What’s it like to work for Kromek we asked Rachel Brown who has been here ten years
What’s it like to work for Kromek for ten years
Rachel is the main point of contact for our distributors and handles the sale of any and all Kromek products. This means she can be talking to a hobbyist in Japan that wants something to measure radiation in soil one minute and a physicist that needs a VTF for a beam line for their particle accelerator the next. This month Rachel celebrates being at Kromek for ten years.
In March 2019 Rachel Brown celebrated ten years at Kromek, so she has seen the company grow from a small start-up in one office to a worldwide business with factories in UK and USA with a network of distributors and partners selling our products. So, what’s it like to work for Kromek, we sat Rachel down and asked her.
When did you start at Kromek?
9 March 2009.
Where in Kromek do you work?
I work at Kromek HQ in Sedgefield in the commercial department. Which means I sit with the other staff in the sales team and digital marketing.
What were you doing before Kromek?
I had a variety of sales and marketing jobs before joining Kromek most in the industrial chemical sector moving around from Manchester, Glasgow and places in between.
What is a typical day like for you?
Currently sales, marketing, managing distributors. As we grew, I’ve pretty much done everything at some point: logistics, export, PA, production (my desk was part of the production line for GR1 CZT-based gamma spectrometers when they first launched). I also organised the events for the launch of our liquid explosive scanner. I helped launch the first GR1 and the civil nuclear detection side of the business and mapped out the processes and customer journey for all the different products in the nuclear field that we have today and I was involved in naming the first nuclear products.
What’s the best thing about working at Kromek?
I started at almost the very beginning of Kromek. We were a small team which meant that I was able to mould my own role and do the things I wanted to do, rather than be pigeon holed which I find is the case with bigger firms. There is a freedom to decide your own destiny within the company. Over the years there have been lots of changes, with never a dull moment, things were always moving and evolving so my roles never got stagnant and boring. I enjoy working with people from all over the world and it is especially satisfying when they appreciate and comment on the service and attention to their needs I provide.
What’s the worst thing?
The office is nice and light with one glass wall, but this means it gets very hot in summer and a bit cold in winter. The local magpies and crows love the gravel roof and make a racket when they hop across it, we have to explain to any visitors that we are not being broken into. It’s the magpies you have to watch out for. We have a lot of superstitions centred on them in Britain, especially if you see just one, which is bad luck. The wonderful Unthanks (a local folk group) sing about them here.
What do you do when you are not at Kromek?
My biggest passion is travelling, I love going to adventurous places and I am planning a trip to the area around Chernobyl soon. I will be carrying a D3S ID gamma neutron spectrometer to keep me informed of the radiation levels.
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