A whole chapter of my life has now ended and an exciting, challenging one awaits me at the beginning of September as a new process engineering graduate.
My initial Cadbury Schweppes (CS) interview took place when I was in the throes of an extremely bad bout of flu. However I was delighted that despite all this I was selected to attend the assessment centre. The final year at university is inevitably stressful and putting your mind beyond deadlines and final exams to a future career certainly adds to these pressures. However I was pleasantly surprised with the CS recruitment process.
At the assessment centre, those involved were approachable, helpful and put us at our ease; the factory tour certainly helped to stimulate and increase my interest and enthusiasm for pursuing a career with CS. The second day of the assessment centre, although extremely tiring, was very thorough and well organised. I appreciated too the swift response following the selection process. CS is an historical company, well rooted in strong ethical values and I feel that of all the various companies' assessment centres I had been to, this came across quite clearly at the CS centre. In fact I think it was probably the impression I was given of the company during that time as well as hearing the experiences of current graduates that encouraged me to accept the offer of employment. Of course what really swung it in the end was the goody bag we were all presented with! It was a good job I had the foresight to bring an extra large overnight bag!
The start date is now drawing near and my precious last summer holiday is flying by. I have recently returned from Malaysia where I have been eagerly researching the presence of CS by sampling the whole range of their products. In fact it was probably CS chocolate which helped fuel my climb to the top of Mt Kinabalu! I noticed that the variety was quite different from that on offer here. Obviously the products are designed to appeal to a different population and climate.
I have recently learnt that I will be based in Birmingham for my first placement and so will shortly be starting my search for accommodation. I am looking forward, with a mixture of excitement and apprehension, to all that awaits me in my new career!
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