Kimberley Warren
- Kimberley took a degree in Management Studies at Cambridge University and then joined GlaxoSmithKline on their Sales and Marketing Graduate Scheme.
Recent graduates
Pharmaceutical - GlaxoSmithKline
Having found out about marketing at university as part of my degree course in management studies, I was keen to pursue a career in this field. Through placements and internships I was exposed to media marketing and fast moving consumer goods and finally came across pharmaceutical marketing. The fundamental nature of pharmaceutical marketing, working with the NHS to ensure that patients receive the right medication for the right reason, really appealed to me – the strategic challenges of this field coupled with the knowledge that the products you are marketing can really make a difference to people’s lives, led me to the conclusion that this was the right job for me.
When it came to choosing a company, GSK felt like the obvious choice. They are a global organisation and a leader in the field of pharmaceuticals. On top of that, the culture of the company was very attractive – GSK not only works in the developed work, but excels in its not-for-profit work, contributing to a number of international and local projects to help improve life for under-privileged individuals and communities. GSK also gives their employees the chance to develop and grow within the organisation.
The rotational placement structure of the commercial marketing and sales programme offers great exposure to several areas of the pharmaceutical industry very quickly. Getting that breadth of experience early in your career, really helps you to get to grips with what is a complex and dynamic environment and enables you to meet the challenges of that environment head on. The scheme also offers significant responsibility from the word go – the prospect of continued challenge along with an opportunity to learn and develop, supported by a manager and mentor - made the scheme seem really attractive.
My first role was as part of the Diabetes First brand team, helping to develop and deliver the new campaign for our field-based representatives to use to educate our customers on diabetes. This placement was a great way to learn the ropes of marketing – from working with various agencies to develop the materials, conducting market research to test them with customers and to finally rolling these materials out to the field-based representatives.
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