Placement Student Review
at AstraZeneca
Placement (10 Months+)
Science
Cambridge
Review Submitted: August 2021
Overall Rating
4.1 /5
The Overall Rating is the average of all the ratings given in each category. We take those individual ratings and combine them into one final score!
4/5
-
Overview of Role
4.8/5
-
Skills Development
5/5
-
Support and Guidance
3/5
-
Company Culture
3.5/5
-
Overall Experience
5/5
-
Future Career Prospects
Overview of Role
Please give an overview of your role and what this involves on a day-to-day basis.
Cell culture, antibiotic or compound assays, team meetings on MS teams, project planning, DNA extraction and gel electrophoresis
Were you given much responsibility during your placement / internship?
The first couple of months I was always supervised and help was always available but in the later months I was in charge of my own experiments and had to plan accordingly, by ordering media, compounds, booking space in the lab and giving project update presentations. However, anytime I was unsure about something, I could always ask another scientist for help
Please rate how meaningful the work you were doing was
4/5
Skills Development
Have you learnt any new skills, or developed your existing skills?
Learnt how to perform many assays, handle cells and use lentiviral vectors for transduction. Learnt how to purify DNA and carry out PCR. Developed presentation and planning skills for presentations to the wider AZ team
How would you rate the training provided during your experience?
5/5
How would you rate your development of industry-specific skills during the experience?
5/5
How would you rate your development of personal / soft skills during the experience?
4/5
Please rate how these skills have helped you in your career development
5/5
Support and Guidance
How much support and guidance did you receive during your placement / internship?
Anytime I needed support I felt like I could approach anyone in the team, no matter whether it was the team leader or a senior scientist. I was also taught all the techniques and had many chances to practice with others or on my own
How would you rate the support and guidance from your line manager?
5/5
How would you rate the support and guidance from the wider team?
5/5
Company Culture
What was the company culture and general atmosphere like?
The vibe in the building was always good, but I was based at a site where it was both AZ staff and CRUK staff. At times, I felt like the virtual meetings were too formal and I did not enjoy them
How would you rate the inclusiveness of the culture?
4/5
How would you rate the social opportunities?
1/5
How would you rate the diversity initiatives?
4/5
How would you rate the charity, sustainability and corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives?
3/5
Overall Experience
To what extent did you enjoy your placement / internship?
I enjoyed it. Due to COVID19 there was long stretches where I was working from home and the social life was very poor but things started opening up again and the workplace started being more lively. Overall I did enjoy it
Please rate your level of enjoyment on your placement / internship
4/5
Please rate how your experience met your expectations
3/5
Future Career Prospects
Please rate the future employment prospects at AstraZeneca
5/5
Recommendations & Advice
Would you recommend AstraZeneca to a friend?
Yes
What advice would you give to others applying to AstraZeneca
It can at times be a lot of work so be prepared and sometimes you can feel like you're in too deep and don't know what you're doing so be prepared to ask for help if you need it and don't take up too much work if you can
