Digital Marketing Undergraduate Review

My 12 month placement at Pfizer Pharmaceuticals was worthwhile and had provided me with valuable skills for the future. I would definitely recommend doing a placement as I have been part of many exciting opportunities, met lots of people and worked on a range of projects.

This varied throughout the year due to the reorganisation that the business went through, as my teams changed. Overall I felt that I was valued by my team and was included in most get together's and meetings

Again this varied throughout the year, depending on our calendars and how busy we both were. My manager made sure that we had catch up sessions and met regularly to check projects and work loads. Perhaps even more digital specific support particularly at the beginning would have been beneficial. But overall my manager supported me throughout.

Over the 12 months this varied depending on the time of year and and what was happening for the business and brand overall. Some days/weeks my work load would be fairly low but that allowed time for me to work on university stuff. Other times I was really busy and had to make sure I kept track of projects so that they were completed to deadlines.

Overall I was given a few projects that I could take lead on and project manage such as website updates, but this was very dependant on where in the project process I came in at. Most of the time I would help others to complete projects and finish them to deadlines.

Over these 12 months I have had the opportunity to develop a range of skills from presentations skills to project management. All of which would be good on a CV and helpful in the future.

The atmosphere in the offices at Walton Oaks (Pfizer's head office) was good. The building in general is very light and spacious with lots of break out areas and places to work other than your desk. Everyone always seems to be friendly and happy to help. Since the new country manager we have had a lot more one Pfizer events and fun events which have been good.

Overall I would say the organisation of the placement year has been good. At the start we were kept up to date with information we needed to know and we had lots of training which was very beneficial. One improvement that I would suggest would make the process better would be to have a mentor or one person who takes lead of all the undergraduates, someone we can go to for guidance/help and perhaps organise volunteering days/fun events for the interns to do as a group.

I felt as though the company had invested well in us as undergraduates and in the schemes as a whole. We have had the opportunity to complete lots of training sessions.

This would very much depend on the job role. Being someone who is very interested in Marketing I would be open to explore other industries before perhaps coming back to pharma.

The social scene within the undergraduates was really good and this had made my year at Pfizer even better. This has also been good within the team but perhaps we could have looked at doing even more days out as a team perhaps using a few of our 5 volunteering days.

This was a shock at the start, comparing it to university accommodation costs but being so close to London and only 15 min commute to work it was all worth it. I would definitely recommend looking in the surrounding areas to live.

This varied depending on the day, but the one positive was the proximity to London. As anyone knows London offers so much therefore we explored it as much as possible and have had some great nights out in central. Places like Epsom and Reigate also have one or two clubs that are good on a Thursday.

I was able to join the local gym as well as community groups in the surrounding area. The local area also has lots or walking trails and open spaces to have picnics etc.