Early Talent Graduate Training Programme 2

Hi, my name is George Oliver and I'm on the early talent graduate programme. My background involves studying at the University of Portsmouth from which I graduated two years ago. I studied Sports Business and Management Studies, which is very much like a normal business course but just a little bit more niche towards the sports industry. Obviously coming out of uni during the pandemic times in 2020, it was quite hard to find a stable job, but I still managed to pick up experience in hospitality sales. And many other customer facing roles before finding myself in the role I am today at AbbVie.

So, I've always had an interest in the pharmaceutical industry due to having quite a few family members involved in the industry already. It's almost impossible not to have picked up an interest or at least information about pharmaceuticals in general, really, from a young age. A graduate placement like I find myself in today, the opportunity I've been given from AbbVie is the perfect role for me to be able to learn and test myself in a range of teams across the pharmaceutical industry as well, which has been brilliant for me to get a taste of all the different roles that go into pharmaceuticals main goals in what they hope to accomplish. I picked up as well from lucky enough, having work experience here as a young teenager. How good the general culture of the company was as well. Always people were friendly, ambitious and the energy was just infectious and all of that has stemmed from my work experience up to today.

So my day to day routine at AbbVie the Monday to Friday, involves a variety of things where I aim to improve my knowledge and skills and therefore build my overall development at AbbVie. I'm working across multiple teams, as I mentioned before, in my second team right now, currently in the corporate communications team, within the External Affairs wider team, and I've moved there after coming from customer excellence for nine months. So looking forward to going ahead in this team. So again, this experience I hope will help me understand how more of the teams linked together and how those goals or those individual teams line up  to AbbVie's main goals and main strategic goals.

So I think the new way AbbVie's been learning to work since COVID times has just generally been an increase in virtual calls, virtual meetings. Obviously, it's been hard and a lot of time you weren't able to meet up face to face during the pandemic. And I think virtual calls during that time has taught us how easy it is actually just the use of virtual call rather than maybe spend more money to have larger meetings or conferences at times. I do still think meeting face to face is best for communication. But virtual calls has definitely taught, I think, the company, when the have restricted access or not able to access communication in that way, then there's definitely other means of being able to do it just as good or to a higher standards still.

In five years time, I hope to be in a permanent position to advocate in a role where I can identify it and see it as my own. I call it my own role, a role I feel happy and comfortable in and believe I can make a significant impact and difference for the better for AbbVie as a company.