Hannah Longon

Where did you do your placement year & what was your job role?

I completed my placement year at Johnson & Johnson Consumer UK. My job role was Customer Development Commercial Trainee and I worked in the pharmacy business unit, meaning I worked with 5 major UK pharmacy wholesalers and 4 UK pharmacy retailers.

Why did you decide to do a year in industry?

I decided to do a year in industry to test the waters and see what sort of careers a degree in Microbiology might open up to me, and to guide my applications for graduate schemes. I also knew that having a year in industry at a global company would be very desirable to graduate employers, and that it would give me a wealth of skills and experiences to talk about in interviews.

What aspects of your degree were relevant to your placement?

As my placement year was not science based, the time management and organisational skills I had learnt throughout my first and second year of study were invaluable to me on placement. I also think a science degree teaches you to not be afraid of hard work, and that you get out what you put in, and enabled me to go into my placement year being ambitious to work hard and do well.