Marketing Brand Associate Review

I really enjoyed my placement year. At first it was really daunting to think that I had a whole year in front of me, especially when the usual university year is actually only about 9 months! However, the placement flew by so fast and before I knew it, my year was over. I made so many wonderful new friends for life with other placement students and I also felt like a truely valued and integrated member of my team.

I felt extremely valued by my colleagues and wider team. When my line manager was on holiday I was left to coordinate the update of over 15 different materials, which although stressful at the time was a great opportunity for me and it felt great that i was trusted with such a crucial and important job. Everyone was always so approachable and friendly and at every team meeting there was no doubt that I was going to be greeted with hugs from every member!

The support from my line manager was incredible. She perfectly achieved the right balance of supporting me and guiding me, but also letting me have my own responsibilities and learn without any spoon feeding or hand holding. I had regular one to ones with my line manager for development and also for work issues and our open plan office meant I was always asking questions as they cropped up anyway. The wider team was also incredibly supportive so I always felt I could pick the phone up to contact the relevant person for whatever I required.

Every day was very varied and on the whole I was mostly very busy, which I enjoyed. On occasion there was the odd slow day, but this wasn't often. I had the opportunity to travel a lot, across the UK but also internationally which was an incredible experience. Throughout the year I was given my own projects to lead on that I was accountable for, so most of the time I was in control of my own work load. In addition to this I chose to get involved in other projects outside of my team that meant I was often quite busy.

I was given a huge amount of responsibility during my placement. I led my own projects from start to finish, led my own meetings, led the other students in creating a student video and many other things. In addition to this, myself and the other student in my team were the first to be allowed to go on the international trips, which was a great sign that they thought we were worth it! Whenever my manager was away, I also had to take on some of her projects, which gave me a great sense of responsibility.

My degree is in Biology so working in the Pharmaceutical Industry has been very eye-opening as it relates to my degree but it more the real world application of my studies. It was fascinating to see the business world working alongside the science, as in order to do our job in marketing as best as we could, we had to understand the disease areas and also how our products work. The training courses that I was able to get involved in will really help me into the future, a few of note were a presentation skills course and insights colours training.

My office was incredibly friendly, fun and approachable. Noone takes themselves too seriously, but at the same time everyone I met was a very hard worker and determined person, wanting the best for Lilly. Another lovely thing is many of the employees came through on the placement scheme themselves and then have worked their way up through the graduate scheme. Therefore, everyone knows what it is like to be a placement student and so are very supportive. In addition to this you are not treated like a student, you are treated like a real employee, which was lovely and something that I didn't expect!

The placement was very well organised due to the fact that there are so many students, about 12 for marketing and another 15 or so in IT. This means we have lots of training courses and development opportunities together that we could get involved in. The only negative aspect could possibly be that depending on the department you are in definitely influenced your work load and the opportunities that you were faced with. For example only a few of us got to travel so much on work trips, and that was just down to luck and the team we ended up in.

The company invested a lot into us, more than I would have expected! All of the students had lots of training courses, such as the Insights Colours, which assesses your personality profile based on 4 key colour groups, paid for by Lilly! I was then even luckier and within my team experienced additional training such as Presentation Skills, How to handle difficult conversations as well as disease area and product training that was relevant to my business unit.

They are incredibly appealing as on the graduate scheme you receive a very competitive salary, company car, pension, healthcare etc so it is a very good package. In addition you do rotations within different departments such as Sales and Marketing to gain lots of experience, which is a great opportunity. I myself have been offered a graduate position after finishing my universty studies next Summer and I accepted it without a second thought! They are a great company to work for and create a very appealing atmosphere to learn in at the start of your career.

The social scene was really good. I lived with three other girls who were also on placement at the company so we always did things together in the evenings. We had a few nights out in Basingstoke and Reading with all the other students and some graduates and we were always getting together at weekends and after work even if it was just for a drink or a Spoon's curry night! I also went out for meals and drinks a few times with my colleagues as well, which was always lovely.

The cost of living and socialising was quite reasonable, due to the fact that I was based in Basingstoke. Restaurants and bars are all reasonably priced so my main costs were mostly train tickets to visit my family some weekends. My costs would have been slightly higher if I had lived in Reading as I would have had to pay for the 20minute train ride into work, but compared to other areas, such as London, the costs were all very managable on the salary that we were provided.

In Basingstoke itself the night life is not great. There are a few bars and a couple of clubs that are all reasonably priced and can be fun with the right group of people. However, Reading is only a 20 minute train ride away so a few times we went there for the nightlife instead. Splitting a taxi back to Basingstoke then only cost around £10.

Yes, there is something called the Lilly Day of Service, where all employees volunteer for different charities and organisations for the day. This was a really fun thing to do with your friends and your team and a nice day out of the office! In addition to this there was an on site gym that was free to use and other extra curricular events were often organised, such as Summer Fair, BBQ, Christmas Market, Easter Market, Football tournaments, theatre trips, Chrismas party etc!