Rare Disease UK Marketing Undergraduate Review

My placement year was highly enjoyable. The undergraduate network meant I made lifelong friends during my year and really got a taste of what life is like working as a young professional. The work I undertook was highly varied and I felt that I had real responsibilities throughout the year. I also had the opportunity to travel and had exposure to many senior people both within and out of Pfizer.

I never felt like I was treated as an 'intern' by my colleagues. I felt like my views, opinions and ideas were taken seriously and that my work was recognised accordingly. On a personal level, I felt that everyone in my team was invested in my experience over the year and remain highly supportive in my career progression.

My manager was extremely supportive whilst also allowing me space to think, make mistakes and come to decisions myself. He gave me responsibility from day one whilst also keeping in close contact throughout my placement and providing guidance when required. We worked alongside eachother on a number of projects and I felt that i was treated as an equal. We became good friends over the year and I will certainly keep in touch.

There were certainly times when we, as a team, were incredibly busy. In a large corporation where there are lots of processes, meetings etc. it is likely that time to undertake tasks will be under pressure. However I never felt that the workload was something I couldn't deal with and I avoided working late into the evenings or on the weekends. My manager constantly checked up on my workload and either gave me more tasks or took tasks away to manage my time effectively.

I led on a few projects and the importance of these increased throughout the year as my experience and knowledge improved. I felt that I had real responsibilites and that the work I was doing was often business critical, but I also had the constant support from my manager and ultimately knew that I wouldn't be accountable for projects not going to be plan etc. It was the perfect balance.

The skills I developed are worth 10 times more than what I learnt during my degree. Particularly that of emotional intelligence and the ability to deal with people at all levels of seniority from a variety of backgrounds. I developed my organisational and time management skills and learnt how to set realistic expectations both of myself and others, which will help in my final year of university as well as in the future.

The office is very big, and since the undergraduates are spread out across all the business units it is nice that we generally all join up for lunch each day, if we aren't having lunch with our teams. A lot of people do work from home, so sometimes it can be very quiet in the office. Everyone is really friendly though and up for walking down to the cafe to get a coffee which is a nice break from the desk work!

The application process was actually very quick compared to most internships/ grad schemes: I applied in October, had a video interview early November, had an assessment centre first week of December and got the offer the following day. On our first day we had an induction day and by the end of the first week I had a clear understanding of the role/ tasks from my manager and had been set up with a work laptop/ phone.

I expressed interest in personal training to my manager from the start, and consequently I was lucky enough to make the most of the amazing training programs on offer. Most marketing undergraduates did a four day introduction to marketing course, but I also did facilitation skills training, leadership without authority, managing in the matrix, insights evaluation and Yellow Belt training. These were all fantastic ways to meet others from across the business (and outside of the UK) as well as develop personal skills.

I would really love to work at Pfizer in the future- the working culture is really great and the opportunity for career progression is massive. Unfortunately, there aren't many entry level jobs. They take 5 graduates each year, and it is extremely competitive due to the fact that there are nearly 70 undergraduates each year! Many people enter the company by working in sales, but Pfizer employees most of its sales representatives via contracting agencies.

There was a good social scene amongst the undergraduates as we all lived relatively nearby to eachother. However the office is in the middle of nowhere, so we never went for drinks after work which was a shame. Socialising with colleagues was great after meetings/ events but not so much in every day work life.

Surrey is extremely expensive (london prices!) and the office is in the countryside with only a few pubs around which you would need to drive to. We did socialise in south west london which was fun to have access to, and I lived in Epsom which is a large town.

No nightlife in the area where we worked. But most of us lived within a 30 minute train away from Clapham Junction/ Kingston in south west london. So it was do-able, but a bit of an effort! Also really expensive. We did have a lot of house parties though and went for drinks nearby- so we made the nightlife!

Pfizer didn't run many activities outside of work such as sport etc. however they do run a really great volunteer scheme through which you can take 5 days of work to volunteer. I did volunteering one day a week in the evening and also joined a local hockey club and gym.