Regulatory Policy Industrial Trainee Review

I very much enjoyed my placement year, and I am sad that it has come to an end. It provided me with an excellent insight into the pharmaceutical industry and how a global company within it operates as well as the specific knowledge surrounding regulatory policy. Additionally, I have a learnt a wealth of transferable soft skills which will be invaluable moving forward.

I felt valued by my colleagues and was given considerable responsibility during my placement year, producing work of business importance.

I received fantastic support and guidance from my manager. As expected there was a high level of support at the start, which reduced appropriately over the year as my knowledge and confidence grew. I always felt that I could approach my manager and supervisor(s) for guidance and advice or if I had a question. As a whole, the colleagues in my department were very approachable and would look to help you if they could.

As with any job, the volume of work varied throughout the year. I had to balance urgent requests, day to day tasks and my longer term projects, therefore there was always something that I could be doing. I was most busy during my last 3 or 4 months when I was given increased responsibility and had to ensure that my projects were completed before the end of my placement.

The level of responsibility that I was given during my placement year was excellent. When I first joined the company, I played a supportive role in my team and I was given appropriate guidance. As time progressed and my knowledge increased, my manager gave me more and more responsbility and was tasked with leading a number of projects.

The skills that I have learnt this year, such as time management, prioritisation, communication, leadership and teamworking will be extremely useful, both at university and in my future career. In addition, I will take forward the various business skills that I have developed over my placement and my insight into the industry into my first job after university and beyond. I received extensive training when I first joined the organisation, which set me up well for the upcoming year.

Generally the office was pretty quiet, especially on a Monday and Friday when the majority of colleagues worked from home. The atmosphere with those colleagues in the office was good, and the members of the department were very friendly. Having multiple placement students in the department was nice and contributed to the atmosphere in the office.

The Pfizer placement year scheme for the 6/7 placement students in Regulatory is very well set up. In the first month or so, there is a large level of online training to induct you into the company and familiarise yourself with internal processes. Then throughout the year, talks given by colleagues from other parts of the business were organised for us, which helped to give us a better understanding of the work of other departments and how these functions collaborate. I had weekly meetings with my manager and regular scheduled meetings with the other regulatory placement students and our two supervisors which were helpful.

I was encouraged to indicate areas that I would like to develop during the year by both my manager and supervisors. A programme looking at developing communication skills was run for the regulatory placement students over several months which was extremely useful and helped with my confidence in this area. The talks from colleagues in other functions were very insightful and helped with my development. I was also able to explore and shadow other parts of the business outside of Regulatory such as Sales and Safety. Furthermore, I was able to complete a Yellow Belt Lean Six Sigma qualification and become a Science Industry Partnership Ambassador, promoting STEM in local schools thorugh classroom sessions and speaking at careers events.

Unfortunately there is currently not a formal regulatory graduate scheme, however I would definitely like to return to the organisation in the future if possible.

As there is a large number of placement students in the building (around 35), there were plenty of fellow students to socialise with. We frequently socialised outside of work after work and at weekends and in the gym at work. There was little socialising with other members of the department outside of work, apart from with other regulatory placement students.

Surrey is quite an expensive place to live, though rent prices are not as high as in central London. I was lucky enough to live with some family friends nearby, though from my understanding, placement students who rented accomodation approximately 15 minutes from work paid £500 / 550 per month excluding bills. The cost of socialising reflected the location.

Apart from a few local pubs, there was not much directly around work. However central London was only a 30/45 minute train journey away.

The company gave me 5 vounteering days, which I used to promote STEM in local secondary schools by providing classrooms sessions and talking at careers events as Science Industry Partnership Ambassador. There were other volunteering opportunites available ; for example, some placement students in the department did some painting and gardening for a local charity.