'Why I took time out to work before university'

Henry Bushell left RGS in 2022 and has been working in business development for a pharmaceutical lab before taking up his place to study economics at University College London. He talks about the benefits of taking time out to work before going to university and the skills he has picked up along the way

Q: What did you go on to do immediately after leaving school?

A: After having some brief time off travelling abroad, following taking A-levels in maths, physics and economics, I started work at ApconiX as a business development assistant.While my job title hasn’t changed, the scale of my job has increased considerably since then. As I’ve picked up more skills and competency in helping clients, organising internal affairs and managing my own time and workload, I have been able to pick up more and more of the business development function at ApconiX, which has been necessary as the company and scale of work has grown.

Q: Can you outline a typical day?

A:Fundamentally, my job consists of helping the client along the journey from being interested in our services, to working with our professionals. This involves having an initial call with potential customers, organising confidentiality and services agreements as well as accurate quotations, giving them the correct and up-to-date information when necessary and connecting them to the right scientists inside ApconiX, all while logging all this client activity in our customer relationship management (CRM) software. However, as ApconiX is a relatively small company, lots of other things also fall into my job description. This includes (but is not limited to) attending and exhibiting at conferences on behalf of ApconiX to sell our services, preparing financial data and other information ahead of internal company meetings and helping out and doing jobs for our marketing function.

Q: What have been the highlights of your career to date?

A:My favourite part of the job so far has been exhibiting at the University of Birmingham STEM careers fair last year. I got the chance to talk to a large number of incredibly smart people, from undergraduates to post-doctorates, and tell them about potential career opportunities both in ApconiX and in the pharmaceutical industry more generally.

Q: What’s the best bit about the job?

A:Talking to people about our services. We offer consultancy and laboratory support which helps the development of vital pharmaceuticals whilst reducing the use of animals in testing, so having the ability to talk to people about this at conferences and over client calls is exceedingly rewarding.

Q: And the worst?

A:I am based in North Yorkshire whilst ApconiX is based in Cheshire – whilst I do work remotely most of the time, I wish I lived closer and were able to go into the office more often.

Q: What have been the biggest challenges you’ve faced?

A:One challenge I faced in the first few months was getting my head round what ApconiX do and our place in the wider pharmaceutical industry. I didn’t study biology or chemistry at A-level so do not have a background in the area, but through talking to PhD-level scientists day in and day out I have naturally learned (at a somewhat basic level) the science behind our services and why they are valued so highly, so that I am now able to discuss our services with clients. Another challenge I faced has been working from home. My first year at sixth form was interrupted by Covid and I worked at home then for a few months, so I had some grasp of what working from home entails. However, it has been a shift from going into school every day to working from home every day, in some good ways and some bad ways.

Q: What was the most important thing you learnt at RGS?

A: I think the most important thing I learned whilst doing my A-levels was timekeeping and the benefit of getting work done early. I always strived to minimise the amount of work I did at home during A-levels, trying to get work done during class and in free periods where possible. This has translated very well into my job, especially when you have clients chasing you if you take too long to do something. Managing time effectively and not leaving things too long is vital.

Q: What do you wish you’d known back then?

A: I wish I had known to be more career focused when picking universities. While career isn’t everything of course, taking some time out to work before re-applying for university has allowed me to evaluate what I want to get out of university, which is being able to have the most rewarding career possible after I study.

Q: What was your dream when you were at school?

A:My dream during sixth form was to become a policy/development economist, which is still the career I wish to pursue.

Q: What is the one piece of advice you’d give students interested in following a similar career path?

A:My one piece of advice to give to sixth form students (and this applies for any career path) would be not to rush into university. It is difficult to find the time to properly think through and (more importantly) research your university/career plans while studying for your A-levels, not to mention how daunting going to university can sometimes be when you are burned out after finishing your exams. If you don’t get into the university you want to go to, or simply don’t know what you want to do, taking a year (or two!) out to evaluate where you want to go with your university life and subsequent career can be hugely beneficial.

Q: Who was your favourite teacher and why?

A: I have a great amount of respect for each of teachers at RGS, but my favourite was my economics teacher Mr Demir. I took A-level economics on a whim because my sister (who was studying degree-level economics at the time) told me I would like it. Economics went from something I knew nothing about at the start of sixth form, to something I felt like I had a genuine grasp of by the end of second year. Mr Demir went past the (often dull) economics textbook and showed us how influential economic thought and shifts in economic theory can be in the minds of politicians and business owners, igniting my passion for the subject.

Q: Who or what inspired you when you were at school?

A: A major source of inspiration I had while at sixth form were the numerous major economists we learned about during the course and how their theories and publications have shaped the political and economic landscape we live in now.

Q: What do you miss most about Yorkshire and Ripon?

A: When I move down to London in September for university, I will certainly miss the wildlife and nature we get to enjoy up here. I will also miss the relatively much lower cost of living!

Q: What are your hopes for the future?

A: My main aims post-studying are to work in a rewarding job in the field of economics (both in terms of the contents of my role and my salary) as well as a good work-life balance. Further than that, who’s to say!