Global Supply Chain and Strategy Intern Review

I worked in the Therapy areas group in global operations. I was assigned 3 projects for 12 weeks, one of these projects was individual and two were in collaboration with another intern. On a day-to-day basis, I would attend meetings and send emails, run code, create PowerPoint presentations and present them. I had to work to understand the products I was working on and this involved reading their Product Strategy Plans, as well as the New Products Introduction process, which helped me to create metrics to track the progress of each launch. I used a lot of Excel and performed sustainability calculations too.

I learnt a lot, as all my previous work experience had been in biochemistry labs. I had some Python coding experience but this improved drastically due to my scenario running tool project. I also had to present my work a few times throughout the internship which allowed me to improve my presentation skills. I learnt a lot about supply chains and how they work, how they can be improved and also about how different products in the pharmaceutical industry have different supply chains based on a variety of factors to ensure the patient always gets the drug they need. I learnt how to use PowerBI also. My Excel usage has also improved drastically. I learnt a lot of different acronyms which allows me to understand the operations cycle a lot more easily.

I was responsible for a few projects, and although there were people to give me pointers and advice when I needed it, the final decision was always with me (and the other interns I collaborated with). I enjoyed being given this autonomy throughout this internship as I didn't have to check everything I did - they trusted me to make the right decision.

I had weekly catch up meetings scheduled for most of my projects which I found very helpful as it gave me enough time to apply feedback between meetings and also allowed me to get pointers when I needed to stop me veering off track. For some projects, it was initially quite confusing as it wasn't clear what I had to do, but after I got into the flow of things it was a lot easier to manage.

The company culture was really great - everyone I met with was very friendly and willing to help as much as they could. Compared to previous internships I've had in labs, this environment was a lot more warm and collaborative, I didn't feel like I was bothering people when I asked them for help like I did in my previous internships. I also got along quite well with the other intern I was working closely with, which made the teamwork aspects of the projects a lot easier.

I enjoyed it a great deal - previously I wanted to expand my horizons as all my previous work was all quite scientific, but I wanted to go into the Pharmaceutical industry in R&D. Now I am considering applying to the Operations Graduate Scheme at AstraZeneca - especially due to the company culture and the help and support I received. There were some times I felt lost but when I spoke to someone about it, they helped me and put me on the right track again.

Yes

Make sure you research the company and its values - tailor your cover letter to this. I was asked about previous experiences that related to those values so I would prepare some rough answers for these beforehand.