Placement Student - Chemistry Review

It was challenging, interesting, a unique work environment for a scientist and rewarding.

Everyone I worked with made it clear, throughout the placement and at the end of it, how valuable they felt my input was to the team. My line manager described my performance as having made "a notable contribution to the company", which is something I have on paper and will be able to reference in the future in interviews etc.

I had quarterly performance reviews with my line manager, which were all adhered to. We always spoke at length about development targets and what resources I would need to do my project work. She was always available for informal discussion when I needed her also. Other managers also provided me with useful feedback to take onboard.

Extremely. The lab was under-staffed for much of my tenure, so there were extensive routine work commitments and numerous projects to move forward.

I had complete ownership of much of my project work. I played a key role in some data analysis work to help us decide on a new analytical instrument for the lab to purchase, which was a £30-50,000 investment. I definitely had the sense that my input was valued, especially towards the end of the year.

The confidence you get from working unsupervised in a lab for a year cannot be underestimated. You also learn a lot more about analytical instruments from working in a commercial lab that you do in academia with regard to maintenance and troubleshooting. My technical presentations also improved substantially throughout the year.

It was quiet, as our team was small (and grew smaller still during my tenure) and lots of the work conversation was at a level too advanced for me to understand. It got better when the seasonal staff arrived a third of the way through the year and on occasion there was plenty of good conversation to be had. I am naturally quite quiet anyway, so the subdued atmosphere didn't bother me anyway.

There was a clear learning and training plan in place and I was encouraged to organise events that would bring all the current placement students together to share information and knowledge. There were also two secondments organised for me in other areas of the business.

The engineering students got to train for a yellow belt (look it up online if you don't know what this is), but my line manager for better or worse decided this wouldn't fit so well with my work plan. I received training in the methodology for routine analysis etc. However, this was to make sure I was competent to do the job, so I really can't see this as an investment in myself. There were the secondments, as mentioned in the previous answer, which exposed me to other contacts and areas of the business, but there was little in the way of formal training courses.

Not good. The European sugar industry is going through a challenging time at the moment with the imminent lifting of quotas for individual EU countries in 2016, meaning European manufacturers will compete more directly with each other for big customers. There were a number of redundancies across the company while I was working there as a result of "efficiency savings". The company does officially have a scientist's graduate scheme, but I don't believe it's open for applications this year. They do however take a small number of engineering graduates on every year.

This was tough because we (as in the placement students) all worked at different factories/offices, which were many miles apart. As a result, we only went out together after organised events that brought us all together at the same site. I went out with my colleagues to local pubs and restaurants occasionally, which was absolutely enough for my requirements on a social front.

I rented a room from a live-in landlord in a little village a few miles away from my factory, which cost me £390 per calendar month. This in itself wasn't so bad. Basic living costs such as food I noticed, were substantially higher than I was used to, having lived in the north my entire life. The problem is that practically the whole of NW Norfolk is turning into a commuter area for London and commodity prices reflect this.

In my little village there was one pub and my landlords advised me to stay away on the grounds that I wasn't a 'local'. That said, there were a couple of nice country inns within a few miles of the factory. The nearest town, Downham Market had plenty of pubs, some of which stayed open till around midnight, but to actually go for a 'night out' you would have to go to King's Lynn, which was 13 miles away.

There was a badminton club, who played every week, that I was able to join. I believe there were also opportunities to play football and other sports. Colleagues would also circulate emails about charity bike rides, running events etc. All in all, considering the remote location of the factory, the opportunities were quite extensive.