George Whitcroft White joined V Formation as part of a summer placement scheme for his MSc course at the University of Nottingham. In this blog, he shares his experience transitioning from university life to a busy marketing and PR agency.
About George
“I’ve been at the University of Nottingham for four years, graduating with a degree in Microbiology and then enrolling onto an MSc course titled Applied Biopharmaceutical Biotechnology and Entrepreneurship, which combines learning from both the school of life sciences and the business school. As part of this course, I was required to partake in a summer placement.
Due to my previous experience in PR, and V Formation’s sector specialism in life sciences, I decided to send a prospective application after hearing of them through my career’s advisor at the university. I successfully secured the placement and upon joining the company was immediately able to get involved in several research projects, both for V and some of its life sciences clients.
The Placement
During my placement, I was provided with a fantastic opportunity to experience working with a variety of different types of clients who all operate within the life sciences sector. Working with Segmentum Analysis – a life sciences start-up developing a digital pathology app – and carrying out market research to help secure start-up funding greatly contrasted the work I carried out for an independent laboratory-based contract research organisation (CRO).
I also wrote several blogs for the V Formation website and designed a leaflet to send to prospective clients – this variety really added to my experience and prevented my work from being overly repetitive.
Spark Course and other events
Throughout my placement, I had the opportunity to attend several events with Segmentum Analysis. This included the Pre-accelerator Spark course organised by BioCity and the Impacting Business by Design course organised by Nottingham Trent University. This allowed me to network with individuals operating within the life science sector and gather useful contacts that I can use going forward in the future.
Working at V Formation
As well as enjoying the actual work involved in my placement, one of the main aspects that greatly 
enhanced my experience at V Formation was their friendly, motivating company culture. Even though I was a placement student, I felt like I was a full member of their team, being included in company discussions and asked for input on important tasks outside of my project. This is something that has greatly benefited me, providing me with confidence in my own abilities – a skill that I can take forward in my career.”
V Formation is an inspiring, ambitious and supportive marketing and PR agency that values the potential of graduates and what they can bring to a company. If you would like to get in touch, please click here.