Materials characterisation Review

I really enjoyed my time on placement working at Pfizer. The team I worked for was very welcoming and integrated me into the team immediately. I was treated like any normal employer. I learnt so much on my placement and developed both profesionally and socially. It was a great enviroment to work in. The actual work was intresting and applicable to real life.

I always felt valued by my colleagues, I was treated like any normal employer and was given similar responsibilites. I was always included in discussions and the planning process. Any suggestions were taken seriously and evaluated and if they were unfeasible, feedback and explanation was given to improve it. It was an enviroment where hard work was rewarded.

Support by my supervisor was constant throughout the year. He always made himself avaliable to provide assistance when ever it was required. As the year went on, my supervisor let me become more independent which was ideal. Again if I ever needed help, he would provide assistance. This was the same for the whole team that I worked in. Everyone would be happy to answer any quereis or demonstrate techniques when required.

The work balance was great. The work load was enough that I was never bored at work but not over the top where I became stressed. If I finished the work set early then, more work would be provided. There was always more projects and more developments to get involved in. The projects were always different aswell which made the work intresting. Often it was the same techniques applied to different problems. Which meant as time went on more knowledge could be applied to the problem.

Responsibility on runnning the instruments was given pretty much initially. Lab based work was very independent and disccused with the supervisor afterwards. Interpreting the results became more independent as the year went on. This principle applies to other aspects of the job role. As the year went on, more responsibility was given to me and I became involved in different tasks.

As my job role was not specifically related to Chemistry, the techniques and theory knowledge I aquired over the year did not really assist me in my academic studies. This could be viewed as an issue if deveoping further in the Chemistry field is your objective. For me, I really enjoyed my placement and I think I want my future career to be based around my placement year. Regardless of the actual content, the skils I aquired in terms of research, presentational skills, writing and discussing data will be applicable to any future job role.

The atmosphere was always a balance between fun and hard working. It wasn't silent but it wasn't loud or disturbing. Social chat occured mainly in tea breaks and over lunch but it wasn't restricted to these times. The office set up meant it was easy to discuss work with colleagues in the team and ask for assistance and advice when necessary. It was a really fun atmosphere to work in.

The placement was very well set up. Initial induction days and training had been organized prior to arrival. All safety and health inductions were completed within the first couple of days. It was set up so that all the necessary general training was conducted initially so that within the first couple of weeks, we could begin training in the lab. From talking to other internship students, this seemed to be the general case across all the teams.

I would say strongly. Emphasis was put on trying to develop skills that wee essential for all jos. We were given the opportunity to present data and disccuss finding within the team. As work was not soley completed for our supervisors, we got the chance to collaberate with other supervisors within the team which gave the chance to learn new skills from individiuals with different backgrounds. During my placement, I got to attend a seminar in London, from which I learn about a different area within the team I had not had much exposure too.

Due to the volatile enviroment in which pharamaceutical's is based, having a guaranteed job role from when you finish university is rare. However, I do know a number of individiuals who have returned on completion of there university course. I think it generally depends if positions are avaliable at the time and how well you performed whilst on the placement.

Pfizer has an intake of around 20 placement students per year and an additional apprentiship cohort of around 20. Therefore there is a lot of young people working within Pfizer. A few initial events are set up for the placement students to socalise. Connections with the apprentiiship students have to be made externally, although this is not difficult as you will be working with some of them directly.

The cost of accomidation in the area I lived was very cheap and very good value for money. The cost of food was no different to any other area I have visited. Socalising was generally more expensive as the pubs and clubs seemed pricey.

The night life in the area where I lived was okay. Considering it was a 5 minute walk from my house, it is hard to complain. It was busy over the weekends. To have a proper night out, it was best to go to canterbury, which was a 20 minute train journey away. As canterbury has multiple university's it was pretty student heavy.

Like any normal place, there was always things going on. The site didn't have any clubs to join therefore it had to be done individually.