Benefiting from the support of an entire company
James is a Clinical Research Scientist and works in a team of six people. Since he joined BAT, James has already had many challenges to sink his teeth into, but with quite the CV behind him, he knows how to deal with the pressure.
“Before now, I was studying for my PhD full time while working at the Surrey Clinical Research Centre as a Research Assistant. Along with my PhD, I obtained a graduate teaching qualification and I also taught Electrophysiology at the University of Surrey. Teaching is something that I’m good at but I don’t see myself teaching long term – I see myself at BAT for a long time.”
James has a lot of ambition and drive. So much, that he doesn’t just want to pursue one career path, he wants to follow two lines of work.
“One of my goals is to pursue the management side as well as science. With BAT, we have an opportunity to attend internal training courses to become a better manager. There is also a mentorship scheme. Our review cycles also incorporate our personal development plan and carry our goals within the company, allowing us to leverage potential as a manager or a scientist and develop even further.”
“Outside of work, I’m a keen photographer and graphic designer. When I first joined BAT, my line manager on my team found out about my Photoshop skills. I helped them to put together professional slides to use internally and at important external conferences. BAT is entirely supportive of that.”
The most exciting part about working at BAT for James is the flexibility, variation and international opportunity.
“Sometimes I come to work and there are really demanding tasks to solve. Some days I need to travel. It varies a lot and it can be quite flexible in the way we work too. Within my role, I’ve had the opportunity to work across functions. There are a lot of opportunities to go abroad, now and in the future, which is something I really want to do.”
