Industrial Placement Student Review

I was very fortunate as GSK Stevenage employs over 100 placement students so I always had people around me that were in the same position as me and they have made my year in industry much more easier to settle in and enjoy. The work I carry out on a day-to-day basis is very interesting and I have really enjoyed my project content. I feel however the placement could have been improved by allowing more scope into the different areas of the company and allowing for more experimenting with my project.

I always feel like my opinion is valued and you know your worth when full time members of staff approach you for your opinion or expertise in a certain area. Even amongst people of the higher ranks I feel like they always have time to talk to the students and are not too busy.

The support given to me by my supervisor was amazing, I always knew which direction to head in with my project, in team meetings I feel like the other full time members of staff helped and advised on any lab difficulties being had by me at that particular moment in time. The head of my team always made time to discuss my results with me fortnightly which was all super helpful.

I feel like throughout the year my schedule on a day to day basis changed. There were periods (weeks to months) where I was completely swamped with work and during the first few months of my placement, there were days where I didn't actually complete anything. Both extremities were frustrating but it is to be expected as nearing the end of placement I had university work to complete alongside placement work.

I was given a fair amount of responsibility during my placement however in comparison to other students in my department who were able to order their own reagents and kits in, I felt I still had to rely on my supervisor for such things. In terms of my project and lab work I was in full control.

For my major project next year I am completing a laboratory project and so the skills I have learnt in industry will most definitely put me in good stead ahead of peers who have not had such an opportunity. I have learnt an incredible amount about how large companies operate as well which is knowledge that is invaluable for post-university when thinking about what I would actually like to pursue as a career.

My office in particular was amazing, the people were diverse and super friendly. Everyone was always ready to lend a hand and always cheery. I never felt uncomfortable in the office, everyone was usually in good spirits and the banter was top notch. At times my office did get quite noisy so when I needed to get my head down to work I would move to a different office as GSK employs a 'smart' working and 'hot-desking' policy.

I feel like overall the placement was set up well, I had more than enough data to included in my uni report. However I felt that the deadline for the placement report should have been in august rather than October as I feel like this would have meant less of an intense pressure in the closing months to get the report done and work could have been carried out at an easier pace. This of course is no fault of the placement, this lies with the uni.

They provided lots of useful information about wanting to do a PhD and advertised the graduate schemes of GSK to us as well. They allowed us to go and visit the head office at Brentford so we could get a glimpse to what working in the corporate side of things is like. Although I wish this had been extended.

They are quite appealing however I don't wish to get sucked into one company and wish to see what else is out there as well. One of the graduate schemes did look very appealing to me and I will probably apply for it.

This is definitely a plus about GSK employing so many students, it still felt like we had people on our wavelength and who we could socialise with outside of work hours. Stevenage is not the best of towns but the people definitely made it enjoyable.

Cost of living was okay and the salary covered it comfortably however even though Stevenage is a small boring town the prices to go out were quite expensive but this is to be expected as it is down south. We were better off going into London and going out there.

Shocking

Not really as it is a small town,apart from the gym on site I didn't really get involved with anything else. My house-mate volunteered every monday at the homeless shelter, but generally there wasn't really much to do in Stevenage apart from go to the pub.