Business Operations and Finance Assistant Review

I was made to feel welcome at Pfizer right from the start, surrounded by friendly and helpful colleagues. I was encouraged to be creative and innovative and had all the guidance that was needed. I am extremely suprised by the advancements I have made in Microsoft programmes such as Excel and Access through great tuition from managers and team-mates.

I was given great responsibility from colleagues and became incolved with all aspects of the business, making me feel extremely valued to the company. Regularly involved with social gatherings outside of work and felt confident that I could discuss matters or issues with any colleague.

Through working closely with my manager I feel I have improved so much in numerical, technical and administrative skils over the past 12 months. He was always willing to help and show me quicker ways of producing work such as shortcuts in Excel and Access. I was always encouraged to become involved with all aspect of the business and not just restricted to my role in Business Operations.

I felt I had a good balance of workload throughout the year with daily tasks taking up most of my time and ad-hoc requests filling the gaps. At some stages the work mounted up but this was eased by management setting priorities and appreciating the intense workload.

I was given a vast amount of responsibility during my placement. The daily sales tracker was distributed to all members in Pfizer Animal Health. I was often given the opportunity to lead large projects as well as complete individual time-pressured pieces of work.

This placement year was a great introduction to office life and a career in business. I have learnt so much from such willing colleagues - from Microsoft Excel skills to how a business is run.

The office atmosphere was the right balance allowing colleagues to have fun but also appreciating that work has to be done.

I had clear guidlines and a structure of what was expected from me over the year, with regular meetings with my manager to discuss progress and issues.

I attended several courses which the company had encouraged me to go on. These ranged from a personal 'Insights' Course which allowed me to find out about my personality, to more technical courses such as Excel and PowerPoint presentation training.

Although Pfizer do not have a post graduate scheme, several placement students have got a job at Pfizer since graduating. I feel I would have a great chance now as a result of a successful placement year.

An activities day was organised before we started work to meet fellow placement students and to sort out housing arrangements. There were 10 placement students at Pfizer working closely together. I lived with 3 other placement students and had a great social time!

I paid rent of #375 a month in a brand new house which I thought was reasonable for Surrey. As it is a nice area, the cost of living was slightly above average but this was helped by the subsidised canteen and gym at work etc.

In the area that I worked the nightlife was limited but with great transport links to London, a great nightlife scene was not a problem to find!

Activites outside of work were always being promoted such as fun runs, charity events and sport matches so lots of opportunites to keep busy!