He writes:
What a whirlwind first month! My first month with the NFU has been so varied, I genuinely couldn’t have asked for a better start. With the uncertainty surrounding Brexit, the month of September 2019 was a chaotic one for me, the NFU and the whole country. What an amazing way to start your new job.
The first two weeks of my time with the NFU were spent completing a thorough induction process. In this period myself, and the three other graduates learnt about all teams within the organisation, from press to food and farming.
I met with all the directors of the company to learn about their role and how all staff in the NFU work together in order to help provide an invaluable service for its members and the wider farming community. The first week was rounded off with a trip to York to see how one of the NFU’s regional offices works; this was a really valuable experience.
The induction was an extremely valuable programme that enables me to get my feet firmly under the table and meant that by the time I started my first placement I was ready to hit the ground running.
My first year will be spent in the Communications team. In my first few weeks, I have been able to gain a solid grasp of what everyone does within this branch of the NFU. I have worked with the campaigns team on a viticulture event in London, the relaunch of the NFUs Rural Crime Hotline service, and the Lord Mayor’s Show.
On top of this, I have worked with the editorial team to help create content for the Countryside magazine calendar. I have worked with Josh Payne in the education team and assisted him in World School Milk Day.
Finally, I have begun one of the projects that I will be doing all year, the NFU Countryside Instagram account. My aim is to do 3-5 posts and 10-15 stories on the account each week so this is something I am constantly doing in the background. This means that there is never a dull moment.
So far, my work has been highly varied, but more enjoyable than I could have imagined before coming into the role. The coming months will likely through up more challenges, but with such supportive and intelligent colleagues I have no doubt they will be as enjoyable as my first month.