Digital marketer Review

My role is digital marketing on the global team so I don’t partake on many digital marketing activities such as social media marketing or website creation/monitoring as this is done by the global team. My main role is gathering data on my brands performance and competitor performance.

I haven’t learnt many skills so far but I’d say communication has been something I’ve developed since starting in my role. I’ve found that it takes a really long time to be given responsibility which therefore, makes it quite hard to develop or enhance my skill.

I don’t particularly enjoy my programme because I’m not given any real responsibilities and most of my tasks feel as though they are given to me because no one else wants to do them. Due to this, it makes me feel really bored at work and that there isn’t much opportunity for me to develop both professionally and as a person. There is also a massive lack of diversity within the apprenticeship with very few ethnic minorities - this has made it very difficult for me to connect with other apprentices who don’t share similar experiences as me. I really think this is something Unilever and South Bank university should look to prioritise in future.

When we first started the apprenticeship and university it was extremely unorganised - we had difficulty enrolling and there wasn’t much support provided at work. However, we’ve shared back feedback to our provider and since there has been a lot of improvement in regards to being organised and making sure everything is set out correctly ( in terms of lectures, seminars etc).

In the beginning of my apprenticeship I don’t think I was offered much support. Essentially, I was just told to watch training videos for roughly 5 months. This made me feel like I could communicate openly to my team members and manager. I think as time has gone on and I have received a bit more work - there is a slight improvement but support isn’t given unless you explicitly ask for it.

In general, if I need help or don’t understand something, my lecturers are usually really open to listening to any queries or concerns I have. They also get back to me on my queries quickly which enables me to get on with the given task. This is really refreshing as such support isn’t offered to me at work

I don’t feel like my qualification directly links to my role. This is mainly because I don’t actually perform any work in regards to digital (as this is all done my each local market). Because of this, it feels like there is a disconnect between what I’m learning in theory and applying this in practice. Although I think the qualification is good and set out well, it has no correlation to what my day to day tasks involve - I think this is an issue created my team rather than an issue with the qualification.

One of the only things I enjoy in this apprenticeship is that there is a lot which goes on outside. I’ve had the opportunity to volunteer in a food bank, participate in Dove day as well as in world toilet day with Domestos. I think it’s really good that we can partake in events outside of our job.

No

I wouldn’t recommend Unilever to a friend because the atmosphere, I find isn’t the best. What I mean by this is the lack of responsibility, lack of appreciation or credit of any work I do and lack of diversity and inclusion. From what I’ve seen, it’s quite hard to find a job inside Unilever after as many job roles require 3-4 years experience in a given field which as an apprentice is hard to meet. Furthermore, most apprentices that do find a role after, is down to the fact that their team opened a space for them which may not always be possible. I feel as an apprentice I could easily be replaced by another apprentice instead of being kept on - as at times we are seen as cheap, replaceable labor. Yes it is good to have such a massive and recognised company on your CV but there’s only so much that can bring you. Lastly, I wouldn’t say I feel happy here and I wouldn’t recommend a job to a friend where I felt like they too would feel unhappy.

If you can please try find out as much as possible about your course and your job role as application descriptions are very vague. Also, once in the assessment centre we are asked which site we want to work in Blackfriars, Leatherhead or Kingston. Please make sure you explain how the duties of this employees at different sites differ as I have found I would’ve much preferred to be in a local role ( takes place in Leatherhead or Kingston) rather than a global role (takes place in Blackfriars).