Anti-infective Undergraduate Review

The overall placement helped me gain insightful skills and attributes that were under developed or acquire new ones. The support from colleagues within my team made me feel comfortable and welcome from the start, and any questions I had they had no issues in helping me with this. I would say a lot of responsibility is given if you show that you can handle it.

At the beginning of my placement I did feel an instant divide between my colleagues and myself, and this was reflected by the amount of work and the type of work I was receiving. However, once the initial divide had decreased a bit I felt very welcomed by my team and the work reflected this along with the responsibilities.

From the start of my placement I was constantly checked on by my manager and supervisors to ensure I fully understood the work given to me and that I felt comfortable at all times. I had weekly one to ones with each member of my team, and maybe more with those who I was working closely with on projects which I found very helpful in keeping on track with work and ensuring everyone is updated.

I was fairly busy on a day to day basis which was helpful in understanding the business more and allowed me to network throughout the company quite early on. However, for a few months due to a re-organisation within the company this left me having fairly little to do and no work to complete.

I was given quite a lot of responsibility quite early on within my first few months of placement, which helped me develop new skills quickly and feel very welcomed by the team. I led on quite a big project which was very nice to be trusted with and turned to be a big success.

I developed a lot of skills in which I had already developed from previous work exploits, but also developed new skills or practiced on those which I didn't feel as confident for. I feel a lot more comfortable in my under developed skills since starting my placement at Pfizer, which I know will be fully transferable to any future career aspect I choose to endure.

I was lucky enough to be part of two teams during my whole placement at Pfizer. This meant I developed working relationships with a variety of people meaning my communication skills have highly improved. The working ways of Pfizer was really relaxed and suited each individual which was nice and wasn't so strict on office workings.

I feel internally the placement could have helped from having a placement team specifically dealing with all the undergraduates, rather than it being just general HR. I feel others completing their placements would have benefited from this as certain issues that were raised members of HR were unsure as it was placement specific.

I felt at the beginning there was plenty of training and development opportunities to aid in our personal developments, however this began to decrease again because of the uncertain re-organisation. I felt there could have been more towards the end of placement to help us get more development in before we left and went back to university.

Personally the future employment prospects within Pfizer would not appeal to me purely based on the layout of the Graduate scheme including sales, which is not an area I would ever be interested in so I think its a bit unfair in that area that you have to complete this and cant do two years of marketing for example.

Due to their being lots of placement students there was an overall good social scene regarding regular meet ups both in and outside of work which was nice as a networking opportunity for the other undergraduates. This also made the placement less daunting as there was always someone knowing what you were going through.

I lived in Epsom which was about a 20 min drive to and from work, however I caught the bus and the free pass provided was really helpful in cutting living costs each week. The overall living costs in Epsom were fairly low as I house shared with bills included and the pay for placement easily covered this.

The overall nightlife in Epsom was fairly decent, there were two nightclubs that were however not to my taste although there were plenty of bars and restaurants to make up for this. I would recommend if you are wanting a more lively night out that venturing towards London would benefit more.

There is a general good social scene outside of work if you get involved in it, there was plenty of opportunity to suggest out of work activities, which depending on your team was really nice to have. There was also a lot of activities going on throughout the undergraduates both after work and at weekends.