I learned how to look up the A LIBERAL ARTS MAJOR
net book value of our fixed with little financial
assets in SAP, a financial background, Jessie Sobel
system we use. wasn't sure what to expect
when she accepted a spot in
Unilever's internship program. But beyond getting to work with
established brands like Lipton and Slim-Fast, Sobel found a great
deal of professional responsibility-especially considering she's
only been out of school for one year.
This is your first job out of college. Has it met your expectations?
It has. I've been given a lot more responsibility than many of
my peers who work at other companies, and my responsibilities
have only grown in the past year. I've also done a lot outside
of my official role. I've been involved in planning a lot of our
outside events, like our picnic and our yearly finance offsite.
I've also been working in recruitment at Colgate. And now I'm
helping out with our interns, too.
How has it been working with the internship program? It's great!
Because I was a part of it, I understand a lot of what the interns
are going through. And I've been able to help them and offer
advice. A lot of them get stressed, which I totally understand. I
just tell them that they own their projects, and that they should
take them where they want to.

"Supply Chain Finance
Analyst" is a big title. What
does it mean? I'm responsible
for supplying cost information
for my business partners
and for the people on the
brand teams. I track different
commodity prices, and look
into what we thought our costs would be versus what they
actually are. I'm also the savings financial approver, so I look at
all of our savings programs and provide assumptions for those.
What's something about working at Unilever that only people
who work there would know? There's a lot that goes into putting
a small bottle of shampoo onto a shelf-you don't realize how
much work goes into it until you're actually behind the scenes.
What surprised you most when you first started? I was surprised
by just how many people are involved in the making, planning,
delivering, and innovation of all these different products. Each
person has their own integral role in creating these products
and ensuring that they actually get to the shelves and get to the
consumers.
And what are those people like? The people here are great. Every-
one's really down-to-earth, and there's a lot of team spirit. Every-
one knows their role and gets their job done, because they know
how dependent everyone else is on them getting their part done.
If you and your Supply Chain Finance teammates were a league
of superheroes, what would your team name be?
The Gross Margin Defenders!

UNGL CAMPUS FALL 2008 15