Competency Questions

Question 1

Effectively introduce improvements, modifications or new products into the factory by managing the product development workflow with other key functions. Providing recommendations for appropriate adjustments to product formulas and / or processes to deliver project

Answer 1

S - sourdough improvements and developments end of last year as removing yeast and acifiers from products important and needed a more robust process and flavour
T - investigate the optimum time and temperatures to allow business to invest in fermentation tanks to improve consistency
A - planned and investigated different trials over 48 hours to find optimum by measuring pH, TTA, height etc
R - Fed back conclusions to senior team, didn’t invest in fermentation tanks but do have hot and cold rooms with more robust process in place and higher quality product

Question 2

Collaborate with suppliers on continuous product quality improvement, new product ideas and emerging ingredient trends to ensure on time delivery and continuous supply of great tasting drinks

Answer 2

S - both retailers wanted to increase and improve shelf life of hot cross buns to decrease waste and complaints
T - investigate what new ingredients were available using suppliers and Fletchers to improve shelf life and run trials to support
A - worked with retailers to run trials
R - improved shelf life which reduces waste as can order more, less waste in store, softer product over life. Can now apply learnings to other products

Question 3

Research and understand current markets trends as well as competitor activities and incorporate that knowledge into development of new products

Answer 3

S - Hot cross bun development each year
T - review year just gone across market and competitors and review current trends to present new ideas to customers
A - collate info, where gaps are, what trends are there to show innovation to customers before brief
R - brief follows taking into consideration innovation shown, we end up making what we know works in the factory and is on trend

Question 4

Design and execution of product line trials with the process and production teams and interact with the technical functions to plan and conduct validation testing and sensory evaluation on new/existing products. Providing appropriate recommendations for adjustments for products and/or processes –

Answer 4

S - hot cross bun redevelopment this year
T - improve hot cross bun shelf life and texture
A - working with suppliers, working with process and production to execute trials, review product over life with technical - put on internal shelf life review. Once end of life can make recommendations needed for the next trial e.g reduced softener.
R - end result is an improved product with increased softness over life which reduces waste and saves money

Question 5

Create and maintain raw material and finished goods specifications for new and current products

Answer 5

– Some involvement in this at Nourisher in terms of finished good specs, can easily pick up information but might need some guidance. Do have experience creating QAS/CQMs.

Question 6

Provide the necessary technical content to feed into the artwork process for product optimization and continuity of supply

Answer 6

Experience with artwork approvals and checking information

Question 7

7. Planning and executing shelf life testing to prove stability of products throughout life

Answer 7

Plan and set up shelf life testing

Question 8

Communicate and collaborate effectively with the global R&D team, as well as cross-functionally –

Answer 8

Work closely with Fletchers NPD team sharing innovation and knowledge. Run NPD meeting across the bread division and form good constructive relationships.
S - getting time on plant for trials is difficult as it can be disruptive to production and the production plan
T - I wanted for them to understand we needed that time, while understanding it is difficult for them. How could we build a more constructive relationship between the NPD and planning teams
A - put in a weekly planning meeting where we could address any trials we knew were coming up
R - a more constructive relationship, both sides appreciate the forewarning and planning ahead. More often than not they agree to putting trials in for us.

Question 9

The successful applicant will display curiosity and passion for drinks and food coupled with technical, analytical problem-solving skills –

Answer 9

Recently starting baking more at home making different cookies and experimenting. Recently made a ferrero rocher filled cookie however didn’t hold up so i’ve research how to make the cookie stronger and look forward to improving this.
I will always try to improve if I’m not happy with a certain product and try to understand why it isn’t working

S - 2x CM sourdough products launching last April. Were told weren’t getting vital piece of equipment needed. What were we going to do?
T - my task to see what the possibilities were with current equipment, to see if we could match the products flavour and texture that was approved, and launch the product as planned
A - put together a trial plan testing the extend to how certain equipment could be used - soft dough using a divider made for bread, how hydrated could we get the dough etc. Feedbacking conclusions each time and the next plan and objectives to cover
R - managed to find a solution that worked and produced a very high quality product that is the best product we have and also saved the company money

S - needed to improve shelf life of sourdough a few months ago as waste becoming too high and retailer was going to have to reduce the case size in express stores if we didn’t
T - analyse recipe and see what was possible without a change to BOP and also any other options available
A - reviewed recipes and put trials in place with shelf life analysis to see impact - fermented wheat, cleaning blades of slicer etc
R - managed to extend shelf life by 2 days on some products which allowed them to keep case size the same and not remove from stores

Question 10

Experience and understanding of project management stage and gate processes

Answer 10

Create and manage critical paths internally and with customers, ensuring all was on track for launch. Running weekly NPD meetings within the bread division.

Question 11

Ability to apply technical knowledge and skills in a manufacturing environment

Answer 11

TTA and pH of sourdough - fermentation tanks/ hot & cold rooms

Question 12

Creative technical development and/or problem-solving skills

Answer 12

CM Sourdough. Understanding high hydration leads to open structure. Improving shelf life of sourdough. Measuring TTA & pH etc

Question 13

Attention to detail and action orientated with good planning skills

Answer 13

Improved communication with planning team by setting up meeting, feasibility meeting, sending out workload to account managers

Question 14

Ability to understand market trends and translate to efficient product delivery

Answer 14

S - market trends of premiumisation to justify cost of product, packaging that can be resealed and a format of bread that fits in toaster all presented to a customer to improve a current product to be in line with the market
T - present to customer to demonstrate trend
A - presented to customer to demonstrate trend
R - customer agreed and wanted to see product. Not efficient in factory in terms of shape however for future looking into. Packaging was agreed to be looked into.

Question 15

Action Orientated

Answer 15

Improve communication with planning team by setting up meeting, feasibility meeting, sending out workload to account managers

Question 16

Priority setting

Answer 16

To-do lists, sending out workload:

S - since being in this role I have found the workload and weekly tasks for myself and my team have increased.
T - Following this I found it important for other members of the commercial team such as the account managers and my manager to have a weekly update on upcoming tasks for the team.
A - I set it out as tasks vs weeks coming.
R - This allowed them to see when we were planning to complete specific tasks for the customers they work with which allowed us some breathing space as they didn’t have to chase to ask when it would be completed. The list would then be updated with what was completed in the last week. This was also useful in highlighting the workload to more senior members of the team. Also for team to keep on track

Question 17

Time management (as priority setting)

Answer 17

S - since being in this role I have found the workload and weekly tasks for myself and my team have increased.
T - Following this I found it important for other members of the commercial team such as the account managers and my manager to have a weekly update on upcoming tasks for the team.
A - I set it out as tasks vs weeks coming.
R - This allowed them to see when we were planning to complete specific tasks for the customers they work with which allowed us some breathing space as they didn’t have to chase to ask when it would be completed. The list would then be updated with what was completed in the last week. This was also useful in highlighting the workload to more senior members of the team. Also for team to keep on track

Question 18

Drive for results

Answer 18

Always strive for the best outcome and put in the time for quality work. Don’t like letting people down so I will always meet deadlines to the best quality. Thrive off positive feedback from customers and internally.

Question 19

Collaboration

Answer 19

Work well as a team and will always do my part and bring a team together. Able to work independently but believe open discussions are important to talk through ideas and have the best outcome

Question 20

Questions

Answer 20

Are certain developers assigned to a particular customer?

Culture – work life balance important – do people mostly stick to contractual hours?

Using Freshpack technology ingredients remain as fresh as the day they were sealed for nine months – what determines this shelf life and what is seen as a deterioration in shelf life?

An example of how a project works from start to finish?

Would you be able to give me some examples of some current projects that the developers are working on?
What’s your favourite thing about working there?

Question 21

Learn quickly and think on their feet

Answer 21

Stage at the start of this year where I suddenly didn’t have a manager and had to cover their role. I quickly learned how to pick up certain aspects of the job I hadn’t done before such as critical paths and running NPD meetings. I am a quick learner who is eager to learn new things. I will jump straight in and make practical actions. I like to set things out in a logical manner such as CM sourdough planning.

Question 22

Self-starter, who can lead on their own and work autonomously

Answer 22

I don’t need to be told what to do more than once and I pick up what needs to be done very quickly. Country miller sourdough - saw there was a problem that needed to be solved and took quick action and let by myself - drawing conclusions and presenting back to the relevant people.

Question 23

Good analytical skills

Answer 23

Country miller sourdough issues - evaluating and drawing conclusions

Question 24

Attention to detail

Answer 24

Large amounts of different work types to juggle throughout the week such as preparing for a trial, dealing with artwork sign offs, prepping for meetings, prepping for customer presentations. I proudly say that people don’t have to ask me more than once for something as I always note down any task or action required so I don’t forget anything.
I have a daily task list to indicate what is needed for each day, as well as sending out a weekly task list to the team to ensure everything is covered.
An example of where I have improved by attention to detail is forming quality documents at my previous job. It requires generally to copy and paste between documents as much of the information is the same. When this happens it is easy to make mistakes as you something don’t immediately see if something is wrong. After releasing this a couple of times, I would ensure that if I complete a document one day, I would put a reminder in either later in the day or for the next day, to proof read the document to double check there were no mistakes.

Question 25

Enjoys working collaboratively but is not afraid to ask for help

Answer 25

Trialing a hot cross bun recipe last year with cheese. First time for a savoury hot cross bun and in NPD it was fine. In the factory they looked great coming out of the oven but then collapsed after a few minutes. As the timescale was short and I didn’t have any experience with this, I would have researched and trialed but I thought as well as doing this, I’ll email some suppliers to see if they have experience with this. Turns out the improver I was used wasn’t strong enough and the method of adding the cheese could be improved. Learned a new method and relay this to new launches this year.

Country miller - I thought of trial plan, AN came back from holiday and supported - very rewarding at the end to share the success with someone else

Question 26

Strong focus on continuous improvement and quality

Answer 26

Hot cross bun improvements and sourdough improvements

Question 27

Passion for technical development of food and curiosity

Answer 27

Sourdough improvements - TTA and pH etc. Putting the science into bread

Question 28

Ability to build relationships, communicate with confidence

Answer 28

Strong relationships internally - put in meetings with planning etc. improve communication. NPD meeting

Question 29

Navigate new challenges

Answer 29

NPD meeting running

Question 30

An example of a time managed numerous responsibilities

Answer 30

• meeting with site lead
  Organising the hot cross bun projects for each retailer while keeping track of other projects as well. About May time start communicating with retailers about launch dates and innovation ideas. This leads to multiple initial samples to inspire the initial brief which then leads to numerous submissions. Found the best way to handle this way to delegate different customers out to the technologists so we would each have a retailer to focus on. Generally it would be one technologist for all hot cross buns however the core ranges were being redeveloped so I decided it would be more efficient for separate people with separate customers. I found this to be much more effective as it gave the customer more time and attention as each technologist could communicate with the developers which in all leads to better feedback and working collaboratively. Since then we have were able to get further through submissions for Coop than we have before with the only reason of not progressing was cost.

Question 31

How do you handle a busy workload

Answer 31

• delegate, site lead meeting, sending out workloads
  Since being in this role I have found the workload and weekly tasks for myself and my team have increased. Following this I found it important for other members of the commercial team such as the account managers and my manager to have a weekly update on upcoming tasks for the team. I set it out as tasks vs weeks coming. This allowed them to see when we were planning to complete specific tasks for the customers they work with which allowed us some breathing space as they didn’t have to chase to ask when it would be completed. The list would then be updated with what was completed in the last week. This was also useful in highlighting the workload to more senior members of the team.

Question 32

Example of when your responsibilities got a little overwhelming. What did you do

Answer 32

• site lead
  I have recently found due to the amount of trials and redevelopment happening for hot cross buns, the workload of larger than ever as so much time is being spent in the factory. I thought how can I give the team a bit of breathing space and also ensure everything was completed on time. So I organised a meeting with the site lead, as well as relevant people who could support and those who needed to be aware of the challenges. This made it clear to the wider team the current strains the team were under and allowed them to allocate people to support during this period in order to get the project through on time. This resulted in factory trials being delegated to other colleagues while NPD were able to focus on other projects at the front of the critical paths.

Question 33

Tell me about a time you set a goal for yourself. How did you go about ensuring that you would meet your objective?

Answer 33

At the start of my time at N&H set objectives for my PDR. As my career aspirations were to progress within the company a few of my goals were to take some of my managers tasks as my own. One of these was running the weekly NPD meeting. Although I knew it was important I was nervous as I didn’t feel capable at the time. In order to overcome this I would take on small tasks so run the meeting for a few products to start with and then occasionally running while Vicky was on holiday. This allowed me to build up the confidence and now I run these weekly which are now also not just N&H but within the bread group.

Question 34

Describe a long-term project that you kept on track. How did you keep everything moving?

Answer 34

• sourdough Dec
  N&H is continually invested in sourdough and improving the site facilities. There is a large ongoing project that I have been involved in. Tasked with organising many trials using fermentation tanks which involves organising a time table to keep on track with progress and the team coming in throughout the night to take measurements. The business needed to form a conclusion by December last year so we had weekly meetings to update the team on the conclusions that we were making each week and which direction we were heading. This was important to allow others to feedback and ensure we were not wasting our time.

Question 35

Persuasive -

Answer 35

Coop sourdough shape change
New sourdough shape and format that customer was looking for – it aligned with market data and made sense from a consumer point of view. Ops weren’t keen as nervous it might require new equipment and poor efficiencies. Continued to communicate that it was something we needed to try and the reasons that backed this up. Agreed to put certain trials in place and to do the background work needed. Outcome: will be shown to customer at submission

Question 36

Example of a difficult conversation with a customer - stop hxb submission

Answer 36

JS HXB submission now at sub 15 for one particular product. Too much time had been spent with minimal changes from feedback each time. Decided needed to put a stop to this so I contacted the customer to explain that the next submission would be the last and we would present 3 different options and they would need to pick as we’ve spent too much resources on this and we are at risk of a late launch. I proposed that if this happens again where it goes beyond submission 3, the developer should come to site to work through the options together to get to a conclusion much quicker. They were understanding, appreciated that too much time had been spent on it and agreed that was a good way to move forward.

Question 37

Explain a difficult conversation with a colleague

Answer 37

• C.P
  C and the way they speak to people and the effect it has. Decided to ask for a one to one to explain how I would prefer to be communicated with and how it would have a better, more positive outcome. She appreciated the honesty and it brought us closer together and were able to work more collaboratively.

Question 38

Explain a difficult colleague and how you dealt with it -

Answer 38

S.W
Quite early on at N&H it was clear that one of the commercial team had concerns over the development teams abilities to meet deadlines or do specific tasks that they had asked us to do. This was initially frustrating as there was no reason for them to lack belief in us as a team. I decided to share a team schedule calendar outlining our outstanding tasks and when we intended to complete them. This gave him a clear guide that he could reference if he had queries about when things were completed and didn’t need reassuring which caused unnecessary stress for both him and the team.

Question 39

Describe a time you found it difficult to make a decision at work. How did you arrive at a solution?

Answer 39

Sometimes difficult when getting briefs in to balance between moving forward with the briefs and the workload of the time. Sometimes it is necessary to push back as say no in order to do the best quality work. For example a new brief from Waitrose, after careful consideration I had to push back and say we would not be able to achieve this in the time given to give focus needed to the current projects. This was definitely the right decision as it would be more disappointing for the customer if we said yes but produce poor quality submissions.

Question 40

Example of when you were persuasive

Answer 40

New sourdough shape and format that customer was looking for – it aligned with market data and made sense from a consumer point of view. Ops weren’t keen as nervous it might require new equipment and poor efficiencies. Continued to communicate that it was something we needed to try and the reasons that backed this up. Agreed to put certain trials in place and to do the background work needed. Outcome: will be shown to customer at submission

Question 41

Handled conflict:

Answer 41

New sourdough shape and format that customer was looking for – it aligned with market data and made sense from a consumer point of view. Ops weren’t keen as nervous it might require new equipment and poor efficiencies. Continued to communicate that it was something we needed to try and the reasons that backed this up. Agreed to put certain trials in place and to do the background work needed. Outcome: will be shown to customer at submission

Question 42

Problem solving:

Answer 42

Country miller sourdough

Question 43

Describe when you lead a team:

Answer 43

Country miller sourdough, sourdough improvement project

Question 44

An example of when you made a mistake?

Answer 44

JS HXB submission - should have stepped in earlier but wanted best product, going forward if it goes that far, get the customer to site. Resulted in a clear npd structure.

Question 45

A time when you’ve had to make a quick decision

Answer 45

Product for a submission hot cross buns – short time scales and didn’t turn out as would like – could have submitted but made the quick decision to not send and send an email explaining the delay. Appreciated honesty and able to give confidence to nail it next time.

Question 46

What motivates you?

Answer 46

Seeing product on the shelf that I’ve worked collaboratively on that consumers are going to enjoy. When hard work pays off in terms of getting business or launching new products and getting positive feedback.

Question 47

An example of when a project wasn’t on track

Answer 47

Country miller

Question 48

A time when you were resilient

Answer 48

Country miller sourdough?
Launching and all on track however was a quick launch. Told we wouldn’t get investment that we were supposed to and told had to sort it out. Didn’t dwell on it too much but put an active plan together.

Question 49

A time when you were criticised

Answer 49

Sourdough for Coop in JS packaging

Question 50

Time when you worked alone

Answer 50

Country miller sourdough
Dissertation

Question 51

Time when you worked as a team

Answer 51

Project on sourdough at the end of last year, had to find optimum time and temperature for a sourdough starter using fermentation tanks. Due to the nature of the trials they were throughout the night. We organised ourselves to ensure we were able to cover off the trials in a balanced way, as well as supporting each others other projects at that time as we knew we needed to be flexible to get the trials done. Supported each other and all chipped in. Very rewarding as work like that brings a team together as you can all see the finished goal that you all worked towards.

Question 52

Time when something didn’t go well

Answer 52

Hot cross bun submissions for sainsburys?
Country miller sourdough?
Cheese hot cross bun trials?

Question 53

What would your colleagues say about you?

Answer 53

Diligent, calm, innovative…. Hard working, dedicated, kind, considerate, genuine

Question 54

What can you bring to this role that others can’t?

Answer 54

I would say i’m not always the loudest in the room but I give considered ideas. My previous experience in terms of development in strong and I have proven time management skills. Genuine person and put my all into everything. I get stuck in as soon as possible. Action orientated, I won’t just say, I will do.