Willingness to question
"I had a science background, and I didn’t want that to go to waste; but at the same time I wanted a career with more of a management focus. I wanted to feel part of something bigger – and that’s exactly what I got here.
There’s also a huge variety of work: with every placement you learn something different. You could be involved in developing the Next Big Breakthrough. You could be being thrown into a factory in Hull and expected to manage sixty people on the factory floor. You could be helping to market iced tea to an extremely sceptical British public. It is tough, but the support, the training and the experience you get are simply second to none. And it’s just an incredible experience.
My personal highlight of the scheme was a placement in a research centre in Vlaardingen, near Rotterdam in Holland. I was working on a psychological research project on complex liking, looking at consumer perceptions and examining how people’s memories of foods affect what they buy in the future. For example, if you’ve had a bad chilli con carne, for how long would you remember this? And would it be enough to stop you buying it again?
I’d never lived in another country before, but I left with a group of great friends, and some valuable – and fascinating – experiences. I still often go over to Holland for work and usually catch up with the people and the project.
In my current role in our Innovation Centre in Crawley, my day might see me running a trial of a new product and making a small amount of it in the kitchen to taste – or even a huge batch in the factory. As a team, we’ll taste the sample, and sit down to discuss what steps we need to take to make it closer to the desired attributes. I’ll then produce documentation to back up our decision, maybe liaise with some of our technical specialists and suggest further action. And somewhere in all of that, I’ll probably find time to have lunch with one of my friends.
If there’s one thing you need to work here, it’s a willingness to question things. You’re valued as a graduate for your ideas, and in our research, there’s no right or wrong answer, and that’s the challenge. It’s an open brief, essentially – and that throws up so many opportunities.”
