Quality and Food Safety Placement Student Review

Day to day my role varied based on the dynamics of the factory that day, so if an issue arose the day would be spent supporting my team with it. Other day to day activities included preparing PEM swabs, updating documents/audit readiness, working on longer term projects.

Yes 100%, my professional communication skills have improved through interacting with multiple people of varying levels within the business and companies outside of PepsiCo. My soft skills such as time management and problem solving have also improved from working in the factory where complications constantly arise. I have also learnt how to use excel in more detail and other systems which are used in the workplace.

It fluctuated but on the whole i'd say not really due to the nature of Food Quality you don't work on projects and so generally I was given smaller tasks of less importance. There has been a few larger tasks which were my soul responsibility but not very often.

There's a lot out there if you ask for it. Initially it took me a while to realise this and so was a bit lost but once you know who to contact most people are happy and willing to help you learn.

I have really enjoyed working for PepsiCo, I would say that the company really look after their employees and we have received lots of benefits throughout the year. However there is quite a big difference in the R&D atmosphere compared to the supply chain side, which I think is mostly highlighted from placement students being directly comparable to each other.

I have really enjoyed my placement and it has been extremely valuable to gain first hand food manufacturing experience. The things I have enjoyed the most have been outside of my workstream and team, opportunities gained from networking with departments which I found interesting and wanted to gain experience in. I was invited to go on lots of site visits outside of PepsiCo which I found super interesting and enjoyable.

Yes

Make the most of the placement scheme which PepsiCo offer. As its a larger program there are so many students to connect with, use this to your advantage to explore other sites and in turn network with multiple people. If possible use PepsiCo's size to your advantage to gain an understanding of how different departments work, it gives a good understanding of the business as a whole and can create opportunities for you.