External Affairs Assistant Review

The placement is situated within a fairly unique department in a very complex industry- which i find fascinating! It has been an invaluable experience, and a great opportunity to meet like minded people.

My role manages an internal process, which the department cannot function without. As the year went on, I was given more and more responsibility to project manage certain functions within the team, however right from the start i felt like i was on equal footing with my colleagues.

My supervisor has been excellent this year. She has a wealth of experience and has provided the right balance of support and challenge to stimulate and develop my business skills this year.

Due to the nature of the work, there were both busy and quiet periods. However there was never one week where i was totally bored- there is always something on the list to do.

I was made Champion user for the UK OpCp of an external confidential databse and also managed the internal copy approval process.

It will provide a framework from which to base the rest of my educational degree on, and has made me aware of my self development and the need to focus on areas of weakness

Open plan office, we usually had treats or cakes that were brought in. The office was full of banter and always a pleasure to be in.

Right from the very start there was a distinct handover process with defined roles and responsibilities, and this continued throughout the year.

Janssen invested a huge amount of external training involving internal as well as external trainers coming in to develop business skills- I'm not sure where else I would have learnt these from

I have been offered the opportunity for the company to sponsor my MSci and return folllowing my graduation.

A nice number of 13 of us- i live with 3 others and we meet up occassionaly with the other houses during the week

Commuter belt prices for the cost of living- nothing too expensive though compared to London!

There is not really much going on in the local area, but London is only a 25 minute train ride away

J&J is such a large organisation, there were countless charity and sporting events to be involved with. CSR is something that we have a lot of noise about, as well as the opportunities to help local communities. So far this year we have raised over £1000 for the local homeless community, which will be fund matched by the company.