Marketing Executive Review

I enjoyed my placement year a lot and I'm extremely thankful I did it. It has been by far the most productive and developed year of my life. The enjoyment was furthered through the people I worked with day-to-day in my team. I formed really good relationships with a lot of different colleagues, so it made coming to work every day much easier, knowing that I would be sat with people who I could be myself around and have a good laugh with...whilst being productive of course. I'll be honest, before I began the role I wasn't too aware of my exact responsibilities or what healthcare marketing was all about. But it turned out to be such a unique experience and I don't regret anything. I wanted to explore a different industry to find out what my job interests truly were and working at Baxter fulfilled this . The only thing I'd change would be the location. I lived in a house share in Reading and there isn't much promotion of living with other student placements as you don't know them beforehand. Therefore, social life was quite dim as I didn't know many people in the area.

I genuinely felt like a real integral part of the team I worked in. Quickly after I began the role, I could see that I was being viewed as a valued member of the team and not just the 'student'. Things such as my manager always asking 'what do you think?' and 'how should we go about doing it?' indicated this for me. I could see that he honestly valued my opinion and I had a lot of respect for this.

I had weekly catch-ups with my line manager and monthly ones with the Business Unit Head. I think the level of contact I had from my management team worked well with the level of need I wanted. My line manager was always very flexible with spontaneous phone calls if I had any issues I needed solving as well, so I believe they handled and understood my needs well. I would often aim a lot of questions and guidance towards those around me when I first began as well, so I had many point of calls.

I was very busy on a daily basis. I always had ongoing projects and monthly responsibilities to carry out. When I first began I remember being overwhelmed by the amount of responsibilities but Baxter are really good with helping you adapt to your job role and give you a lot of support if you're feeling like you can't cope. Being busy was a positive thing for me as it meant I was getting the most out of my work experience and the days wasn't dragging as I wasn't bored.

I was trusted with some really important projects over the course of my placement year. One of my most accredited achievements came from a project which my line manger had assigned to me. I was awarded employee of the month at the start of 2020 for the impact I had on it and on the financial side of my department. For my manager to trust me with taking on these kind of tasks with such high stake implications, I would say I was given the most amount of responsibility I could've wished for!

I believe the regimented schedule that I have evolved from enrolling on the placement year at Baxter, will help me to be more productive when I return to university. Especially as I was always busy at work. Even at the weekends now, I find that I have to do something productive in the day to feel good about myself at the end of it. So this increased drive in wanting to accomplish will definitely assist me in my degree studies and beyond.

The atmosphere within my internal team was good and there was always someone to sit with and chat to. However, the atmosphere of the office was, at times, a bit glum. A lot of people choose to work from home, so some days I would come in the office and it would be almost complete silence. The atmosphere could definitely do with improving.

I think the organization around the placement set up was quality. Helen Lambourne really keeps on top of it all and was constantly answering any questions I had in the run up to starting the placement. I will also give credit to my predecessor who had put together a compact, well-run schedule/handover for me in my first 2 weeks.

In terms of personal development, I was always allowed to go along to the big meetings and integrate with the rest of the team. I got to stop in nice hotels and have tasty food all paid for. The social side of this was really good, I appreciated how many team meetings I was able to attend. I was also free to organize my own field trips with account managers, travel/food expenses paid for, whereby I'd go out with members from our team and experience first hand what sales is like in a healthcare company.

From seeing my predecessor do so well coming back after her placement and securing a full-time role, I'd say the future employment prospects at Baxter are appealing. Especially with the flexibility around WFH, you don't have to be in the Head Office day in day out, so you're not obliged to living in the local area. The option of commuting is still there with the graduate role and beyond.

I got along really well with the other student placements and we all worked well as a team. However, the social scene was pretty non-existent. We wouldn't mix out side of the office mainly because we all lived in different places far away from each other. The social side of things between students could have been much better.

I lived in Reading, which is a 30 minute commute from the office. I lived here as there was a bit more going on than in Compton and it was more busy. However, this theory was floored as I would never wonder out and socialize by myself anyway. I stopped in a house share, which was fairly pricey, but I know there's cheaper options in other surrounding areas like Wantage/Abingdon.

I didn't explore the nightlife in my area mainly because I didn't know anyone in the area. However, Reading is supposed to be a good night out I've heard, so if you people in the area it might not be too bad.

I went on quite a lot of interesting field visits and team meetings in different cities. It was always fun going out on these and Baxter are very flexible and encouraging for you to get involved in activities outside of the usual Head Office work.