R&D Assistant Review

I absolutely loved my placement and I would recommend it to anybody interested in R&D. RB is a great company to work for and the diversity within the brands enable you to cover a range of responsibilities throughout the year.

From day 1, I was given as much responsibility as a full time employee. All colleagues valued my input and challenges and I was treated as a full time member of the team. I developed a lot of friendships within the team and the help and support generated from every member was very valued.

My manager gave me tasks to complete on a weekly basis. He would set the tasks and then it was my responsibility to complete it.. I usually asked a colleague for advice on certain parts of the task if I was struggling as she was an expert within that field. If I was struggling with any of the work or I needed more guidance I would ask my manager and he would advise me on the route to take. He wouldn't give me solutions to problems however he would always help out if needs be. I am thankful for that path he took as it enabled me to have to think outside of the box and come up with solutions. I would then feedback to get advice on the work I had done.

I was very busy. Every day was different however usually I would have more than one task to concentrate on which altered by the week. I would make sure that the tasks set by my manager on a Monday were completed by the Thursday so that I could have Friday to review and alter the work.

At times I was given too much responsibility however looking back I have grown as a person and my skills have been enhanced hugely. I am very happy that I was given so much responsibility so early on in my placement as even though I was overwhelmed at first, it enabled me to juggle more than one responsibility at one time and enabled me to prioritise certain tasks dependent upon how important they were for the project.

I have enhanced all of my skills hugely and I have grown in confidence over the past year. I received excellent training, eg GMP training for the lab, which will help me in my future roles. I was never very creative and my manager pushed me to enhance that skill. I now feel a lot more confident within that skill which is a huge part of how I have grown throughout my placement year.

The atmosphere was great and the office was always lively and entertaining. I built a lot of friendships within my team so I could have a laugh with the team when on a break. There was a good balance between getting on with your work and having a laugh.

The placement was well organised and I was given the relevant information prior to starting through the post. I was inducted well throughout my first few weeks and my manager ensured that I had all the training I needed already set up.

I felt like they made a huge effort to integrate us into the company. HR ensured that they set up workshops just for the placement students to make us aware of our skills development and how we can go on to use this for the future.

I would love to return back to RB. I will be applying for the graduate scheme for R&D and because I have successfully completed placement, my chances are a lot better.

There were 40+ students and I lived in a house of 7 so there was always something going on. My team was good for socialising and we had many events throughout the year.

Hull is very cheap for living so rent was a lot cheaper than I expected and a night out never cost too much!

Hull isn't the biggest of places however we had a great nightlife throughout the year. I'd recommend Weely & Spiders - SugarMill gets very repetitive!

I joined a gym so I went to the classes there. There were plenty of opportunities to join clubs around Hull by asking people at work.