Global Regulatory Strategist Review

The work revolved around an interesting topic in Regulatory Affairs which made my initial start to work interesting and engaging as I developed a better understanding for the Regulatory environment. However, it was a very process driven role which also involved a lot of administrative work. I think this is partly a reality of work and the level I was at but it nonetheless made the work boring at times. Aside from the role itself I found the work culture and location fairly enjoyable and was able to achieve an alright work/life balance.

I felt very valued by my immediate team. They were very supportive and encouraged me in my work and did not treat me as someone to unload the work they didn't want to do on. I felt by the end of my placement they trusted me to do my own work to the necessary standard without having to step in and entrusted me to help with some of their more complex tasks. However, outside of the immediate team you could tell some people did just regard you as a placement student and as a result wouldn't always give your work the required priority.

My manager was very supportive and enabled me to experience other departments for shadowing work as well as getting me involved in the more complex work within my team. If I wanted to do something they would go above and beyond to try and make it happen. For career/future prospects they were also helpful and used their own experience to provide valuable insights into where I could progress.

Due to a lot of my work being based on queries received by external functions it's hard to say how busy the day-to-day was as one month might be quite quiet allowing me to focus on university work whilst the next month might be really busy with lots of work deadlines. So the work had peaks and troughs but daily I normally would find myself busy.

I felt I was given a lot of responsibility early on which was really good as it meant I could start learning through experience quickly. This meant leading team meetings and queries frim my second week in. My only criticism would be that I felt that this level of responsibility was not really raised greatly as the year progressed but again I was not sure if this was because the more complex work required far more experience than a year placement could provide or down to not being pushed.

As I am completing a science based degree I think this placement will not really help my lab work or the more technical scientific aspects as a lab-based placement would have. However, I feel being office based I really improved on my analysis, communication, and team-working skills which being soft skills can easily be transferred to improve my learning in final year and instilled good work habits having adapted to a 9-5 day. Beyond university, I feel I am far better equipped than my peers who did not go on placement as I now have work experience within a multinational company and know what I would like from a future job.

Despite everyone being friendly and welcoming my office was quite dull and did not have a great team atmosphere. I think this is partly due to the demographic compared to us interns and many worked from home regularly so on some days there would be an office for 50+ with only 10 people inside. Additionally, as the department I worked in seem a bit strapped for cash compared to the Commercial functions as there were not any big team building days, meals out ect and if there were it was restricted to the small teams within the departments (5-10 people). There were attempts to organise events for the whole department but they had a very poor attendance which did not help foster a team spirit. I feel my placement experience was lacking in this aspect as a result.

My experience was very positive and well organised, however this was more down to excellent organisation and vision from the managers in my department and not down to Pfizer's undergraduate placement program as a whole. I say this as experiences varied massively across functions with some students having little support and structure and being treated more as a handyman for a year than an intern there to learn and develop skills. If it were not for my manager and the department my year could have been very different as I would not have been provided the multiple learning and skill development programs offered to the interns in my department.

Pfizer offered the SixSigma Yellow Belt Continuous Business Development program which was brilliant. Yet, as mentioned in the question about how well the year was organised my personal development and training was driven by my manager and department rather than those overseeing the placement program as a whole which was lacking in places. Nonetheless, my manager was brilliant in providing personal training opportunities and they were invaluable opportunities.

My placement year was very encouraging and whilst I feel that Pfizer's program should be better organised to offer more in terms in personal development rather than make it what seemed purely manager dependent I would consider returning here to work. I'm not sure if I would return to the same role but Pfizer itself has a positive work culture and friendly atmosphere that made working here enjoyable. Prospects seem to be varied as they only offer 5 places in their graduate program which currently is purely a marketing and sales scheme so I do not have the chance to return to my role. Also, whilst the young work force (under 30) is not as large as it could be the company does appear to be trying to address that and incentivising young people to work for them.

Average. Obviously it was not going to be like university social life but the students were split across two towns that were not easy to travel between (roughly 30min drive and 1hr by public transport) which made it difficult to organise social events and led to two groups forming at first but this was less obvious as the year went on. Additionally, the office was in a remote location so interns could not easily disappear off after work to a nearby pub for a drink as you would have to drive and public transport was very erratic. A saving grace was the proximity to London made it possible for everyone to meet at weekend during the day for days out. For social clubs the gym offered some classes and there was a weekly 5-a-side session but there was not much in addition to this in terms of sports clubs like tennis, squash ect. With regards to the social scene amongst work colleagues it depended on the department massively, Regulatory was not the most sociable.

Affordable for the salary we were on. Although it was almost London prices with the money we were earning I personally felt I could still afford to socialise, go to events and so on without having to worry too much.

Bad, in Epsom there was very little nightlife aside from the local club. If you wanted good nightlife you would have to get a train into London and organise a taxi back after the trains stopped running. We often ended up just organising house parties instead.

Pfizer offered good volunteering opportunities to get involved with. Beyond this I am not too certain as whilst I didn't seek extra activities none were made obvious, such as sports clubs ect. Again this could be a department specific issue.