I had completed some great summer internships during my summers and spent three fantastic years studying Philosophy at the University of York, and I was ready for a new challenge in the world of work. I knew I wanted to join the FMCG industry- an exciting and fast-paced industry - (plus who wouldn’t want to work with food?)

I came across the ABF Grocery graduate scheme after thinking about some of the brands I loved the most in my cupboards, and investigated which had graduate schemes for marketing. I loved that ABF had a mixture of smaller and bigger brands, and had a real focus on training; so I applied for the graduate scheme at the beginning of my third year at university. One year and one degree later, I was working at The Silver Spoon Company getting involved with my own marketing projects. In my second year I’ve been working on the Dorset Cereals brand. I’ve done an unbelievable amount in my two years on the graduate scheme; from planning brand new advertising campaigns, to launching new products. I’ve spent time in our factories to understand how our products are produced, and worked with the sales teams to implement in store promotions to build our brands. I’m now really excited to be moving off-scheme into a permanent role at AB World Foods where I will be a part of the condiments team as an Assistant Brand Manager on Levi Roots. It’s such a great opportunity to be able to work for three completely different brands in three different businesses in my first three years of my career - whilst having the stability of working for the same wider organisation with a great support network.

Every day is different in marketing and that’s what I really love about it - there is certainly no sitting in front of a desk the whole time. I could be meeting up with one of our agencies at their offices one day, then getting insights from our consumers in their houses the next, and possibly helping out on experiential activities at summer festivals later in the same week! Seeing my first ever advertising campaign in print has been a real highlight and something I never thought I’d have the opportunity to do five months into my graduate scheme. One of the things that surprised me most about the Marketing graduate scheme was the amount of responsibility you get from the start - but that’s a pretty good challenge to have in the first year of your career!