What degree did you do and where?
Business Management Studies BA(Hons) at the University of
Nottingham (2:1).
What were you looking for in your first job as a
graduate?
Essentially, wide exposure to the world of business. I wanted to be
part of a dynamic, ever-changing environment where every day was
slightly different. I also wanted real responsibility and,
crucially, the knowledge that I was making a tangible difference to
people’s lives.
What other graduate programmes did you apply
to?
A really diverse range - Astra Zeneca, Abbey
Santander, Reckitt Benckiser and Baker Tilly. I attended assessment
centres for Astra Zeneca and Abbey but Boots was definitely my
preference. It’s such a big, iconic, high street brand and it felt
like a perfect fit for me.
Why did you apply to Boots?
I was
impressed by its heritage and, equally, its ambition to become the
world’s biggest health and beauty retailer. It’s clearly a company
on the up and I knew they would provide one of the best training
programmes around, with major responsibility from day one. Its
sheer size would provide me with a wide number of roles that would
enhance my experience across a number of categories in the UK
consumer market.
How did you find the assessment process?
I liked the fact that, initially, you just emailed your CV and
received a call if Boots were interested. (I was used to filling
out huge, time-consuming forms!) Next is a telephone interview,
which took about 45 minutes and assessed your key capabilities. The
assessment day involved six big activities, pretty much non-stop
throughout the day. They even had a business psychologist there to
assess if you were the right fit for Boots! It was totally
exhausting but an extremely good experience, with great exposure
too as we met some key stakeholders within the organisation.
How did you find the training programme?
The first couple of weeks were totally different to what I was
expecting. All the new graduates were split into two teams and
given a project where we had to interview key stakeholders around
the business, research our topic heavily and then present back to a
panel of line managers and senior people! Even the Managing
Director made an appearance which demonstrated how much we were
valued. Since then we’ve been trained on all systems, and been
exposed to different functions (as the programme involves
cross-functional working, from brand and buying to supply). I’ve
also honed essential skills in relationship-building, team
leadership, management styles and negotiation during some great
external courses. These will give me an excellent grounding for
moving my career forward at Boots.
What are you moving on to now?
I originally signed up for a Brand Manager role, but the scheme was
very fluid (and had changed) so my first role at Boots was as a
Buyer - an Assistant Buying Manager on the Men’s Gifting Category.
My team focused very much on Christmas which is an incredibly
important time for Boots. It’s also a very challenging category
because Christmas has a wider competitor set than a lot of other
categories at Boots (ie. everyone on the high street!). When I
joined the team, I was given personal responsibility for developing
some of our biggest ranges: Ted Baker, No7 for Men, Trevor Sorbie,
and Soap & Glory for Men. I was also put in charge of Alcohol
Gifting and Men’s Leather, all very substantial areas in our
gifting offer. Most recently, we started the ball rolling on 2010
development and I played an integral, strategic role in Men’s
Gifts, having been assigned 11 Men’s Gifting ranges.
I’m just about to move on to the healthcare division within
Boots, where I’ll be the Assistant Brand Manager on Vitamins &
Complementary Medicines. I’ll be responsible for creating and
delivering new Boots branded products into the category, which
brings a whole host of new challenges. After a year in this role
there’s still another 15 months to go, and I’m looking forward to
some front-line, store exposure when I’ll see how my decisions at
head office are impacting the stores.
What’s been your experience overall?
The company culture is brilliant: it’s open, friendly and
accessible with the MD attending presentations and Senior
Commercial Directors giving you their time (even though they’re
really busy). The work-life balance is great, better I think than
in other companies. Hours are flexible - if I work late on one or
two days I tend to get half a day back later on. Overall my
experience has been a positive one. It’s been a steep learning
curve but I really have enjoyed it and it’s been very beneficial to
my career.