Jade B.
About me
| Jade B. | |
| Sociology | |
| Sociology | |
| Undergraduate | |
| James | |
| 2018 | |
| United Kingdom |
My employment
| Commercial Operations Intern - Food | |
| Tesco | |
| United Kingdom | |
| Retail and sales | |
| Large business (250+ employees) | |
| 2017 | |
| 2017 |
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A day in the life of a Commercial Operations Intern - Food in the United Kingdom
People were willing to take time out of their day to help me and I even managed to get invited to things that were not directly related to my area.
My advice to students considering work
Do it! Even if it's something you're not sure you want to do, go out there and try it! Because it's only by trying different things that you'll discover what you enjoy the most in a work place.
Contacting me
If you have any questions, please feel free to drop me an email: jb1858@york.ac.uk
What I do
Commercial Operations - Food was the official title of my internship. What does this mean? In other terms this means I was an intern food buyer. I was based within dried fruit, nuts and snacking which was a great area for me as I love that type of food. Buying involves choosing the range of food you want to see on shelf in stores, based on customer data, sales and insight into trends in the area. It also involves liaising regularly with suppliers to negotiate on pricing and promotions that you want to see in your range.
Skills I use and how I developed them
Communication skills were the biggest thing used. I would communicate everyday either face to face or via email with suppliers and colleagues. I learnt how to differentiate between how to draft an email to a supplier compared to a colleague and then again if I did not know the colleague as well as my immediate team. My organisational skills also improved as I learnt how to prioritise and get on with tasks effectively rather than procrastinating.
What I like most
Food Safaris! These are basically a day of being taken to different food places around London! I was lucky enough to be invited on two whilst I was at Tesco. One was a wholefoods trend day where I got to go to MaEs Deli for breakfast, Nama for smoothie tasting, Tanya's for lunch and Caravan for dinner and cocktails. The other day I did was a desserts safari, where I was taken to Bob Bob Ricard, Café Royale, Chin Chin Lab and Pierre Marcolini to taste a variety of puddings, cakes and chocolates. The idea behind food safari's is to see what is trending in that area, in order to understand what concepts could be bought to store. They are particularly useful as if there appears to be a particular flavour or ingredient trending everywhere that is not currently being ranged at Tesco, it reeks opportunity.
What I like least
The admin! There were a lot of Excel spread sheets that I would have to work with. This was for loading promotions with suppliers, analysing weekly sales to understand what is performing well and what is not in the area and completing substitutions for online shopping when a product is being discontinued.
What surprised me most
How nice everybody is! I was expecting the business world to be very cut throat but I found everyone was so accommodating. People were willing to take time out of their day to help me and I even managed to get invited to things that were not directly related to my area.
Next steps...
If you like the look of Jade’s profile, the next steps are down to you! You can send Jade a message to find out more about their career journey.