Blend Test Services Student, Analytical Services Review

On the whole, I enjoyed my placement. It has been a very valuable year. My laboratory skills have improved, as has my knowledge of analytical chemistry and time management. Certain aspects of the work were very interesting, such as: non-standard analysis with my supervisor, project work and other problem solving. The routine testing (which takes up most of the placement) is initially interesting whilst learning about the techniques, but can soon grow tedious with repetition. Tests that are more manual in nature can also be be quite labour-intensive when sample backlogs are large.

Felt very valued by colleagues. They were always willing to help, share knowledge and were friendly and polite at all times.

My supervisor was very helpful, and attentive whenever there was a problem, but was trusting enough to leave me to my work when there wasn't. My supervisor also provided valuable help with my project work, and was always willing to take time out to run me through any non-standard analysis I was interested in. My immediate manager was in the lab about 50% of the time so I was regularly able to communicate with him, and he always made a point of checking everything was OK. Like my supervisor he also provided valuable help with my project.

Some days I was very busy, and other days I was not as busy. I was never without anything to do at all, however. At times the workload could be a lot,but good prioritisation and communication with colleagues could easily sort this.

I felt there was no differentiation between the responsibility I was given and the responsibility given to full-time employees. I was able to be involved in lots of things outside the lab to do with workflow organisation, health and safety and solvent management. I was given the opportunity to present at team meetings and the opportunity to create and present a poster at the innovation symposium. All in all I was given lots of responsibility.

The most valuable things I learned were time management, analytical skills and a knowledge of instrumental techniques. These could potentially be very useful if I was to apply for a job in analytical chemistry in the future. On a day to day basis, the amount of chemistry learned was very little as you are simply running a test and uploading the result, but by carrying out my project and doing non-standard work with my supervisor you could learn some chemistry.

Not much time is spent in the office as you are in the lab about 90% of the day, but in general the atmosphere was friendly and most people were up for a chat and a laugh.

On the whole, very well. There was a clear plan for me from the beginning. I would have liked it if the department had a clearer idea of the academic requirements set out by my university so that a project of the appropriate scale could be carried out and I would be guaranteed enough time to complete it. This may, howeve, be the fault of my university not the company.

A few health and safety courses and a presentation skills class.

I think that to rise high in the company you would need a PHD or many years experience. As someone who is not planning on doing a PHD, employment at Lubrizol does not appeal to me. This is entirely personal, however, and I can see the clear benefits of working at Lubrizol.

I went home most weekends as I only lived an hours journey away so did not experience much of this,though there were a few nights to the pub which were enoyable.

Fairly cheap, I was not located near a supermarket so ended up buying much of my foood from Coop which worked out to be fairly expensive.

Very good pubs, actually a very good variety. Only went out to the clubs once in Derby and it wasn't fantastic, my sentiments were echoed by my colleagues. We did go to Nottingham on a night out, which was much better and very easy to get to.

Good sports and social club. I played football with work colleagues most Thursdays and really enjoyed this. Outside of football there were opportunities for other sports and excursions through the S&S club.