L6 Chemical Engineering R&D Apprentice Review

My day typically involves travelling to one of the company labs/office where I will catch up on any emails and updates. I would then begin work on my work projects. This may involve planning, formulating in the lab, characterising my formulations, analysing the collected data, and then presenting it my co-workers. Each day is different, some days I would spend the whole day in the lab and others will be taken up with meetings and workshops.

Absolutely. Whilst I would say that my technical knowledge has certainly improved (which in turn improves my academic knowledge), I would say that my soft skills have also developed. I feel confident presenting to co-workers, communicating professionally, networking and being a part of a team. I am also given the opportunity to further develop at Unilever, with mentoring schemes and outreach opportunities to participate in.

I love being part of this programme. I can certainly understand that you need to have certain priorities and skills to pick a degree apprenticeship over a regular university degree or an apprenticeship. It is by no means an easier degree and can be stressful at times! However, I have found that I have thrived in this programme. The combination of hands on learning with an academic qualification is beyond useful, not to mention the 5 years of work experience and lack of student loans. I genuinely enjoy going to work and learning about my course, and that is a must for a programme such as this one!

Communication is frequent and taken on board. Multiple times I have seen apprentices give feedback to their managers or other members of staff who are in charge of the programme and I have later seen evidence of those changes implemented. I would say that the university is experienced in distance learning and that the amount of time given by Unilever to work on our studies is more than enough.

Lots! I have frequent meet-ups with my managers who check in with me and my well being. In addition to mental health, Unilever support me in a number of ways (networking and development opportunities such as visits to labs around the country and the ability to use state of the art equipment).

I am aware of my lecturers details and they are typically very efficient and helpful when I reach out. As my university degree is distance learning, the amount of support I can receive is limited to an extent, but I have never experienced any difficulties so far in my course.

I helps provide me with a technical base when analysing my data and making day-to-day decisions in the workplace. I am only in my first year of the programme and therefore cannot speak on this extensively but I have looked into future modules and can definitely see how they will help in my work (eg coding in MATLAB) .

The team I am in have frequent social activities. We have a Christmas lunch, go out for work drinks etc. Whilst there are some work clubs (running, crafts, choir etc), I find that I am very busy with my work and don't attend. I would say that whilst there is a lovely apprentice community that have frequent catch-ups and events, it is not comparable to the typical uni experience.

Yes

Unilever have been welcoming and supportive every step of my journey. I have learnt so much about developing the skills that I need to work in R and D. The people here a genuinely lovely as well, the managers I have are incredibly supportive and are always there to advise or listen.

You need to be genuinely passionate about the programme. If getting a free degree is the only reason you are applying then you are unlikely to enjoy this programme. It can definitely be intense at times but if you are willing to show resilience and motivation to get the most out of every opportunity then definitely apply!