Physical Sciences Internship Review

I had a great years placement with Mondelez. The team in my department were all friendly and willing to help, I learnt a range of different analytical techniques and the experience will definitely be valuable for the future.

From day one I was treated like an ordinary member of the team and within a week or two I was completing real projects and analyses for the company.

I had frequent 1:1 meetings with my manager where they helped to plan my workload along with the requirements for university and discussed training and day to day work. My manager was also always willing to set aside time to talk to me. I think they struck a good balance of managing while allowing me to be independent.

There was not really any time where I had nothing to do, if my workload was quiet I was able to help other members of the team with their allocated projects. It got really busy towards the end of the placement when I was in the final stages of my uni research while completing the normal day to day work.

I feel I was given a good amount of responsibility as I was completing projects for real clients both in the company and for the external side of the business. Some of the work had to be to GMP standards.

Although not fully relevant to my degree (I don't think any placement is), I picked up many physical analytical techniques and worked to GMP standards which will be very useful for the future. A couple of the techniques were actually studied in my university's distance learning modules so that came in useful, however most of the work was completely new to me.

Really nice atmosphere, everyone was approachable and willing to help as well as being friendly and good to chat to. Sometimes the atmosphere would be quite high pressure as the department was often busy.

It took a little while at the start for computer accounts and log- ins to be set up, something I feel could be done in advance. I was also the first student that my department had had for a while, however overall I think it was well organised.

There was a good set of induction talks at the beginning which gave a insight to the business and all new staff members attended these. There was good general training in the department on the instrument test methods and lots on health and safety etc. The company arranged CV/Assessment centre workshops for the students and also factory/plant tours at the main site in Birmingham. My manager also really helped me with my planning skills and I was given a couple of opportunities to present my work to my team.

This appears to be very good. Lots of previous students return to the company and the internships are one of the main routes into R&D as at the moment Mondelez do not offer graduate schemes in this area.

Really good both with students and colleagues- was living with 5 other students in the company and we often went on nights out, had meals out and some trips to London. The company also had a social club and organised brewery tours, theatre trips, racing days among others.

Housing and going out was fairly expensive being so close to London.

It was ok, some really nice bars in Reading and a few clubs which we mostly avoided except for The Purple Turtle. It is a student area so there is plenty around and should suit most tastes.

There was weekly football, and Zumba organised by staff members. The social committee also arranged lots of activities throughout the year- quizzes, Ascot horse racing and a brewery tour.