Technical Inside Sales Engineer Review

Use customer information to select and size appropriate Pall Products and liaise with manufacturing for customised solutions. Provide customers with quotations and support in a timely manner. Follow up quotations to secure orders. Liaise with other Pall facilities and engineers to meet customer requirements. Contract review of orders for correct price, part numbers and conditions. Be able to take calls from customers, including procurement teams and engineers from pharmaceutical companies, and answer questions on anything from our Biotech portfolio.

Learnt new skills in the commercial side of engineering, when prices need to be calculated using manufacturing costs and margins for example. Learnt new skills and gained knowledge in pharmaceutical manufacturing, as I needed to understand customers' processes. Engineering skills developed, helping customers with custom designs included in technical drawings for example. Time management skills were improved, as large workloads were experienced, while also having to complete work under time pressure. New skills were learnt in talking to engineers and customers in a professional manner, while also gaining experience in clean-rooms at the manufacturing plant.

I was given great responsibility from the first week of the placement, being trusted to create quotes for very large orders for key customers involved in the COVID-19 vaccine roll-out. I was entrusted to communicate with the engineers and scientists from many pharmaceutical companies, to establish how we can solve their filtration problems. For example, organising a virtual meeting with engineers from a leading global pharma company to aid the design of custom filter housings. Covering for colleagues on leave also gave me responsibility across other business units and regions of Europe.

I received support from colleagues and mentors throughout the course of the year, however, the nature of the remote work for the first 9-10 months meant that I missed out on some key guidance in the early stages of the placement. There has been a good team around me to help me complete work to a professional standard. The placement/undergraduate programme at Pall linked me with a mentor on the graduate programme, with whom I had fortnightly meetings with to discuss work and life within my placement year. This helped to provide support when when entering the working world for the first time.

The company culture is welcoming and inclusive, with support coming from all areas of the business. The drive for success within Danaher and Pall is encouraging, yet doesn't add stress. The atmosphere of the Life Science sector of Danaher and Pall is forward thinking and is exciting to work within. It was a very professional and thorough environment to be working in, and this is helped by the fact that Pall's employees seem to care about their jobs.

I enjoyed much of the work, as it was in an industry where my interests lie. However, more technical or even some hands-on engineering experience or customer visits would have improved the placement. Admittedly, COVID-19 and the restrictions over the placement year hindered this significantly. The interaction with important customers as well as the engineers across the company made for a very broad experience, especially considering how large Pall's Biotech portfolio is. The company could have organised better social events to improve the year, but we did reach out to the other engineers on placement through the Breakfast club. This was the occasional teams meeting, with a speaker or trainer, expanding our placement experience.

Yes

Try to gain experience in different areas of the large company to see where your interests lie. There are endless roles, and Technical Inside Sales Engineer is a good role for getting a broad look on the business, from the engineering right through to the commercial and marketing side. Rotations or work experience in different areas is a great way to see the roles that you don't know exist. Within Pall there are lots of opportunities, especially considering the ease of transfer between Op Co's within Danaher.