Unilever

M. Scott Whitson

Jessie Sobel

Supply Chain Finance Analyst

A liberal arts major with little financial background, Jessie Sobel 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 off-site. 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 here 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. Everyone’s really down-to-earth, and there’s a lot of team spirit. Everyone 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!