Speaker: Emma Robinson, Graduate Engineer, Nestlé
Emma Robinson: I'd say to those who are or aren't considering joining the food industry to just be open minded with what you want to do post graduation,
Introduce yourself
Emma Robinson: Hi, I'm Emma Robinson. I graduated from the University of Birmingham in 2023 with an integrated master's degree in chemical engineering. I'm currently a graduate engineer about to enter the second year of my graduate scheme at Nestle, so that's in food and drink manufacturing.
What attracted you to the sector?
Emma Robinson: Working with food is never really something that I thought I would end up doing, but the idea of working with lots of different products interested me. There's lots of opportunity to gain experience and lots of different uh products and ideas and opportunities to learn a variety of different things.
What attracted you to your role?
Emma Robinson: So the thing that attracted me to my current grad scheme is that it's rotational, so I'm able to gain different experiences across all the different sites in the UK and it's also really exciting to see all the products that you've worked on on the shelves.
Which skills or knowledge from your degree do you use most often?
Emma Robinson: I think that it's the transferable skills that I've gotten from my degree that I've used the most, being able to understand how different people work, be able to communicate with different kinds of people. Um, I'd say it was a lot harder to develop this during the pandemic, um, but I'm really glad that I'm able to actually apply that in my current role. I had the opportunity to teach after I'd finished my degree, and I found that really, really valuable because I had to actually understand the concepts that I was teaching.
What does your typical day or week involve?
Emma Robinson: So my current role that I'm rotating out of, we're designing bespoke and innovative solutions for R&D problems. So most of the time I'm drawing process and instrumentation diagrams for new processes or designing parts and solid works using CAD and it's really, really interesting, lots of new different ideas and it allows Nestle factories to receive tailored solutions to manufacturing issues or bottlenecks.
What do you enjoy most about your job?
Emma Robinson: Something I really like about my job is that I'm able to learn new things that weren't covered in my degree. I'm not restricted in the types of work that I can be involved in just because it wasn't covered in a chemical engineering degree, and I get to see all different sides of making products and different sides of engineering.
What was the biggest challenge you faced entering the world of work? And how have you overcome that?
Emma Robinson: I think the biggest challenge for me was the unknown. I had to really adapt to being put into situations where I knew nothing, and I think the best way that I overcame this was trying to adapt my mindset to that if I knew everything, then I wouldn't be learning and being put in a situation where you know nothing is the best opportunity for you to grow. It can be quite daunting though, and I'm still, I'm still trying to tackle that.
What advice would you give to chemical engineering students who are interested in joining your sector?
Emma Robinson: I'd say to those who are or aren't considering joining the food industry to just be open minded with what you want to do post graduation, I didn't imagine that I would be entering the food industry when I was doing my degree, but I didn't let the fact that I hadn't chosen to do food modules in university stop me from applying for my current role, and I'm really glad that I didn't.
What's the most exciting development or opportunity in your field that you wish more people knew about?
Emma Robinson: My current rotation in confectionary, there are many new developments and new products and the industry's really fast paced and it's something that I really love about it. Um, so we had new flavoured Kit-Kat tablets hit the shelves recently, it's really exciting to be in the same space as the people with bright ideas who can make stuff like that happen.
What IChemE resources do you recommend students use to help them take the first steps in their career?
Emma Robinson: Personally I've really enjoyed being part of the National Early Careers Group Committee. It's connected me to lots of other engineers in their early careers, and I'm a bit more aware of the variety of careers that are available to us. And it's also allowed me to have a say in what sorts of things would have been useful for us to know when we were looking to start our early careers, uh, because we're in a similar position.
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