So I've been in PBS team for over 2 months. It's been a huge learning curve which doesn't seem to have an end at the moment.
I'm now fully in charge of my two categories; composites and cartons and dealing with the day to day issues that they throw up. I also have project meetings that I'm involved with for various new products and alterations to current products. There is also Christmas and Easter to think about - it amazes me that we are already planning Easter 09!
I've been out of the office quite a bit too. All of the suppliers I deal with seem to be everywhere but Birmingham which involves a lot of travel around the country to visit them, hear any issues they have, voice any that we have and get a thorough understanding of the categories that I am manager for.
My biggest challenge so far has to be a tender that I'm carrying out which will (if all goes well) save Cadburys hundreds of thousands of pounds. Quite a big project to be responsible for.
One of the scariest things for me is the thought of doing negotiations before I've been officially trained. Things do not always pan out in a logical order - one of the things you have to be flexible about. I just have to remember if I wasn't ready for it then I wouldn't be trusted with doing it.
On a lighter note, meeting up with fellow graduates has been great fun and reassuring to know that other people are experiencing the same and different challenges.
I'm looking forward to the next few months to see what new challenges are thrown my way.
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