Olivia Howard

"I feel the personality types match with me very well. I am an organised person, I love to plan my day by making a ‘to do list’ and then checking off my completed ones. This really helps me stay focused and complete the important tasks. I also really enjoy working in a team, it is where I get most of my energy from and makes me feel motivated to do my work. Communication skills are very important, and this is something I have worked on in previous employment to make myself a good listener and make people feel heard when they have a conversation with me."

"I am a Scientist at Sygnature Discovery which is a company that provides experienced drug discovery services to its clients (usually pharmaceutical companies). The projects involve making and testing compounds that hopefully turn into medicines to treat diseases. My job is laboratory based; I work as a chemist making different compounds for my project. I really enjoy working with others on my project team to solve synthetic problems. The starting salary for my role is between £25,000-£30,000 per year."

"I really enjoyed science at school and that is why I decided to study chemistry at A level. I originally wanted to study medicine at university but I wasn’t accepted at any of my chosen universities. However, I was accepted to study chemistry at the University of Liverpool. I decided that as I really enjoyed chemistry I would enjoy studying it at degree level. I changed onto the Master’s in Chemistry with a Year in Industry programme as I wanted to gain industrial experience and thought this would be a good opportunity to see if I wanted to work in the industry. My placement was in my 3rd year at GlaxoSmithKline which is a pharmaceutical company. This allowed me to use mostly synthetic organic and medicinal chemistry which are the areas in chemistry I really enjoyed. My year there showed me I wanted to work in the pharmaceutical industry and that is what led me onto the AstraZeneca Graduate Programme once I finished university. This is another pharmaceutical company and the programme gave me the experience and skills needed for my current role as Scientist at Sygnature Discovery."

"In my spare time I enjoy reading, cooking and watching box sets. Recently, I also took up Krav Maga which is a martial art that focusses on defending yourself in realistic situations. I really enjoy it because it makes me feel strong and confident!"

"I spend most of my time at work in the lab making and purifying new compounds for my project. I also have meetings that I need to attend, emails to reply to and papers to read but most of my day is spent doing experiments. I enjoy this because I like doing something practical. Being in the lab is also a sociable environment where everyone asks questions and chats to each other."

"A Levels: Chemistry, Mathematics with Statistics, Biology, French (AS)Degree: Masters in Chemistry with a Year in Industry (MChem)"