Meet Katrine Langvad, Consultant in the Department of Nutrition at the Danish Agriculture and Food Council 

My current job

I am head-over-heels in love with my job, because my assignments are very exciting and multi-faceted. Every day I learn something new. The Danish Agriculture and Food Council is a large organisation, and I work in the Department of Nutrition, specialising in the dairy sector.

My work focuses primarily on health communication on social and digital media.

Our receiver and target groups are consumers as well as professionals. I am the editor of the Facebook pages Maelken.dk (on milk and nutrition) and Dyrevelfærd i mejeribruget (on animal welfare in the dairy sector). Moreover, I contribute to the Danish Agriculture and Food Council’s Instagram profile.

In addition, I am involved in various kinds of project work, including participation in the production of brochures and folders on nutrition. I have given talks to 8th grade pupils (Year 9), and I am currently planning several seminars and conferences.

In fact, I was hired for my current position a couple of months before I had even completed my BA. Two days a week I worked for the Danish Agriculture and Food Council, and the rest of the week I spent preparing my Bachelor project.

My Bachelor project focused on the ways in which calcium dairy products can influence osteoporosis. I will make full use of this knowledge various ways, including a forthcoming nutrition conference in Florence. The focus of the conference is on bone structure and health.

My advice would be to

• Carefully consider how your interests could be in focus in a future job. Would you like to work face-to-face with other people, would you like an administrative job or would you prefer a job that involves physical activity? Try to consider how YOU yourself could possibly find a niche in the labour market.

• Select your internships with great care. In which fields would you like to test your skills? Internships give you invaluable experience, and they can contribute to the growth of your professional network.

• Find relevant student jobs. This is a brilliant way to use your knowledge. I have, for instance, worked as a volunteer at the Food Festival, and for a while I was Food and Health Editor at the magazine Aarhus Panorama. This job provided me with some important professional contacts in the field.