Marketing Assistant Review

I thoroughly enjoyed my year in industry with Janssen. I have had the oppportunity to work on a wide variety of different projects which have diversified and developed my core employability skills.

I felt like an incredibly valued member of my team. Not once throughout the entire year did I ever feel like a resource for administration. My manager way out of her way to prioritize my performance and development by mentoring me and providing me with the opportunity to lead projects. I also have a great relationship with the broader marketing team and our cross functional partners in Haematology, they all value my position within the team.

I would say that one of the main reasons I have enjoyed my placement so much and feel that I have developed in the way I have, is due to Laleh's management and mentoring style. She has actively encouraged me to demonstrate leadership qualities, even from the early stages of my placement and has given me the opportunity to lead and deliver projects singlehandedly. By doing this, I was able to take more responsibility from the business, which for me, is what has made my year so beneficial to me, my development and my future career vision. Laleh priorized my developed, assessed me quarterly and conducted a 360 feedback review (May 2015) for 30 people accross the business who I had worked closely with in order to submit to senior management in support of my 12 month review. I couldn't fault the support I have received from my manager over the last year.

There are periods which are significantly busier than others within our team, like the Imbruvica launch or our large conferences however I would say that this is balanced with other quieter perioids throughout the year.

I can't fault the amount of additional responsibility I have been given throughout the course of my year with Janssen. However I do strongly believe this is due to my manager's on-going commitment to my development. Throughout the year, I have lead digital marketing campaigns, designed our largest conference stands, developed promotional materials for the account managers, managed the quarterly updates to our medical education website and scoped out activity for 2016 in business planning phase. These projects are in addition to all the administrative responsibility of the role.

Hugely! I will leave Janssen in July considerably more developed than when I start, The training schemes provided by the business have been paramount in diversifying my skills set. These key skills will be incrdibly useful for my return to university in terms of time management and much more! I have also been elected as the Vice President as Durham University Women in Business for my 3rd year so I plan to take best practice from my events with Janssen to channel into the careers events showcased by the society.

The office is business casual so I feel there is a relaxed atmosphere. In addition to this throughout the week, Friday's are completely casual in terms of dresscode. On Friday's, my team always do a team lunch and we play music from the speakers in the afternoon. I personally really enjoy the office culture, there is a good balance of work and socialising.

I think that the placement scheme was very well organised in the initial stages. I had regular contact with the recruitment team who guided me through the recruitment process with a friendly face. It was good having Phil as the main contact in terms of recruitment, he was extremely helpful and the process flowed seamlessly. The only thing I was confused about during the process was the sector split within J&J. When I applied, I assumed the job would be consumer products as I didn't even know about Janssen or MD&D. I think the applications should state this information from the very beginning and give background to each of the sectors and what they involve. Having completed my year at Janssen, I am drawn to pharmaceuticals over the other sectors but at the beginning I would have said Consumer simply because it's the sector I was most familiar with. This shouldn't be the case as I know Janssen and I'm sure MD&D have incredibly opportunities for students.

I feel that the business invests heavily in the development of young talent. Over the year, I have completed courses in Excel, Personal Selling Skills, Code and Compliance, Energy Performance in Life and presentation skills. Some friends of mine from university are currently completing placements and aren't given these training opportunities.

Within Marketing, I think the future employment prospects at Janssen are very strong. The graduate scheme is the natural progression for a student who would want to return to Janssen after the placement scheme. The business also has a scheme in place for student placement retention. From working alongside the graduates this year, the scheme involves more training and development opportunities.

During the first few months, the student group met regularly in and out of work however int he latter 6 months, this interaction has diminished quite a bit.

The cost of living in High Wycombe was considerably more than my university costs in Durham however having a salary does deal with that problem! The socialising is reasonably priced in the area however does increase travelling in and out of London.

Pretty awful.

There was a lot of opportunities for me to egt involved in activities outside of work with Janssen! Particularly CSR activity for example, myself and one of the other students were asked to run 2 marketing workshops at a local secondary school to teach the children the basic's of marketing.