Medical Affairs Undergraduate Review

My team were great and allowed me to adapt my role to fit my interests. They even went out of their way to get me contacts in other departments with those who work in my focus area. I have got a range of experience working for such a large organisation and have networked with lots of different individuals. I would be happy to return to Pfizer in the future.

My colleagues trusted me with independent tasks and often asked for my opinions during work related disucssions. As time went along, they became more confident with giving me more complex tasks and roles in fixing problems. However, when I completed complicated tasks, there was little understanding and recognition for the amount of work I had done.

The support was great. My manager was very understanding about all matters and I could always tell them the truth. We had weekly catch ups and when I had lots of tasks on, they were great at keeping me calm and gave great advice about work place politics. My manager taught me lots of professional and personal skills.

I was relatively busy, but also had time for breaks, networking and could always leave at the end of the day. However, there were times where my projects were quiet and I had to find extra work to do and ended up volunteering for another department and helping out other teams sometimes.

My project leads always wanted to know what I was doing, but as long as I kept them updated they often allowed me to work independently and take control of specific tasks and communications with other teams. When the leads were unable to attend catch up meetings, I was trusted to be the chair.

The skills I have gained probably won't reflect as much in my studies as I study a Science based degree with lots of focus in the labs, but my role at Pfizer was more community focused. However, I hope to do an Science Communications based dissertation where the creative skills I have learnt in my role may be useful. Beyond University, I would like to continue in a career similar to that I have experienced during my placement year so the skills I have learnt will be transfered and great to talk about at interviews.

The office was mainly quiet as the majority of team members were part time or home based. When the office was busy, it was a great place to be, but at other times it could be quite slow and dull. I was kept quite busy during my placement, but a more exciting atmosphere could have made my time at the company more motivational.

The placement was well organised with multiple projects for me to start on as soon as I arrived. You also had the option to do training courses and take part in the Six Sigma Yellow Belt Project. There were many opportunities. I would have preferred to be introduced to the rest of the department sooner.

The company offerred lots of training for Undergraduate Placement students. However, for some reason they were selective in some cases which meant I was only able to attend a couple and not all. There were many only training sessions especially focused on digital capabilities such as using Outlook and BOX.

There are many opportunities at Pfizer. The graduate scheme is very focused on Marketing and Sales, which is not an interest of mine. I work in the department of Medical Affairs which you can only get hired into if you are an expert in your field/ have experience in medical practice. However, I would apply for a full time job at the company if I found a roll that was intesting.

The other undergraduate students put in quite an effort to socialise, especially at the start. However, I lived slightly too far away from where most of the students were based so it was harder to attend all social events. The area around the office is very quiet with no shops or bars for a good radius. This made it harder to socialise directly after work as you needed to travel to nearby towns.

Expensive- Surrey is an expensive area because it is near London. Most rent was around £500-600 per month per person. The cost of socialising was similar to that of London, but not nearly as exciting. Trains in and out of London was roughly £8 and if you got the train from certain areas of Surrey you could use Oyster or contactless which made travel cheaper.

Bad. Nothing to do near the office at all. The closest bar was 20 minutes walk and was never busy- it was more of a restaurant. We had to travel to Epsom for nights out, where the clubs were limited with very little people our age around. We went to London a couple of times, but trains back were difficult.

I never met with my team outside of work because everyone lives in different places and the office is out of the way from places to do activities. Pfizer offers 5 working days a year for you to take part in volunteering activities- this was the only out of work activity I took part in.