How I got my job – Placement year with UCB in Belgium

Biological Sciences student Alisha talks about her decision to do an industrial placement abroad with UCB biopharma, Belgium. She talks about the experience and give some useful advice for students looking to do a placement abroad.

About the placement:

For my year in industry I decided to go to Belgium to work at UCB biopharma in Braine L’alleud (near Brussels). Here I worked in the investigative toxicology department on a project involving drug induced cardiac injury. My activities varied on a day to day basis from undertaking experiments in the lab, to analyzing data and compiling literature reviews in the office. This meant that I got to experience how research projects worked in medium sized pharmaceutical companies such as UCB, and being in a relatively small department meant that I was making a real contribution to the project, which will lead to me having my name on a poster and published article next year.

Is My Career Goal Realistic?

“What?” – Veronique Debord-Lazaro

This week, Beth from Inspiring Interns talks about career goals and gives some tips on how to follow through and achieve them.

“What do you want to be when you grow up?”

Children, when asked this question, let their imagination run riot. They want to be an astronaut, a pop star, a mermaid. By the time they’ve grown into undergraduates, they’ve often switched careers but become no less ambitious. Now, they want to be a journalist, a CEO, a TV presenter.

But while small children are encouraged in their dreams, students are often told to take a reality-check. They’re told the industry they’ve chosen is too competitive, the chance of landing their dream job too slim. They’re told they’re aiming too high or over-inflating their talents – ultimately, that their career goals are unrealistic and need to be adapted to an increasingly competitive job market.

How I got my job – Pladis Graduate Scheme

This week Andrea, a MSc Global Supply Chain graduate tells us about how he got is graduate position at Pladis and gives some detailed advice on the application process.

Hello all,

My name is Andrea Scirè, I am 22 years old and, after having finished my course in September, I graduated in December 2016 from the Leeds University Business School with a 2:1 (68%) MSc in Global Supply Chain Management.

When I left my home town, Rome (Italy), in September 2015, I could never have imagined that, slightly more than a year later, I would be working in the UK as a graduate with pladis (the number one biscuit manufacturer in the UK and Turkey and worldwide, known for iconic brands such as McVitie’s, Godiva and Ulker). But, believe me or not, this is what happened.

In the next few paragraphs, I will explain how the Professional Development Hub of the University of Leeds Business School and the Careers Centre helped me in getting selected from over 200+ candidates applying for this graduate scheme.