Student NPD Technologist Review

Sample making Receiving ingredients & trying them in development Meetings eg. with suppliers, with marketing about projects, with the team / wider business Costings Factory/pilot trials Ingredient auditing Shelf life testing Tastings Benchmarking sessions

My confidence has grown massively, as well as my ability to manage tasks and plan my time effectively. I am much better at working with other colleagues, asking for help where I need it and I find that I am much better at approaching people. My presentation skills have improved vastly.

As a student NPD technologist, you are well integrated into the team and are treated as a technologist. The level of responsibility given really depends on the projects and workload available - some students got their own projects to lead and manage while some students were given side projects to provide new ideas and solutions. Both are valuable experiences, however the responsibility was not matched evenly across teams

Monthly 1:1 with manager and very frequent communication - almost daily emails. I felt like I could always drop my manager an email or a quick call if ever I needed some help or guidance and would always get a response quickly no matter how busy they were! I also had a great mentor who had a wealth of knowledge (and more time) on day to day tasks where my manager couldn't always help

The company had a great culture and I always felt valued as a student. All of the staff were very friendly and really worked as a team. The head of NPD also used to do a monthly call with all NPD sites sharing news and ideas which made it feel more like a community and that our work was really valued by the senior team

I really enjoyed my placement, it has given me such valuable skills and experience going into my final year. I am so much more confident in myself and feel proud to have completed my placement. Although I have realised I am now not sure that a career in NPD is for me, it has still been great fun and a brilliant learning curve

Yes

Presentable, on time and well organised. Show that you are keen and have an interest in the wide product portfolio. At this level it is less about your knowledge, but more about your skill set and personality so make that shine through.