Platform Science Placement Student Review

I really enjoyed my placement year at BAT. My colleagues and the other interns were friendly and supportive, I was given a lot of independence to own my projects and workstreams and the working environment was fast paced and exciting. It was a great eye opener to the reality of working in R&D for a large multinational company. The projects I worked on were varied and across different products and brands meaning I could get a good overview of BAT’s product portfolio.

Even before I started my first day at BAT, I felt welcome in my new team. This was mainly down to an organised induction day that happened in the summer before I started my placement. On this day the placement team introduced themselves and I was introduced to the other placement students. We also got a chance to meet our new managers and our teams, so it was a great way to start out. All throughout the year this feeling of inclusivity remained constant and my close colleagues became friends. I felt they were able to rely on me as I could on them.

The support at BAT was fantastic. There were several places to go if you needed support and who you went to depended on the type of support you needed. Firstly, there was our own supervisors. My supervisor was very supportive and patient, understanding at the start of my placement that I needed a bit of time to learn the ropes then after I gained confidence, he was there to support me in any difficult meeting or situations with more senior colleagues. Secondly, there was the network of placement students. We were all very close and would talk to each other about anything new we were struggling with or any peer related questions. We could also go to the placement team for support and all had our own mentors who were senior colleagues in a different team/department. I.e. not working directly with us.

The workload at BAT was very well balanced. Due to the ad-hoc nature of the projects that my team were responsible for, the amount of work I had varied from week to week. There were some weeks where It was hectic, and I worked flat out all day but then there were other weeks where the workload was lower, and I was able to have a more relaxed week. Overall these two scenarios complimented each other quite well as I never felt overworked but at the same time, I never felt like I had nothing to do.

Whilst on placement I was allowed to lead my own projects and manage my own time. As I was in charge of running projects, gathering results, talking to suppliers and contractors I had a lot of responsibility to ensure the success of my work. My supervisor was there to offer advice help and support however I had a lot of freedom to make decisions and run my projects within the specified brief. This meant I felt a real sense of pride and satisfaction when I was able to present my work to the rest of my team.

Throughout my time at BAT I was able to participate in training courses that taught many transferable skills. I developed skills in presentation, networking, communication, academic writing and posters and project management. The placement team gave us events to organise where we could practice these skills including an opportunity to present in front of the senior leadership team including the scientific director. I am really grateful for the opportunities that I was given and I know I have developed skills that will help me in my future career and any job applications that I will do after graduating.

The atmosphere in the office was great. It was a really fast paced and energetic environment with a good amount of chat. There was plenty of sunlight which helped keep spirits high. Everyone in my team was super friendly and talking with my co-workers made the days much more interesting. Although there was lots of opportunity for talking with co-workers the open plan office was still quiet enough to concentrate hard if you needed to.

The placement was very well organised by the placement team. The placement team is a group of full-time employees that work across all areas of R&D and have taken on extra responsibility to run the placement scheme. They managed our onboarding, and set up several induction sessions with various important teams in R&D. After we were settled, they ran a number of training sessions and exercises for us to complete. We had monthly meetings to with the other students and the placement team which gave us a regular point of contact.

The company invested to a great extent in our personal training and development. Generally, we were treated as if we were full time employees which meant all of the opportunities for training and development available for them was available for us. We also had extra opportunities organised specifically as we were placement students which meant throughout the year that we had a greater opportunity to develop specific skills and transferable skills than a normal full-time starter.

I have not received a Job offer and BAT usually does not employ students straight from the placement year. However, there is the opportunity to get a place on the graduate scheme through an internal assessment centre during the year. Amongst the full-time staff there are a lot of employees who did go through the placement scheme and secured full time jobs after applying to open positions after uni. Attending this placement scheme does give you an advantage if you want to come back to work full-time at BAT.

BAT takes between 10-20 students to the R&D site in Southampton so there are loads of other students to socialise with. During the summer before you start, the placement team put you in contact with the other students and you have an induction day and night out to get to know your peers. If you need to find accommodation, then it is common to group up with the other students and get a shared house. This meant for me I had 9 other placement students living either with me or next door which provided a great social atmosphere after work and at the weekend.

Southampton is a quite affordable location to live and work in. There is plenty of student housing available if you want to get cheap accommodation and as it is quite a student heavy city there are plenty of affordable student bars and clubs. There are lots of options for food shopping including some cheaper supermarkets. The subsidised canteen on site means that you can get a good quality hot meal for lunch every day for only £2.80.

The night life in Southampton is really good. As it is a reasonably big city there are loads of bars and pubs dotted around. Also, as there are two universities in Southampton there are plenty of nightclubs, student nights and people of a similar age. We would often go out every Friday after work as a group of placement students. There were regular concerts at various venues throughout the city so there was always something to do!

There were loads of opportunities to get involved in something outside of work. There was a couple of badminton sessions a week that a few of my friends joined. I joined the gym on site and went a couple of times a week. There were trips to the theatre and of course in Southampton there were an endless amount of opportunities for sports clubs, arts and any other hobbies that you could do. Theatres and cinemas and we were only a few train stations away from the beach.