Start date: 2016
Location: Leicester
“I graduated from York University with a Masters in Chemistry and joined the graduate scheme. Everyone is given four six-month placements over the course of the two years. My placements were with Walkers Deli as a Technical Services Assistant, Melton Foods in Process Development, Bradgate Bakery in QA, and Saladworks in a Hygiene role.
When I completed my four placements, I joined Bradgate Bakery as a QA Technologist. After nine months I moved to my current role which is Technical Services Manager, still at Bradgate. I manage two teams – one that’s responsible for raw materials specifications and also for ensuring that all 150 suppliers go through all the proper approval processes. The other team is the Quality Systems Team that looks after internal systems such as document control, internal audits, nutritional results and so forth.
Being part of the graduate scheme, I really appreciated the opportunity of working in an organisation where you can gain a breadth of experience and knowledge in different companies within the Group. With the four placements you get to see first-hand a number of diverse working environments and to find out how different teams work together. This helps me greatly in my current job – I now have a much better understanding of what the Process and QA teams need because I worked in both as part of my placements.
During the scheme, I was assigned a mentor who gave me lots of great advice. For example, I could tell her the kind of things I’m interested in, and she explained what my options were and helped me to understand the type of role that would be good for me.
The graduate scheme is also a great way to develop your skills – both through attending courses in-house and externally. For instance, all eight of us on the scheme went on a three-day leadership and management course in Wales, where we joined recent graduates from other outside companies. I found it really valuable to see how other people think about problems and how to work as a team.
If you’re a graduate looking for a role in the food industry that’s full of variety, learning and responsibility, then I’d advise applying for the Samworth Brothers scheme.”