Name: Keith Last
Current role: Shift Manager, Northampton Depot
Degree and university: BA (Hons) in Business Studies, Sheffield Hallam University
Joined Gist: 2005

Everyone here works incredibly hard but they do so with a smile on their face.

Why did I join Gist?

I was attracted to Gist by its top-quality management-training scheme and global reputation for excellence. A highly enjoyable logistics module during my degree led me to consider a career in supply-chain management.

During the milkround, an advertisement for Gist caught my eye. I was immediately attracted by the company’s clear focus on its people and strong commitment to their ongoing career development. I knew that joining Gist meant joining a company at the forefront of a highly specialised and increasingly important business sector.

My Accelerate scheme experience

Gist offers a first-class management-training scheme and promises its graduates ’real responsibility from day one’ – and for all of the graduates I’ve met along the way (including myself) this is certainly true.

The Gist management-training scheme consists of three separate work placements over a period of 18 months – I have worked within the Transport department at our depots in Barnsley & Wellingborough, assisted in the set-up of a brand new site in Bristol, and am now a Shift Manager at the Carlsberg depot in Northampton.

The support graduates receive here is tremendous. You have a ’buddy’ to help you settle in, and a ’mentor’ and ’board sponsor’ who both keep a close eye on your career progression and report your achievements to the senior team. The graduates have an extremely high profile, and form a lively and vibrant network within the business.

A final word from Keith…Great variety + great support = a great company.