Commercial Graduate Review

I thoroughly enjoyed my placement year at MSD. The company has an excellent culture where integrity and core values are placed at the forefront of your work. As a student you are given a lot of responsibility and complete tasks which are critical to the functioning of the business. I would definitely recommend the placement scheme to propective students.

As a student you are truly treated as a fellow employee within the company. This is reflected in the importance and complexity of tasks that you are given but also in the way colleagues are eager to hear your ideas and encourage you to challenge existing business processes. The company also has a fairly flat structure which means you can contact leadership on a regular basis.

I was given significant support from management and colleagues during my placement year. When I started my placement I was appointed a mentor within my department who I caught up with on a weekly basis to help me navigate the company and manage my workload. I also had regular contact with my manager as well as performance reviews on an ongoing basis.

As a student you are given a significant amount of responsibility and so on a daily basis you always had work to keep you busy. The appointment of a mentor within the team also supported with the management of work to ensure that tasks were prioritised and managed to ensure there was the right balance between having work to complete but not being too busy.

I was given significant responsibility as a student, completing tasks which were critical to the business. As a student you are empowered to challenge current business processes and provide a different perspective on how tasks can be completed. During my placement I was also given the opportunity to lead on tasks which gave me the opporunity to shape projects and become an SME in a specific function of the business.

The skills I learned were incredibly valuable in my final year but also in transitioning from university into a graduate position. In particular, my communications skills improved, allowing me to communicate more effectively through different mediums and engage with lecturers and colleagues at the right time. Being able to develop skills and have examples of where you have demonstrated skills was also incredibly valuable when applying for graduate roles during my final year.

The office is open plan with a fairly flat hierarchical structure. This meant that you could regularly engage with both colleagues and management to support the completion of tasks, The office is also generally very positive and colleagues were ver approachable if you required help or if you are just interested in learning more about another role within the business. You are very actively encouraged to speak to colleagues across Divisions of the business to gain a better understanding of how the business functions from end-to-end.

The Work Placement is very weel structured from both within your department but also through to having contacts within HR who could manage the overall structure of the scheme. During the year we had regular check-ins with HR which was really useful for understanding the direction of the scheme and providing feedback on how the year was going.

The company invests significantly in helping you to develop personally. As a student I was given the opportunity to visit different sites of the company to gain a broader understanding of how the business works. We also had the opportunity to attend training events specific to our role as well as developing skills such as Presentation skills.

The company invests a significant amount of time in developing career progression pathways and encourages you to actively learn more about different career options within the business. I have been fortuante to return to the copmany as a graduate which provided a great stepping stone from the student placement to rejoining the business.

My student cohort were a very close group and we regularly socialised outside of work hours. There are also a number of different clubs which you can join with colleagues to play sports including football and badminton. Not only was this enjoyable but also helped you to connect with different people across the business and grow your network.

The immediate vacinity of the office is slightly limited in terms of socialising however a larger town was a short drive away and so there are good opportunities to socialise. The cost of living was reasonable given the location fot he business close to London and there is a wide variety of supermarkets which helped reduce the cost of living.

There was fairly limited nightlife within the immediate vicinity of the office however a larger town was only a short drive away and there was fairly easy access to London via train. There were therefore options to socialise more locally or in London which provided good variety of different options.

Acitivities outside of work that I got involved in included football and badminton. Not only were these enjoyable to play but also allowed you to connect with colleagues and network across the business. The activities outside of work were a significant part of my placement year and I kept in contact with a number of colleague at the end of my placement during my final year.