Did you apply to the course with a specific career path in mind?

Originally, I was looking to go down the clinical route with nutrition but compared to the job I'm doing now, it's very different. My placement year opened a whole new world to me in the food manufacturing and retail space, with jobs that I just didn’t know existed until I'd been on placement.

Most people within the food industry tend to get into this field by working their way up, falling into the job through one way or another, or in a lot of other cases, get into it through a placement or work experience. However, placement opportunities within the food industry are not always widely discussed at universities. This was an area I felt I could support Leeds Beckett with by doing some guest lectures and giving students insights into manufacturing factories to open their eyes to the vast array of opportunities within the food industry.

Did you decide you wanted to do a placement year before starting your course?

I always knew I wanted to do a placement year because I knew how many more doors would open from doing it. I started to do some research in my own time, around the different placement opportunities within the field of nutrition, food manufacturing and retail opportunities, including the Co-op's junior undergraduate technologist placement. This role stood out to me as it had links with my nutrition degree and covered a wider part of the food industry which is something I had an interest in.

My day job now is very different to the course content covered, but there are some likenesses with the microbiology modules which I use regularly.

What did the placement role involve?

It was very varied, working across the chilled bakery team, labelling, and within risk and compliance, all of which form a huge part of the process when getting the finished product onto the shelf.

Labelling had more ties with nutrition through the traffic light system, and making sure product and labels met the different FSA targets, and other government-led policies and regulations. Within risk and compliance, I supported on horizon scanning, assessing risks present within the industry. I also supported and led on the testing of products and raw materials to ensure they were safe, legal and maintained quality throughout the process. Before I worked within this role, I had no idea about the depth and breadth of testing within the food industry, this is something I found particularly interesting.

Finally, my role within chilled bakery was focused on supplier communications to maintain safety, legality and quality. Supporting suppliers with product launches and ongoing food production, ensured suppliers met internal Co-op and external policies, working with store staff to maintain the focus of quality and safety from an end-to-end perspective.

Alongside these roles, Co-op supported the development of undergraduates and future talent, by letting you lead your own projects. One of the projects that I led was creating some quality innovation videos for instore bakers. This gave bakers quick and easy videos to watch as a reminder of how to bake and maintain quality instore. This project gave me focus and responsibility, something I could take ownership of moving into future jobs, and use to show valuable skills to employers. There was a very wide scope to my placement, but Co-op were keen to get us out into the factories and see as many different processes as possible, as well as giving us the wider overview of the different parts of the food industry, and responsibility of owning projects.

Did it confirm what you wanted to do initially as a career path?

I was fortunate that I'd got to sit across multiple different teams during my placement, allowing me to experience and try lots of different roles and categories. I got to see the Technical Services team, which is made up of the regulatory, risk and compliance labelling and also seeing category roles within the Co-op's chilled team. This helped affirm that the route I wanted to go down was within food categories, which involves managing products and overseeing suppliers, supporting product launches and new product development. This, of course, is very different to the clinical path I originally thought I wanted to go down, but if I hadn’t done a placement year, I wouldn't have the career I'm in now.

What happened after the placement year?

I was fortunate enough to get a summer extension to my placement. I was then successful in my application for a Technical Assistant role, which I completed on a part time basis until I finished my degree. I then went on to complete the position full time. Following on from the experiences I had since my placement, I have succeeded in becoming a technologist within the chilled team. This is the current role I'm in now and I wouldn’t have been able to get here if it wasn't for the experiences and connections I made throughout my placement year.

Does your current job position involve similar work to the placement now?

Yes, I am now a technologist within the chilled food team, and I look after ready meals and soups. As part of that, I manage ongoing food safety and any queries, complaints, issues, product recalls, and work with suppliers, making sure they're meeting our code of practices and welfare standards. There's lots of work around supporting legal compliance of regulation, and reviewing suppliers good manufacturing practices, and supporting product launches. So, although I have more responsibility than I did during my placement year, the field of work is within the same area. This has helped support the transition into my current role.

What does the future look like for you now?

I am currently on a secondment as a technologist within the chilled team, looking after ready meals and soups. This path as a technologist within category is where my career aspirations are currently, and I am continuing to work towards this in my current role to be prepared for a permanent position.

However, the food industry has a massive scope of different roles such as supply chains, product development, and quality across a variety of different categories and lots of possibilities as I continue to progress within my career.

What advice would you give to someone looking to do a placement year?

Take the time to research what is available to you within the field that you're interested in, and don't be afraid to reach out to companies to see if they would be interested in supporting a student in a placement. If you're unsure of the placements available to you, reach out to the Placements team, friends, family or tutors, to help support you in finding the opportunities.

See the placement year as a chance to try an area of work you're interested in for a year. It helps to affirm your career aspirations and develop those important industry connections to use after graduation. If you feel the placement wasn't the right path for your career, it will also help to affirm your career aspirations in that way too.

And most importantly, don't wait until the last minute to apply!

What would your advice be to get ready for the workplace?

Any job that develops your core skills and gives you insight into the area of work you're interested in, is only ever a good thing. For me, that was working in a kitchen and managing my own section. This led my love of food to now work for the Co-op, working on food safety and quality every day.

Co-op is very focused on having the right person as well as the right experience, and their employment process is very specific on your behaviour being the right fit for the company. These key behaviours focus on building relationships, being able to speak up, and working well together. I think this can be applied to most jobs. Having the right attitude from experiences, whether from university or work, is really key for any future job.