Why #ExperienceWorks – 5 years later

In today’s post, Claire Healy, Inside Sales Manager, Life Sciences Solutions, Thermo Fisher Scientific reflects on how her internship became her career.

In my third year of University, I could feel the pressure of “this is getting serious.” I had previously spent my summers waitressing and knew that this wasn’t going to differentiate me when it came to applying for a graduate job. I knew that the lab was no longer where I wanted to be long term, but in all honesty I didn’t know where I did want to be. I had an interest in business and so I started looking for internships where my science background could be seen as an advantage even though they were looking for business or maths students.

That’s when I came across Thermo Fisher Scientific, a global leader in the Life Science industry, advertising a summer placement in their Marketing department. I joined the company not really knowing what to expect, and over the 3 months I was there my eyes were opened to a whole new world. I was focussed on market, competitor and funding analysis but there were so many different teams in the department and so many different ways to use a scientific background in a commercial role. Day to day I looked at who was receiving grant funding to feedback our sales team, what areas of research were being funded to align with the company’s strategy, and what our competitors were reporting as their key growth drivers. I found this competitive element really exciting, however I was spending a lot of time researching on the internet and learned that I am a bit too impatient for that. I knew that the information I was gathering was of great importance to the company but ultimately it was the Sales team who took the action to meet with the scientists who were receiving funding and position our products to help them further their research. This led me to ask for an introduction to our Inside Sales Manager.

For me sales was the perfect combination of analysis and action. So much more goes into selling than you might think! We have so much data at our fingertips to look for the key areas to focus on to increase our revenues, and so many innovative new products and technologies being launched to help our customers make advances in cancer research, infectious disease, age related diseases. I’ve really found a path that I am passionate about (that I wouldn’t have known existed!) and 5 years after my internship I am still with Thermo Fisher Scientific and can see how my whole career could be spent in such a large organisation with so many opportunities for personal growth.

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