Laboratory Scientist Degree Apprentice Review

Use of scientific approaches to solve problems, support new investigations and follow up experiments in the lab. My role includes proving and disproving hypothesis and independently designing and implementing projects. Within projects, I search for the fundamental cause to a problem and report my experiments on the Electronic Lab Notebook.

Unilever offer lots of training courses, some of which are mandatory. Therefore, I have gained a greater insight into the important factors in a business. Within my role I have strengthened my ability in problem solving and gained more confidence in presenting and public speaking.

Although studying for a Chemistry degree alongside working full time and attending OUTREACH events can be challenging, I thoroughly enjoy my role within Unilever.

My role within Unilever is structured, we rotate annually to gain experience in different areas of the company. However, I am one of 2 apprentices to start the new Lab Scientist Apprenticeship, which replaced the Chemistry Apprenticeship. Therefore, we didn't know how the degree was going to be taught for the first month of our apprenticeship. The degree is taught via distance learning and that can be disorganised, but that is the fault of the University rather than Unilever.

Unilever is very supportive, the older apprentices are encouraged to help us settle in, we also have bi-monthly apprentice meetings, these involve guest speakers about their roles within the company and general updates in OUTREACH events etc. We also have informal one-to-one sessions with older apprentices to ensure we are getting on okay. My line manager and mentor are also very supportive.

The distance learning team at MMU are very good at replying to your emails, however, some of the materials that are released are very disorganised and it can be unclear on what we are required to do each week. The lecture capture videos are very useful, however sometimes the quality can be poor.

My role is a formulation scientist which involves inorganic chemistry, we haven't covered that yet so the content isn't relevant to my role. However, one topic area we studied was Introduction to Workplace Regulations. This was very useful when first joining the company to gain a greater insight into the necessary safety precautions required in a business.

During Christmas there were lot of social outings for different areas. Apprentices also organise social activities outside of work throughout the year. There are also multiple clubs and there is an on site gym which runs fitness classes.

Yes

There are a lot of benefits to working for Unilever, they have a good reputation for treating their employees well, my colleagues are also very friendly and supportive. I really enjoy my job role and I have a lot independence in the lab.

Learn a lot about the history and values of Unilever, have evidence that you can balance workloads effectively, as this is a vital skill for a degree apprenticeship at Unilever.