Laboratory Scientist Review

Release & stability analyst This mostly involves a wide range of analytical techniques but also involves stability pulls and the team is currently undergoing change - going from a large team that covers pharm dev to 4 smaller teams with different specialities. We provide support to project teams with regards to drugs being developed in PT&D (pharmaceutical technology and development)

Many analytical techniques such as dissolution, LC (liquid chromatography), NMR (nucleo-magnetic resonance), FTIR (infrared spectroscopy) as well as theory for all of them Through uni work - report writing (academic & technical), project work, health and safety, application of chemistry in maths (lots of work I wouldn’t get much chance to do in work) Professional development from Oakridge courses such as presentation skills

I enjoy all aspects - it suits me and my team is very supportive of my uni work as well as internal work

I generally feel valued. I’m pretty much treated the same as other new starters unless I ask for anything different which I really enjoy. I get uni days and therefore Tuesdays are respected by my team as days I can’t do work. People are happy to make time for me when I have problems or questions.

It seems to generally be well organised but with the departure of a very involved member of staff it is evident that this year has been harder for them particularly involving communication between uni and work. Training at work is very well co-ordinated, some being with placement students and some with other apprentices.

It's generally fairly good. There are times when the work load is quite big, and the course runs all year round so no long holidays (and an exam in August). The course makes little changes regularly to accommodate feedback from students and the team are always happy to hear feedback. The tutors are generally quite responsive but are sometimes on holiday fairly close to deadlines so you need to plan in advance if you have questions.

I have a buddy at work who is someone in my team who keeps an eye on me daily and in the lab. I also have a mentor who moved from our team just before I started who particularly supports me with uni work. My manager also provides a lot of support with both workplace and uni so I have a good workplace support network.

It just about covers it - I live away from my parents now to live closer and it can be a bit tight but it's not too bad - it's less than a lot of people on our uni course. I've definitely got a better deal than I would've had at uni and we get different opportunities to other people. It's enough for someone to live off - especially if they can budget.

The company has a lot of groups and initiatives as well as a gym. There's plenty to do and the area is nice and only a 20min train from Manchester

Yes

I enjoy working here

I would say that it definitely isn’t an easy route and there’s often a lot of work but I really enjoy it and the interviews are realty valuable experience so it’s worth applying. It’s definitely work preparing for in regards to values if you haven't had experience of company values in the past because you do get asked a bit about them in the interviews but they aren’t scary and you get to meet lots of different people.