Laura Thurgood

"My personality types match both me and my job really well. As an Influencer type, I enjoy working both alone and in a team: I spend a lot of my job working alone and I'm definitely motivated and strong willed in this regard, but I also know when I need support from a team, and how I can help the team succeed. I pride myself on being polite, and therefore I'm diplomatic. I'm thorough in all of my work - including researching, and have a knack for being able to hone in on the most relevant information. I'm also very detail oriented, and weirdly enjoy proof-reading work to pick up on spelling and grammar errors. As a Communicator, I'm definitely confident - even when I'm not feeling 100%, I know how to act it. At work, I'm confident in my skills and knowledge, and confident enough to admit when I may need help. There's no point in doing something wrong when my team are willing to support me. I'm great at communicating with different people which is definitely helpful in my job, as is being a good listener and being able to simplify complex information. I'm both good with numbers which is helpful when dealing with pricing, quantities and margins, and with words, too. Finally, Co-Ordinator also really resonates with me: once again interacting with others is mentioned, through being a good communicator. I'm always keen to help people, and I'm definitely very organised."

"Banner Chemicals manufacture and sell chemicals – my division is Precision Cleaning Solutions. This means we develop and sell specialist solvents that are used in high-spec cleaning for engineering and manufacturing industries. As a Graduate Account Manager, I’m in charge of an area of the UK and all of the customers that fall within this area: setting prices, recommending products and ensuring the customers are happy with our service.It requires a good knowledge and understanding of the products and how they can be used, especially with regards to compatibility, i.e. is it going to work well or ruin the material the company is trying to clean? Most of the customers I encounter aren’t chemists, so I need to be able to explain how the products work and why they are the best for that specific job. As well as this, I need to ensure that they understand any safety implications and are using the chemicals correctly.Alongside this, I need to be business savvy: aware of what our competitors offer, and how much I can sell a product for to make a profit. It can be difficult to sell sometimes, as often people don’t see the value in a cleaning agent. What they soon realise, though, is that they’re not going to be able to complete or sell a product if it’s still covered in oil!Due to the nature of my job, I travel around the UK a lot visiting various sites, including everything from aerospace and automotive companies to small machining factories and powder coaters. Every visit is different and I get to see some really cool things being made as well as meeting lots of different people – from this I’ve learned that no matter where you are or who you’re with, you can always talk about football. This also means that I get a company car and can work from home when I’m not visiting customers."

"During sixth form, I struggled: after acing my GCSE’s, I was determined to get the best possible A-Levels, working myself to the point of exhaustion. I was diagnosed with depression and anxiety, and they really impacted my performance during these years: even though I put all my effort and focus on my school work and exams, I didn’t get the grades I was targeted and ended up resitting my second year of sixth form at a different school.I’d always wanted to go to university, and I wasn’t going to let this setback stop me. Because I didn’t have any career goal in mind, I chose a subject that I found fascinating and that I wanted to know more about. I really enjoyed my time at university, and although I was still battling with my mental health, my lecturers we’re incredible supportive and I got provisions to help during exams that hadn’t been available to me at school.In my first year, I also had the opportunity to apply to work for the university as a Student Advocate, a job I went on to do throughout my 3 years there. This involved working with the local schools and communities to encourage students to consider higher education, particularly (for me) within STEM subjects. I also helped at open days, summer residentials and tours of the university. Not only was it extremely rewarding but I made the most incredible friends and it definitely gave me the confidence to do what I do now, and be able to speak to different people all day!Graduating was daunting because I still didn’t have a clear career goal and just started to apply for any jobs that were remotely related to science. The opportunity I was given with Banner Chemicals, to combine my interest in engineering with my chemistry knowledge, was brilliant and the skills I developed during my time at university definitely help every day."

"When I was growing up I did acrobatic gymnastics, and when I was 14 I decided to try all-star cheerleading. I continued to do this throughout university, competing both for the university team and for the club I’d been at for years. It was incredible fun, and I was so upset to have to stop – but too many injuries meant that at the end of my third year I had to. I still follow the sport and I can still do some flips, though! Since leaving cheerleading, I started to exercise differently: now I go to the gym and swim a lot, which I really enjoy. Although I don’t play it, I love football and watch both men’s and women’s professional teams, as well as grassroots football that my sister plays.Aside from sport, I read a lot – my favourite genres are thrillers, mysteries and horrors (think Stephen King, James Patterson and Tom Harris) as well as classics. My favourite book of all time is Harry Potter: I think because I read it as I was growing up (midnight releases were a big deal) it will always be a story I love.My dad is an engineer and it’s always been an industry that fascinates me, so I volunteer for the Institute of Mechanical Engineers. We organise talks and events around engineering, including helping with Engineering Your Future to show young people what engineering is."

"I spend part of my day answering emails and phone calls, offering customers advice or fulfilling orders and arranging visits. I also visit customers in person - this involves travelling to different areas of the country and visiting different sites. These can be small, local businesses or global corporations dealing in any manufacturing or engineering sector - from powder coating to aerospace companies, every day is something different. I offer them advice on what products are best for their needs, and help with recommending new processes and equipment."

"After my GCSEs I did A-Levels in Biology, Chemistry and Mathematics (with an AS Level in English Literature). Then I gained a BSc (Hons) in Biochemistry from Liverpool John Moores University."