Describe your job in 20-25 words.

The commercial role includes a variety of jobs, such as sales reports and range reviews, which all contribute to ensuring the business is profitable and achieves the strategy.

How did you end up in this job?

During the first summer of my degree, I worked as a technical intern at a pudding manufacturing site, this experience opened my eyes to the broad range of jobs in the food industry and reinforced my passion for food. I then completed a Technical Industrial Placement Year with Samworth Brothers, this provided me with the opportunity to apply the theory I had learned at university whilst personally developing and figuring out which areas or roles I was interested in. Despite my previous experience being Technical-based, I have returned to Samworth Brothers as a Commercial Management Graduate, this diversity of experience has provided me with a great foundation for my future career development. This also shows how you can move between different roles and functions of the food industry.

What advice would you give to someone thinking of pursuing this career?

Seek out as many opportunities as you can, whether it’s volunteering, internships and work experience, or training and courses, this will all help in developing your understanding of what it is that excites you and ultimately what you want to pursue in your future career.

What’s the best thing about your job?

The best part of my job is seeing the direct impact your work has, whether it’s seeing a launched product on shelf in the supermarket, shaping the customer’s product brief or the bakery achieving greater efficiency. Nothing will ever beat the pride you feel for the first product launch you contribute to, and the excitement of seeing these products on the shelves in stores will never get old.

Where do you see yourself in five years time?

As the graduate scheme runs for 2 years, in 5 years’ time, I can see myself continuing to do good things with great food as part of the Samworth Brothers family whilst still feeling excited and passionate about the food industry. I believe that with the pace at which the food industry evolves and changes, the job I will be doing in 5 years’ time may not yet exist, but I aspire to be in a management role within the development area of Commercial.