Marketing Executive, Clinical Nutrition UKI Review

My placement year at Baxter Healthcare was the best 12 months of my life. Every morning I would wake up and be excited and motivated to go into the office. Everyone in the organization appreciates the hard work that you as a student delivers. For me, the most enjoyable aspect of working for Baxter were the amazing people and organizational culture. It was also the feeling of making a positive difference to society. Due to the nature of the industry and line of work we are in, the feeling of playing a small part in the puzzle which in turn saves and sustains patient lives is magical.

Baxter is like one big family. Everyone in headquarters knows each other by name and always stops to say hello regardless of how busy they are. From the cleaners up to the directors and Vice President, every single person is valued and acknowledged. One of my favorite parts of the working day was going to make a cup of tea because you never know who you will bump into and what interesting conversations you are going to have. This is where you truly got to meet new people and form work relationships. From leading a project in my team or organizing an event for charity, I would always be shown appreciation from my colleagues. When you try to go beyond the extra mile, people notice and want to say thank you. It is an amazing organizational culture.

I was given an unbelievable amount of support during my placement year. Even though both my managers worked remotely and were only in the office once a week, I could always count on them to pick up the phone if I was struggling with anything. They would always go beyond the extra mile to make sure I was okay. The managers not only want to make sure you are okay in your role but also want to check up on your wellness and wellbeing in your personal life. Baxter also has a fantastic mentor scheme which allows you to partner up with someone higher up in the business for guidance and support.

Life as a student in your day to day role fluctuates. The great thing is that there is never an over expectation or pressure to over work yourself. If you want more projects to keep yourself busy 24/7, there will always be something to get stuck in with. Sometimes market demand in healthcare can change at the click of a finger and so urgent jobs become a priority. You have to be adaptable, flexible and support your team during a healthcare crisis.

The great thing about Baxter is that it is up to you how much responsibility you wish to have. Some students are quite happy getting on with their day job with limited responsibility. However, if you want more autonomy and responsibility, it is simply a question of asking. I wanted to get the most out of my placement experience and pushed myself wherever possible to lead projects. For example, I was part of the Baxter Women Leaders Group and was passionate about organizing International Women's Day at our UK headquarters. I was given complete autonomy and responsibility for organizing the event, from planning key speakers to inviting colleagues to attend the day. I built as much momentum and engagement as possible to raise awareness of the initiatives through the use of photos and hashtags which I posted on LinkedIn and Yammer. I took on this project on top of my day to day role so I was incredibly busy, but again there is no expectation. You can get involved with as much or as little as you wish.

I have learnt skills for life which will help me in my final year at university and in my future career. Particuarly skills such as: being organized, interpersonal skills, communication skills and listening.

Everyone is smiling, happy and always willing to help, I loved coming into the office everyday. It is a happy place.

Very well organized. The first two weeks involved a handover with the other students which helps to ease you into the role. There is also frequent presentations to reflect on projects you have been working on and structured check ins with your managers where you can talk about your aims, objectives and accomplishments.

We had a huge amount of training and development oppurtunities. Training is done either internally or externally so it is always engaging and different

I would love to work for Baxter Healthcare in the future and build my career at this company. I will definitely be applying to the graduate scheme.

The placement student have joint projects together so you see them all the time. We would always sit and have lunch together as well. I have made friends for life.

I commuted an hour to work everyday so I could live at home. I am not sure what the cost of living was like in the area.

The UK headquarters are based in a small rural village. I really liked this because I could go on a walk with my colleagues every lunchtime in the countryside or go running. But it is only 20 minutes by car to reading town Centre where there is a great nightlife.

You can get involved in as much or as little as you like. There is always something to get stuck into. It is just a case of asking. I tried to get involved as much as possible with projects outside my normal day to day role because it gives you the opportunity to network and work with people you never would have met before.