Brand ambassadors for Unilever Canada attend a school recruitment event.Supplied
When Tanvi Patel was studying at York University’s Schulich School of Business, she wasn’t sure what the future held for her. But when a friend told her he’d had a really positive experience interning at Unilever Canada, Inc., she thought she’d explore that company.
What she found — from her very first moment in a job interview until now, a year and a half (and two jobs) into her tenure there — was a company whose managers are highly supportive of employees’ interests and strengths.
Her hiring manager, for example, recommended projects in areas she was interested in learning more about.
“He was very supportive, basically a cheerleader, connecting me with people from departments that I was interested in learning more about,” she says.
Meanwhile, her key account manager sets aside office hours each week “for me to just talk to him about any questions I have and tell him what I was interested in and ask him about anything I wanted to learn from him.
“That really gave me the space to learn,” she says.
Another way she feels supported by managers is through the business resource groups at Unilever, such as the Asians at Unilever group that helped her share similar experiences and where she got to meet other managers “who made me feel seen,” she says.
“I think all of the managers really make me feel like I can grow.”
Patel — who started as a customer analytics associate working on the customer development team focused on Unilever’s Sobeys Inc. account — was recently promoted to associate category and insights manager for the entire skin cleansing category at Walmart.
Patel’s story isn’t unique at Unilever. Whether students come into the company through its four-month, highly competitive internship or straight out of university into a full-time job at the company, “you get the opportunity to work with great leaders and own the work you are doing and get the freedom and flexibility to shape your role,” says Tanja Lauc, head of human resources.
For example, the company also holds “speed mentoring sessions” where leaders from different areas of the business meet with junior talents and give a quick mentoring session over a chat.
And the Unilever Learning Team curates programming globally so employees can sign up for sessions in their time zone.
There’s also U-Connect, which was set up to “foster a sustainable culture of learning, networking and fun among early career professionals,” Lauc adds.
Events include intramural sports leagues, networking nights, cooking classes, guest speaker sessions and social mixers like wine and cheese nights and happy hours.
“You can broaden your whole experience within the company just by joining these groups. And that will give you an even richer experience,” she says.
Indeed, Unilever takes creating an enriching work experience so seriously that it surveys students at universities to find out what is most important to them in the workplace.
As a result, the company offers a flexible/hybrid work environment, good benefits, training programs and enriching experiences.
“I hope that that total spectrum hits the mark for what different individuals are looking for,” says Lauc.
It has for Patel. “There are so many opportunities to explore,” she says. “If I want to learn about a different type of work, then I can easily do that at Unilever.”
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Advertising feature produced by Canada’s Top 100 Employers, a division of Mediacorp Canada Inc. The Globe and Mail’s editorial department was not involved.