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BSc Chemistry at Warwick University
MSc Chemistry & Entrepreneurship at Nottingham University |
Development Technologist
"I have now been on the Cadbury S&T graduate scheme for nearly two years and have completed two fascinating placements within S&T. My first year was spent at the Global Science Centre (GSC) in Reading where I worked in the chocolate innovation team. I worked on a variety of projects gradually building up my knowledge and experience over the initial months to the point where I was given full project management responsibility for a recipe development project with a global remit. The primary market for this project was India and I gained valuable insights into working with international teams, stakeholder communication, and project and time management. Throughout my time I gained valuable input from my mentor and line manager to help me development the relevant skills and plan my future career path.
During my placement at GSC I also took responsibility for the management of the graduate community project. Cadbury is a company with a history of strong ethical and community focus and as part of the graduate scheme a cross functional project is encouraged to support a charity or cause with links to a local Cadbury business unit. The graduates from my year decided to travel to Poland to help out a local school and orphanage in Skarbimierz, the site of a new Cadbury factory. I found participation in this project to be one of the most rewarding parts of the graduate scheme so far as the benefits far outweighed my expectations. Not only did it help me develop as a project manager, which I hope will prove invaluable in my future placements, but it really helped me to develop a close network of graduate contacts across all functions within the business and it was great working with a group of such enthusiastic people. Needless to say, working with the children at the school and orphanage was extremely rewarding in itself and it was great to leave behind lasting improvements from our efforts to redecorate the facilities available to the children.
My second and current placement is in the commercialisation team at Bournville. I chose this placement to give me an insight into the opposite end of the development process, working very closely with the Supply Chain and Manufacturing to deliver products from concepts into the shops. I have not been disappointed and have found it satisfying working on some of the largest confectionery brands in the UK market. It has also helped my personal development to spend more time on factory trials and trouble shooting to gain a deeper understanding of the existing manufacturing processes in the business. Once again, I have received excellent support form my line manager in this role and have been encouraged to stretch myself through the responsibility I have been given on my projects and extra activities including recruitment."