Clinical Trial Specialist Apprentice Review

by AstraZeneca

Best Apprenticeship Employer

Rating

9/10

1. Please give an overview of your role and what this involves on a day-to-day basis:

Involvement in specifically one or two clinical trials, providing full GSA support and assisting with GSM tasks. There is always room for more involvement in every area of the trials and the company, and you are encouraged to explore the opportunities there.

10/10

2. Have you learnt any new skills or developed existing skills?

I have learnt many new skills, including behaviour in a professional work environment, how a clinical trial works, how to use different systems, how to read a protocol. There are many skills to be learnt in this area of industry.

10/10

3. To what extent do you enjoy your programme?

I enjoy my programme very much, my team and managers are wonderful and helpful, my mentor in particular. The content of the apprenticeship is very interesting and i am happy to be working in this role.

10/10

4. How well organised/structured is your programme?

Considering we are the first clinical apprentices, there is a good structure to the program with a work based learning guide to follow. There has been some change-around and covid has affected the rotations, but otherwise it has been good.

9/10

5. How much support do you receive from your employer?

I receive a lot of support from my employer, with a good manager, a kind and helpful mentor, and people all over the company willing to help if needed. AZ also helped me with a tutor in the company volunteering to help me with chemistry, which was so helpful.

10/10

6. How much support do you receive from your training provider when working towards your qualifications?

My training provider doesn't give a huge amount of support, and they are quite hard to get a hold of, or a reply to an email. There is only self - teaching module resources which can be quite hard to work with sometimes. The study guides are detailed and the individual tutors usually reply to questions.

5/10

7. How well do you feel that your qualification (through your training provider) helps you to perform better in your role?

My qualification is more likely to help me more in higher roles, but i do feel it improves my knowledge on the entire trial.

9/10

8. Are there extra-curricular activities to get involved in at your work? (For example, any social activities, sports teams, or even professional networking events.)

Yes there is usually many extra-curricular activities on offer, but due to covid obviously most have had to be cancelled. There have been online events.

9/10

9a. Would you recommend AstraZeneca to a friend?

Yes

9b. Why?

It is a wonderful start to a career, a good company to work for, amazing benefits and perfect for someone looking to work in pharma.

10. What tips or advice would you give to others applying to AstraZeneca?

To be prepared to be able to balance work and university work which can be quite difficult sometimes.