ASMD-Placement Student Review

I found my placement enjoyable, no two days were the same. The work was not too difficult to understand and in most cases quite interesting. Almost all of the employees there are very nice and always willing to help with any difficulties with workload etc and have a strong sense of teamwork.

My supervisor appreciated the work I carried out and any work that was exceptional or that I carried out by my own initiative was always appreciated and praised within the weekly team meetings. If there was a task set that I wasn't able to carry out in the allotted time, there was always someone to provide support.

Tasks were laid out for the team at the start of the week and if any difficulties or issues arose, any support required was provided by a supervisor and if not, then by the management team, who oversee the trials, in order to allow the completion of work and other tasks set for the day do not get delayed because of the issue.

This varies quite a lot and depends on the workload set out. Some tasks set can take all day, in some cases involve overtime, or last multiple days and require more than one team member in order to finish the task in time. However, some days could be very quiet and require either a lot of asking supervisors for tasks are the use of initiative.

As I was working is a small team (for a few months there were only 3 of us, and 2 of the team were students), I was given quite a bit of responsibility in that I was in charge of certain trials and had to organise the assessment dates and make sure they were carried out on time. There is a sense of progression through the year as you are given more responsibility.

Personally, I feel that the placement was more suited to a student doing biology rather than biochemistry. However, saying that, the chemical side of my course did help the team. The skills developed from the placement would were mostly transferable skills and help when it comes to interviews and enhances my CV.

As we were a small team, we got to know each other quite well. It was a nice, friendly, welcoming environment and everybody was polite and greeted me every morning. The only issue with the office was the small size of the office and the number of desks compared with the number of staff (which was 7 by the end of my placement) so a small amount of desk sharing happened.

During the first week , there was a good induction scheme that covers all aspects of health and safety and the paperwork they require. The work I would be involved in was made clear from the beginning. The team I was placed in was relatively organised with the work for the week being detailed on Monday mornings.

There was a system set up that dealt with personal training in that you watch a trained employee first, then that watch you and when they are happy that you are competent they sign a training form that then goes into your training portfolio. At the start of the placement I was also trained with Pesticide application (PA) 1 and 6 which is a cities and guilds qualification and this was paid for by the company.

The company does offer a graduate scheme in which you join the company after completing your degree. I didn't apply for this as I felt that my full ability wouldn't have been taken advantage of and I would have found that frustrating. However, a lot of the other students on placement have gone for the scheme and I know that most of the full time employees there have been hired through this scheme.

Everyone got on very well, students were always organising evenings out and celebrating birthdays by going out for evening meals/ lunch. Colleagues were always organising some form of charity event such as a 10k run or bike ride and I even had the opportunity to do the Yorkshire three peaks.

I lived in a quiet neighbouring village which was quite expensive compared to living in a close city such as Derby or Nottingham which some of the other students did but by doing this I saved on commuting costs as it was only 5 minutes away as opposed to 25 minutes.

As the area is very rural there isn't really much of a nightlife only a couple of quiet pubs and the odd nice restaurant. The only place the students went on a night out was to Derby which can be quite an expensive taxi ride but the cost of drinks is no different to anywhere else.

There are a couple of local gyms that I know a few students went to on a regular basis together but apart from that there isn't really many more opportunities, apart from the odd charity event, that I came across. But saying that, every year there are different students and it all depends on what the other students are interested in.