A day in Verity’s life on the UK R&D Graduate Scheme

To give a true insight into the day to day life on the RB R&D graduate scheme I have created a photo diary (also available on the RB facebook page).

1. Generally I arrive into work just before 8am, we don’t officially start until 8.30 but I like to be nice and early so I am ready for the day ahead. First thing I do the same as everyone in RB and check my emails to see what has arrived during the night. As I work closely with colleagues based in China and USA, time differences mean they are still in the office after the UK office closes or in work hours before we open in the morning – this means we generally receive lots of emails by the time I come in the office in the morning.

2. A large part of the research and development process is discussing samples and development with our suppliers. For these communications we mainly use telephone conferences to allow multiple people to join in the same conversation. In this photo I am holding a telephone conference with one of our core candle suppliers in China. We have to hold these early in the morning UK time as it is afternoon already in China.

3. After the telephone conference I go into the lab to test out some of the ideas discussed during the call. In this photo I am making up a new candle sample. I really enjoy the hands on lab part of my job alongside the office based section. Being able to discuss ideas in meetings then actually try out straight afterwards is brilliant!

4. At lunch I meet up with fellow graduates in the staff canteen. Here I am with Julia, an R&D graduate currently completing her first placement in regulatory.

5. Once our products are launched we still ensure the quality is up to standard. In this photo I am weighing one of a sample of one of our recently Airwick launches – Air Wick Ribbons Scent Candles

6. In the afternoon we get an arrival of samples of a new product just launched in Korea. I was very excited to see these as I will be moving to the Korean RB team shortly so will get to see this product on the shelves in the near future!

7. To test out our new fragrances and products the whole team perform fragrance ‘sniff tests’. We assess the fragrances in special air controlled rooms which allow us to benchmark new and existing fragrances. We receive annual training from the sensory team to ensure we know what to smell for, and our Parisian fragrance houses give us periodical fragrance presentations to keep us updated on fragrance trends.

8. After work I have a game of squash with a colleague in the on site squash court. It’s good to get some exercise and have some fun after a hard days work.

In the evening I went to the cinema with some friends from work. As we sat there I realised we represented a perfect example of RB and the multicultural values we see in every RB office around the globe. There were five of us and five separate nationalities – British, Italian, German, French and Iranian!

Every day at RB is different and there are always new challenges and experiences available to stretch you to your very best. If this sounds like the kind of challenge you would like to undertake then check out the job opportunities available with RB and discover your RB opportunity!