APIM Chemical Engineering Undergraduate Review

I enjoyed my placement very much. I have been given a wide variety of projects which has given me a good amount of experience in a variety of areas, all of which will look good on my CV. I have enjoyed working in my department and have felt welcomed by everyone.

I felt valued by my colleagues as the projects I was being given were of value to the company. Furthermore, when I have asked other colleagues for help, they have mostly taken a genuine interest which makes it feel as though the project is worthwhile doing. In the projects I was involved in, I felt as though I had a clear role which other colleagues were aware of. This meant people would often need information off me which made me feel as though I was a valued member of the project.

My manager has been excellent and very helpful. I had weekly meetings to update the progress of all of my projects and receive feedback or advice. But they were always around in case I needed to ask them a question. They gave me a good amount of projects and were aware if I needed more or less work.

I feel my workload has been good. While I have had enough work to be busy during the day time, I have not had too much work that I have had to go too far over my hours. While the projects that I was working on had periods where I was busy with them and then became slightly quieter, I could always ask for more work if I felt like I needed some.

I have been able to work independently on projects and feel as though my manager trusted me enough to complete them effectively. I felt the work that I was being given was of value to the company and not just a project that the IT should be doing. The work that I have been doing has been used by other colleagues and the work that I have done is trusted by others.

The skills that I have gained will predominantly help me after my studies. I have been given a variety of projects so feel I will have plenty of experience for any future jobs which I apply to. These are skills which I defiantly would not have been able to gain by just going through my degree.

The office was clean and tidy but not too busy. It was not too loud or too quite. Everyone in the office has been kind and taken an interest in me.

The placement has been very well organised, for example from the start every placement student was put in a Facebook group to help find houses together. There seems to have been a plan for the projects that I'll be doing over the year. There was enough communication at the start of the placement, with handbooks and an induction week to give us enough information so I was confident with starting the placement.

I think Pfizer is prepared to invest in people and their skills, for example the IChemE, [This section of the comment has been removed by a member of the RateMyPlacement Team because it did not meet our site terms and conditions] and various other speakers came in to give talks to us. I did the training for my Yellow Belt. I did not complete any subject specific courses, as these would have boosted my CV and I may have come out with a qualification after completing them. For example one of the other interns completed an energy management course. I would have liked to have done some of these and so would probably have liked to have been made more aware of them. I do feel however if I asked to do one, Pfizer would have supported this.

Pfizer do not offer graduate schemes and this is something that I would be interested in doing. However I do think that if a job opportunity came up within the organisation then Pfizer would look favourably on those who have done a placement. Whilst on my placement I have seen various job opportunities being advertised here and so think that getting a job here after university would be a possibility.

There has been a relatively good social scene. There is a Facebook chat where people have organised things. There have also been events and nights out that have been organised together with the apprentices. Pfizer put on plenty of events too such as the summer site celebration and a Christmas party.

The cost of living has been very reasonable. I have lived in a house share with other Pfizer placement students and have really enjoyed living with them. The house is very nice for the price we are paying (£385 pcm). The cost of nights out in Ramsgate is cheap with the UK's largest Weatherspoon’s which is obviously very cheap. Train tickets are reasonably priced too going into both Canterbury and London.

The nightlife isn’t great, apart from the Weatherspoon’s there aren’t many places that I would go to in Ramsgate. Going out into Canterbury is better, there are more students there and the trains run until 1 am.

Yes, there is a badminton club which some of the ITs go to and there are plenty of sports clubs in Canterbury which you can get involved in. There is a gym on site but it is quite small and there are plenty of other alternatives in and around Ramsgate.