While I introduced the topic of personal reflection, I would like to look back at and share my journey to the graduate program, which has not been a straightforward path.
When I finished my master, I had built my elective courses across different subjects such as economics, law, public policy and felt that I was more a generalist than a specialist, although I had a strong preference for subjects where quantitative skills were important, like finance or supply chain management. And with a generalist background, choosing a first job was hard. I did not know where I wanted to work neither in terms of position nor in terms of industry. I had a keen interest in optimizing processes and was used to interacting in teams so the skills I developed could be useful in many different areas. Since I did not know where to start so I decided to create my own rotations!
I first started joining a start-up company to help build the activities in the US, then I worked as a project finance analyst in a large energy company recommending on acquisitions. While being close to the decision-making process and interacting with decision-makers in these previous positions, I felt I also wanted to be closer to where things happened, to be more active in making things happen and to optimize them, so I decided to seek for more challenges.
After two rotations in the Product Supply graduate programme (I will get back to those in a later post), I realize how fulfilling it is to be in an area where there is strong culture of hands-on problem-solving and of continuous improvement both in the support functions but also on the production floor. For instance, in my first rotation, I would go on the shopfloor and help production managers to identify financially where to prioritze efforts to reduce waste and help initiate the projects to make it happen. I also recognize how the graduate program enabled me to grow even further in terms of professional skill sets with training and personal impact with the opportunities given to graduates to use their skills on challenging tasks. And besides work, the graduate network opens up to great people with diverse backgrounds, interesting stories and a common desire to keep on learning while having fun.
Feel free to ask any questions, I will be happy to answer them.
6 Comments to Why did I choose Product Supply?
Hi, Stephane. Thank you for your blog. Could you tell us your major of bachelor and master?
Hi Hua Bai,
Thank you for your question. I have a bachelor (Diplôme d’Ingénieur) with a major in Economics and master (M.S. in Technology and Policy) with a focus on Supply Chain Management.
Hope it is useful for your application.
Feel free to contact me if you have any other questions.
Best regards,
Stephane
Hi Stephane
I am a chemical engineer with 6 years experience in Production & Quality control. I’ll finish my MBA (major in Technology, Logistics & Operations)in July. Do you know if I am eligible for the graduate programme since it requires no more than one year experience?
Hi,
You seem to have a solid background and work experience in Supply Chain. You are right that the graduate program preferably looks for fresh graduates with no or some experience (up to 2) as far as I know, so given your level of experience, I believe you can be a better match for more senior positions.
You can check a regularly-updated list of available jobs at Novo Nordisk: http://www.novonordisk.com/careers/jobs_uk.asp
Kind regards,
Stephane
Hi Stephane,
First of all, thank you for an inspiring blog.
I just recently finished my Msc. in Public Health, and with this education I too consider myself as a generalist. Have you ever felt that being a generalist has been a disadvantage in the field of product supply? In terms of being a graduate.
It has been very difficult for me to find myself in the work field, since I have a hard time deciding where to be, and what to do. Right now im thinking of applying for both the product supply and the RA gratudate programme (not sure where I belong to yet).
Best regards
Joseph
Dear Joseph,
Thank you for your comment.
I never felt that being a generalist (from my point of view: as being able to dig deep in a subject but also being able to remain broad and interact with different fields) was a disadvantage in Product Supply, but I actually felt that my own initial perception of Product Supply was quite narrow. It is actually a pretty broad part of Novo Nordisk where we ensure the quality of manufactured products and their delivery at the lowest possible cost. You can then end up working in different aspects of the supply chain: from quality to logistics, or from production to business support, all requiring different skill sets, however the mindset in Product Supply has a strong bias towards optimization and execution, so you have to such a hands-on mindset and perhaps a better defined area of “specialty”.
I cannot say much about Regulatory Affairs graduate program, but you can check the blog post by Elvera interviewing Beatrice who is a former RA graduate working now in Product Supply at the interface of both :)
Otherwise, you can also get some reflections from the following article related to careers of “generalists”
http://goo.gl/FtJXg
Hope it is useful, I will be happy to provide you with more information.
Best of luck with your applications!
Stephane