Clinical study administrator and payment specialist Review

I have loved my placement a lot, and a lot of that comes down to the company. They treat you really well and you feel cared about. The benefits were great and there were surplus amount of extra opportunities to get involved in other than my day to day job. The office was extremely inviting and clean, and every colleague really kind and helpful. There were lots of other interns too so a great opportunity to make friends with people my age.

I felt very valued by my colleagues and treated no differently than any other member of staff. Everyone was extremely kind and always really keen to help and get to know you. It was very social too and we would often do social events outside office hours. I do not feel like I was treated any differently because I was the 'intern'. The fact I felt so valued definitely made a big difference to my year.

My main manager was from America, and we would have a bi weekly catch up over Skype, she was really nice and helpful, but obviously due to never meeting her, did not have an extremely close relationship. However I also had a manager/supervisor in the office who was amazing. When I first started we would meet daily and he would offer me any support I needed. I felt extremely comfortable to approach him and ask him any questions I had. I also had a lot of support and guidance from my colleagues as everyone was always really keen to help.

I would go through phases of having little work to do and phases of lots of work. However, I was never stressed and my workload was always really manageable. When I was quieter I always had the opportunity to help others out.

I was given a very reasonable amount of responsibility. I had the exact same job as 5 other people in my team, so I felt very valued as a student, and did not feel like I was being given any less responsibility just because I was the intern. I also had a second part of my job, which others did not have, that increased my workload and responsibility, so I felt very valued and it gave me a sense of importance.

In terms of knowledge on the subject I study, nothing that I learnt on my placement will help me. However, I definitely have learnt skills for life. I am really good at managing my time now and become really efficient at tasks which will definitely help as University when juggling different modules. After a year of working in an office I have gained a lot of communication skills, both written and spoken, which will help me in a grad job, as I don't feel shy or uncomfortable to approach people.

Extremely happy and up beat atmoshpere. The office was light and modern and spacious. Everyone was always really upbeat and happy. There was often lots of conversation going on. If you needed to concentrate more you could listen to music or go into one of the many meeting rooms to work alone in silence. It was a joy to go to the office everyday and something I did not dread as it was very social. It definitely helped that I had such a big team of 26 people however, and some departments were not quite as social as ours.

Working for such a big company, who has dozens of interns every year, it was seamlessly organised. On the first day all the interns spend the first morning together doing ice breakers and getting site tours etc. They arranged lots of social events for the students and meetings with various people in the company. We also had a few training days arranged for us. They put you into contact with the other interns before you start too allowing you to sort houses out, however one downfall is they missed some people, including myself. They also changed my start date a few times, however I did not mind as I was available, but for people that were not it meant they had to start later than others.

They inevest a lot of time into the interns. I was given lots of opportunities for growth and got signed up to lots of training days. All interns were given a 2 day training day about how to act professional in the workplace and how to not look like the 'intern' which was really useful. As it is such a big company the amount of extra training to get involved with was high. There was also opportunity for training calls on lifestyle aspects too. We also had lots of talks from people higher up in the company explaining their rolls so we can be better aware of the different departments.

When working for a larger company as an intern you are less likely to get a grad job compared to a smaller company, as there are so many interns. I have the opportunity to apply for a grad scheme and I will be more likely to get it after completing this year in industry, however the job roles in the grad schemes are not the same as all the job roles for the interns. I could also apply for a job if a position opened up when I graduate, and again will be slightly more likely to get it after working for the company before.

yes - there were lots of social events arranged for us when we first started. The interns before us took us on a night out to help us better learn where to go in the City and settle in better. Because there are so many interns, there are lots to make friends with so it is very social. My team was also really social and we would often arranged weekend brunches and lunches at restaurants together. There are lots of social events around Christmas too - as the intern it was my job to arrange them for my team too.

I go to Uni in the same city I worked in (Leeds) so I was very used to it. I am not sure what rent is like compared to other areas of the Country, but most interns tend to get a house in the student area and I would say rent is very reasonable and you can chose based on your budget. Food and commute is not expensive, and you can spend as much or little as you like when socializing - there are really cheap places and also really expensive.

Leeds nightlife is great - there is something for everyone no matter what music you are into.

There are a few groups at work that do different things. There was a group who used to play football together, a group who did ariel and a gardening group too. Also as a team we would often try different activities after work that members of our team were interested in, such as rock climbing. Everyone at work was very social and keen to try new things and get involved, so you could easily present a new activity and people would likely join you in it. We often had different site activities too, for example they arranged a summer sports day.