Charlotte

I much preferred College to school as I was able to focus on a smaller number of subjects that I was passionate about and felt I could really put all my effort into studying for them. Even though the pandemic meant missing out on a normal face-to-face experience I focused on doing my best, but it did take until my second year to really get into the rhythm of things and it was great to be back learning in person.

Apprenticeships had always appealed to me as I was keen to learn while doing a job as well as earn money. Initially, I was quite focused about a career in the travel industry, but with the impact of the pandemic on the sector, there just weren’t many opportunities when I was looking. So, I started considering other ways I could go, and found lots more possibilities within the world of business.

My turning point came when I spotted some Unilever apprenticeships in the College Careers’ Bulletin. It was the first time I’d seen something and thought, “Yes! That’s what I want”. Motivated by the sound of the Business Associate role I worked hard on researching and planning my application and was delighted to be invited to an assessment centre in May 2021.

My assessment centre was run online and involved three other candidates, a series of assessments, a 1:1 interview and observed group activities. We’d all been tasked with some pre-work about a sustainability project – a key area of focus for Unilever – and so the time I’d put in before the assessment day really paid off. It meant that even though I was nervous, I found the confidence to speak up in support of my ideas and took an active role in the group discussion where we had to give feedback on the ideas other applicants had developed.

Applying for an apprenticeship in the run-up to A Level exams or alongside BTEC coursework can certainly feel overwhelming. For College students looking to line up a job for when they leave, I’d say if you get really organised with your time, you can balance the demands of interview preparation with your College work and revision. But you need to plan, stick to your schedule and accept that you’re going to be exceptionally busy for a period of time!

Starting out in September 2021 in the Shopper Marketing Team, I got to grips with Unilever’s planning processes by shadowing colleagues and gradually took on more responsibilities for in-store marketing of Nutrition and Ice Cream products at some of the UK’s largest supermarkets.

One challenge I did face was the scope of my apprenticeship changing to focus much more on data and data analysis. I found this area pretty hard, but my boss was hugely helpful, and I got great support from my training provider Multiverse through monthly workshops in the lead-up to my exams. My data skills have served me really well and they are critical for my current role.

Working in the Performance Marketing team, I help to plan marketing activities on .com media for Tesco, Sainsbury’s and the Co-op. This means liaising with a host of colleagues including with account managers, brand teams and ecomm channel managers to develop the media briefs that we send to different media agencies. It involves daily use of lots of different data platforms and spreadsheets to look at marketing-related data and help us plan our retail media activities with the media agencies too.

Charlotte Cable

Reigate College: 2019-2021

Higher Education: Level 3 Business Associate (Data Technician) Apprenticeship with Multiverse while working at Unilever

Currently: Ecommerce Media Executive, Unilever

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