Marketing Intern Review

I immensely enjoyed my placement year at MSD. Although I had actually never heard of the company before I joined, I am so glad I did and it was a great way to experience the pharmaceutical sector, as well as general business operations. The programme was great for personal development and I really enjoyed my placement overall.

I always felt valued during my time at MSD! I received a warm welcome from my team when I first arrived. I was treated as an integral member of my team and my opinions and ideas were always taken into consideration. I felt comfortable contributing to group discussions and sharing my thoughts.

I always felt very well supported throughout my time at MSD. Upon joining the company, I was assigned a line manager, who was responsible for assigning my tasks, as well as my overall personal development. I would have regular meetings with my line manager, during which I sought support and guidance.

I found the workload to vary throughout the placement. When I first joined, I found that I was less busy as I was still finding my feet and getting to know the company. However, once I got more comfortable, my workload significantly increased and I was given more responsibility, however, I never found the workload to be unmanageable.

Once I became confident in my role and understood the operation of the company, I was given a large amount of responsibility. I was leading on several communication channels and I was able to run these with autonomy. My line manager trusted my decisions and supported me in leading the way on these

I have leant so many skills that will benefit me in the future. I cannot stress how much you learn during your first proper time in a working environment! As well as developing my knowledge on the more technical elements of business operations (this will benefit me in my degree), I also gained many transferable skills, such as networking and communication.

At MSD, there is a great open plan office, which in turn creates a really open and friendly atmosphere. I found employees to be really friendly, and it was easy to approach people with questions or for just a general chitchat. No one takes themselves too seriously and everyone tends to be up for a laugh- whilst still getting the job done to the highest level!

I found the industrial placement year at MSD to be very well organised. On the first day, we had a really informative induction day. This really helped me to calm my initial nerves and give me a good understand of what I would be doing over the next year. Throughout the programme, the HR team was in constant contact and also organised useful networking and skills events.

I felt well invested in and it was clear to see how much effort and dedication goes into this programme. As MSD sees industrial placement students as potential future graduates, they were proactive in our personal development. We had presentation workshops, CV sessions and mock interviews. We also had a number of sessions on developing our knowledge of the pharmaceutical field.

As a company, MSD offers a number of graduate schemes, as well as direct entry roles. As an industrial placement student, you stand in good stead to be fast tracked onto the graduate programme or into an entry-level role. MSD were informative of the future opportunities and I believe the opportunities here to be bright.

I found there to be a great social scene amongst both the placement students and other full time employees at MSD. A lot of the industrial placement students relocated for the placement year and because of this, we formed close relationships as we would often social together in the evening and a couple of the interns lived together.

I found the cost of living to be reasonable and the salary more than covered costs.

Not amazing in the local area, however London is so close, which was great!

Lots!