John Gibson - Team Leader, Strategy and Planning

Name: John Gibson
Job: Team Leader
Team: Strategy and Planning
Joined OFT: 2006

My undergraduate degree was in modern history, followed by a Masters in Political Theory. The bulk of my subsequent work involved helping the long-term unemployed residents of an employment zone back into sustainable jobs. This is not the most obvious preparation for a career at the OFT, and I have to confess I didn't know a great deal about competition or consumer policy before joining.

Nonetheless, I was drawn to a job description for a Market Studies Analyst, which seemed to offer an attractive intellectual challenge and the opportunity to have a direct impact on people's lives. This role lived up to its promise as I was involved in studies of internet shopping, and productivity and competition - two dissimilar, but equally innovative and enjoyable pieces of work. I then moved to the Strategy and Planning team, which presented a series of different challenges: considering the work of the OFT as a whole, rather than focusing on how to address a particular issue in a particular market.

The OFT offers plenty of opportunities to work on a variety of projects in different areas. This reflects a strong ethos of personal development, which can also be seen in the continuous opportunities for learning. These come in the form of courses, seminars, papers, or even just from talking to colleagues, who are always happy to chat and have a fascinating range of skills and experiences.

As well as being rewarding in itself, this learning and development culture is very positive for career development, a fact to which I can attest having been promoted to a team leader position in 2007.

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