Medical Affairs Undergraduate Review

I enjoyed the year, but there were definitely aspects I did not like so much. I enjoyed the industry and learning opportunities it provided - I found the work generally interesting and liked how I was able to find a role that had a strong science background but was not based in the lab. The culture of the organisation is fantastic and especially during the COVID-19 period I really got the sense the company truly cares about its employees. However, some of the work was not interesting and was administrative in nature. I did not enjoy these tasks and thought that they provided few learning opportunities. I also felt sometimes as if I was not properly integrated in the team as I was not invited to some whole team meetings and there seemed to be a general divide between interns and the wider team. There were also many key responsibilities of the role I could not do as I was not qualified - I wasn't aware of this before I started which was disappointing.

I felt valued by the organisation in general. The organisation provides excellent employee perks such as a meditation room, free yoga sessions and, during COVID-19, free online exercise sessions. These features really gave me the impression the organisation, thus the colleagues implementing these features, really cared about their employees. In general, I felt valued by my colleagues and felt as if I was encouraged to provide my opinion and that it was listened to. However, I did feel as if there was a bit of a divide between interns and the wider team, as sometimes I was not invited to meetings. I definitely felt as if the work I was given was not very challenging at times, or that I was just being given it to keep busy rather than it being useful for my team. This made me feel less valued at times.

I definitely felt very supported throughout my year by my direct supervisor. I had weekly catchups which enabled me to express how I felt things were going and what I would like to work on. This dedicated time and support was really useful. I was also fortunate to shadow other departments and business units. I reached out to individuals to do this and felt supported at all times. Whilst these were not my direct managers, I was encouraged to do this by my supervisor and really felt as if other managers supported me as well. My supervisor and managers were also very good at supporting my professional development and always encouraged me to do things such as online courses and work on my CV etc. I definitely could have done with some more guidance in the beginning - I think the impression was all of our time would be taken up by training, but I found myself at a loose end sometimes and no idea of what to do. Some guidance in terms of reading or initial upskilling would have been appreciated.

I think at Pfizer you are definitely as busy as you make yourself! I felt most of the time as if I had a good balance between being busy and also having time for personal/professional development, such as through the completion of online courses. If I needed more to do, I could reach out to colleagues who would generally provide something to do. The only downside sometimes was, as I was working on projects, work would come in waves. Therefore, sometimes I would have loads to do and other times I would not have as much. However, I think this is the nature of working on projects and this was an important lesson to learn.

In terms of internal projects, I felt I was given a fair amount of responsibility. I was given the reins to lead projects and liaise with a variety of colleagues and internal stakeholders. I really enjoyed this and learnt a lot about project management and leadership. However, in terms of external projects I did not feel as if I had much responsibility at all. Often, I would liaise with agencies or stakeholders and organise meetings or facilitate communication. However, when it came down to actually leading the engagements via meetings, or completing the work, I really felt as if I was less involved and had far less responsibility. This made my role feel very administrative at times and was disappointing.

I think the skills I developed will be less useful in my degree studies, but really useful beyond this. As I study a science subject, and this was an office-based role, many of the skills I learnt are less transferable to my degree. I did, however, gain some transferable skills in areas such as communication. This will be very useful in my final year project. However, as I wish to pursue an office-based role in the future, I believe my skills will be really useful post-degree. For example, I have developed hugely in terms of business acumen and learning how to work day-to-day in an office. I feel well equipped to interact with colleagues and achieve desired outcomes. This will be extremely beneficial going forwards.

The atmosphere in the office was very welcoming and the culture of Pfizer was really evident. The atmosphere had what I can only call a 'buzz' to it - there was an excellent mixture of getting on with working hard, but also taking breaks and catching up with colleagues at lunch and when you needed 5 minutes away. We were always encouraged to manage our energy, not our time, and recognise when we needed fresh air. I always felt as if I could approach my colleagues when I needed to. The only downside about the atmosphere is that individuals didn't always come into the office and when there were fewer people, the atmosphere was less motivating and it could be difficult to catch the individuals you needed to talk to. But this flexible working was also beneficial in many ways.

I think in terms of the scheme overall, it is well organised. The onboarding process is helpful and comprehensive and I felt as if we were really supported at the beginning in terms of understanding the company and its processes. I think the organisation was definitely impacted by COVID-19, as it meant many of the events etc. we were supposed to partake in were cancelled later in my placement. This meant sometimes things felt less organised and a little detached, but isn't really the fault of the company! In terms of the organisation of my specific role, I think specific projects etc. could have been picked out and identified for me earlier on as sometimes I felt as if they didn't know what to involve me into or what I could do. But this was really role-dependent and a lot of individuals had specific projects from the get go.

This was fairly role-specific in terms of the training everyone received, but overall it was really good. For example, if you are in roles such as marketing you receive additional training on presentation skills and marketing skills, which I did not get. However, I received training in other areas more specific to my role. I definitely felt invested in, for example we were able to partake in Clifton Strengths and various work-life balance training. We also had access to online courses through Harvard ManageMentor and LinkedIn Learning, although these could have been better advertised to us. This was the one downside, as we did not find out about these opportunities until later in the year, whereas I think we should have been told about them initially. I received much training specific to my role, for example in terms of compliance. I was due to go to conferences and external training, but these were largely cancelled due to COVID-19.

I think future employment prospects in general are appealing. We have been notified that multiple individuals from each year's cohort rejoin in various roles and of this being a possibility if we stay in touch with people etc. Furthermore, they recruit solely for the graduate scheme out of the pool of undergraduates which is extremely appealing. In terms of graduate roles, the graduate scheme is only available in sales and marketing. These commercial roles appeal less to me, although other entry-level roles are possible to obtain. I think this definitely makes the employment prospects less appealing for individuals who are not as interested in these roles.

Prior to COVID-19 the social seen was great! It definitely dependent somewhat on where you chose to live and who was in your department, but overall it was fantastic. The cohort of undergraduates is quite large and therefore it's almost like a uni cohort and always something going on after work/at the weekends. We arranged social events and also had some facilitated by the company (such as joy Pfest for all colleagues which is a lot of fun). The social scene is definitely a highlight and I met many great people during the year!

As it is very close to London, the costs of living and socialising are high. However, as I attend university in a less-expensive area, I think this skews my view a little, as I definitely didn't feel pushed for cash this year. As with all living and socialising, it is as expensive as you make it and cheaper options were available! Rent was definitely higher than what I am used to, but there were reasonably-priced properties out there if you were willing to furnish it yourself or live in an apartment vs a house etc. I think the higher cost of living is made up for by the good salary which definitely means it is generally ok to socialise and also save a little for when you go back to university.

The office is based in the middle of nowhere so the nightlife is quite non-existent! However, in the surrounding towns where interns live it is slightly better. In the town I lived in, there was no nightlife whatsoever (unless you count spoons...) but the town next door had some bars and one nightclub-type place which was easy to get to and ok. In the other town many interns lived there was a nightclub and also bars. For a good night out, most people travelled into London, which is fairly inconvenient.

There were some opportunities to do this, but I don't think interns had lots of exposure. To my knowledge, there was a football club and a band but I am not sure if much else! However, things such as volunteering opportunities and getting involved with organisations such as the Healthcare Businesswomen's Association are facilitated by Pfizer and enable you to get involved in more activities outside of work. Also, I can imagine setting up other activities would be possible if you had a group of colleagues, so the option is there to do that!