these activities, but i was able to socialise with these.

Yes

As they initially sell the concept, Learn and Earn. This is a great positive of choosing Unilever as i gain a degree and also earn a good wage for my age, so that aspect is something i couldn't not recommend. Also, the support offered when considering studies is great as they actually support you and look out for your best interest. The skills i have gained over the past 18 months have been invaluable as well, i have grown as a person and it has helped me understand more what i want from a job.

To remember that you should be yourself and don't tell them what they want to hear. I was told by loads of people to hold everything Unilever aims for to heart but you are your own person so you need to show what you offer. Also, something that i know is hard to do, sell your talents. You may have something that you don't eve think of that could make you super unique and impossible to pass up on.