Tea: the remedy for change.
Hello again! Since my last blog, it seems like I’ve achieved lots and been to so many places and events. Among them I presented at our Inclusion and Diversity Committee, co-ordinated a Regional Meeting in Aberdeen, written two
Chemistry World articles and went to Norway (although the last one was for a holiday)!
I’ve been in my new rotation for just over a month now and although it was difficult to say goodbye to Member Services and
175 Faces of Chemistry, I’ve moved onwards and upwards (literally upstairs) to the Open Innovation team with a little bit of Industry on the side. It’s already been full of exciting new challenges!
One of my projects I’ll be working on over the next 6 months, amongst plenty of others, is researching entrepreneurialism in chemistry (which I have struggled to say every time I’ve said it). At the moment I’m scoping out current schemes and organisations that support entrepreneurs and start up companies within the UK in a mixture of web based research and discussions with students and universities.
Change, adaptability and flexibility are attributes us grads are experts in. Changing from one job to a completely different job overnight, well over a weekend, is something I’ve found more difficult than I had anticipated. Not only are you faced with moving desks, getting used to multiple screens and altering your chair height, you’re working with completely different people on totally new projects. Personally, I’ve gone from a role where I’ve been project manager of a small project to someone who is supporting a much bigger task with longer term objectives.
Luckily, we're all there to support each other when we have those horribly trivial questions we’re too embarrassed to ask. (I definitely asked how the printer worked upstairs)!
Despite all the change, I think I’m getting the swing of it and I’m really excited to get my teeth into my new projects and learning a heap of new skills in the process. I’m also learning how to juggle my tea breaks between my old and new teams!
The sun is finally out over the science park and it will soon be time for lunch time pic-nics!
Jenny Lovell is a graduate working on the Royal Society of Chemistry's Graduate Scheme. To see if we are currently recruiting for the RSC Graduate Scheme click here.
