Undergraduate European Regulatory Strategist Review

I enjoyed my work placement at some times more than others. During busier times when I had more work to do it was more enjoyable, however towards the end of placement there was less work available for me to be involved in. I liked the feel to the company and thought there was a really good atmosphere, both within the group of undergraduates and outside of that. There were multiple additional opportunities to take part in outside of my main job role, volunteering, communication courses, and interacting with other lines in the company to name a few. I enjoyed the fact that there were multiple additional opportunities open to me at Pfizer.

My extent of feeling valued by colleagues increased throughout my placement year as you might expect. I felt most valued when I was given more responsibility and was trusted to carry out more important tasks and lead on tasks of my own. At the beginning of the placement I did feel slightly less valued, being given more operational tasks, and my opinion being less valued.

I was given very good guidance by my manager. We would have regular weekly one to one meetings to discuss my current workload and for me to get any help or assistance I required. It was very easy to go to my manager to ask any questions, even on projects I was working on that were not his personal projects, he would always be happy to provide support. My manager also encouraged me to take up multiple extra opportunities while within the company to make the most of my time here. It was nice to have that encouragement and freedom to spend some of my time exploring other aspects of the company.

This fluctuated quite a lot. Some weeks I would be very busy and would be having to work longer hours to get everything completed, whereas other weeks I would have very little to do so would instead spend my time completing University work and setting up meetings with other functional lines. It was good to have a period of quieter time to get the university work completed that I needed to, however there were some periods where I did get bored with too little to do. I discussed this with my manager and team, however it transpired that they themselves were having quieter periods and hence there was very little work for them to give me.

As you might expect, this increased throughout my placement year. Towards the beginning of placement I was given smaller tasks with little responsibility, and more operational tasks. Once I was proficient, I was given the opportunity to lead on a task to submit a variation which was one of my favourite tasks while on placement as I was leading the project and making decisions. Had there been more work available for me to take on I feel as though I could have taken on more responsibility.

The skills I have developed will help me further with my degree studies and beyond. I particularly think I have increased my communications skills throughout my placement year. Through having to present in meetings, and carrying out a communications skills course, I have greatly improved in my confidence as well as the quality of my delivery of presentations. I also think that I have increased my strategic awareness. I now understand the impact my decisions can have on other people within the business and on the wider business. Lastly I think I have greatly improved my problem solving skills. I completed a yellow belt six sigma training day where we learnt about the different techniques and data analysis you can use to help with problem solving. Completing this along with putting into practice problem solving when issues arose within my projects, I would definitely be better equipped for problem solving in the future.

The general atmosphere in the office was very welcoming and was generally happy. The people around us were always engaging and happy to talk to us. They were also happy to lend us their knowledge on particular areas and give us talks on what they did. It was nice to have a group of undergraduates sitting together as this felt like an inclusive group of people and we were able to help each other out.

The placement was very well organised. As it was set up for a lot of people and had been run for multiple years it was all very well set up. We had multiple induction talks within the first week to teach us about the processes and to set up our systems properly. We then also had a lot of talks and presentations about our roles to help us learn the necessary knowledge while also starting to pick up small tasks. There were quite a few things that were organised for the undergraduates as a group as a whole.

The company invested quite a lot of time in teaching us about the different areas of the business, including talks from multiple different lines, with people volunteering their time to teach us about their roles. The company was also happy to invest in me becoming a member of a regulatory affairs association, and fund me attending a careers fair.

Working for Pfizer in the future is very appealing. I like the company set up and the values it upholds, and think that the flexi hours are very appealing for future employment. The thought of working for a big pharmaceutical company is also very appealing for me for the future.

There were about 30 of us on placement at the Sandwich site, and so there was a good group of undergraduates to socialise with. I also lived with 3 other placement students so it was nice to be able to socialise and have company with them in the evenings. We would regularly do things in the evenings and at the weekends as a group. The only downside was that we were quite far from a big city. Canterbury would be the closest, but that is at least a 35 minute drive, so we were more limited to doing things in the smaller towns around us.

My rent was very reasonable and much better than the costs I pay at university. The other costs of living I would say were quite standard. I think the overall costs of socialising were quite low compared to other big cities to live in, so we were able to quite often do things.

The nightlife in Ramsgate is not great. There are a good few bars to attend around Ramsgate but fewer places to go out. If you venture to Canterbury there is a better nightlife but the costs of the Taxi home is quite high, and so we didn't do this very often.

There were a couple of times that drinks with the colleagues was organised, so that we could socialise outside of the workspace, but apart from that it was more that activities within the undergraduates would be organised. We organised to go for a Christmas meal as a big group, as well as an end of placement meal.