Human Resources Review

I thoroughly enjoyed my placement at GSK as the work was varied, the people were super friendly and the culture was relaxed and open. At GSK there is a large number of IP's all over the country so there is a committee for placement students set up where the team organised events such as Thorpe Park, clubbing nights out, boat parties, etc. This made the placement even more enjoyable as there was a large cohort of fellow IP's to socialise and network with.

Everyone at GSK is so friendly and very supportive of everyone's development. I was in a very small team (just myself and my manager most of the time) so I felt very valued by my manager as I was her go-to person and she respected my opinion. My wider team also valued my opinion and contribution.

My manager was very supportive of my development over the year. I had the opportunity to undertake various development courses in subjects such as time management, organisation, leadership etc. My manager also gave me some areas of development to work on whilst on placement to allow me to further develop my skills.

My daily work load fluctuated a lot throughout my placement year. At the beginning of the year I was not very busy at all - I found myself struggling in the beginning because there was barley any work for me to complete, and any work I did have, I was able to complete quickly. This was mainly due to the nature of my role and due to the fact that many people go on holiday during the summer months so there is less work to complete. However, throughout the year I had busy periods and my workload increased significantly (which I enjoyed!) and my work began to get a steady stream of daily work as the placement continued.

During my placement I was given a fair amount of responsibility. As I worked very close alongside my manager, we did a lot of work together. However, I was given a lot of varied tasks and projects to work on throughout the year which had a lot of responsibility. For example, I owned and lead the entire communications plan for my team which had huge responsibility.

The skills I have developed whilst on placement will assist me greatly in my studies and future career as I learnt valuable lessons in aspects such as time management, the importance of organisation, prioritisation, etc. The skills learnt will enable me to be more efficient when studying and when in my next job. The skills I have developed will be very beneficial when I graduate and I now have concrete examples of how I have used these skills.

The atmosphere of the office was relaxed, calm and welcoming. Everyone was really friendly and willing to chat. People were interested in your development and would happily go down for a chat over coffee/lunch and discuss their role/experiences. When I joined GSK I thought the culture would be very corporate and mundane, however it is the complete opposite! There is an element of freedom and trust which made me enjoy my placement even more.

The placement was very well organised. GSK has a huge programme of placement students (over 300) so the process is slick and there was no mishaps. My manager had already had 2 students before me so she was experienced in the process and getting me on boarded into the company efficiently and successfully.

In terms of personal training and development the company doesn't invest a lot into placement students as we are all complementary workers who technically work for an agency. Therefore they don't allow us to go on any formal training and development courses or spend resource on putting on bespoke courses for us. The training your receive is at the discretion of your manager and who you are lucky (or unlucky) enough to have. The development of placement students in general is left to the agency, however for our cohort (15/16) they lacked significantly in putting on courses for us to attend. We were promised sessions such as employability, interview skills, etc. but never had the opportunity to undertake them. Saying that, the student committee (IP Unite) did put on a few 'corporate' sessions for us to build on our skills as well as some other departments within the business. However, I would say that generally the company doesn't invest a lot into us in terms of development.

The future employment prospects are appealing, however with the graduate scheme it is extremely difficult to get on and being a placement student does not get you that much further in the process. This is disappointing for a lot of placement students. However, they offer the chance to get on the direct entry database where they will contact you if any suitable roles come about. I would definitely work for the company in the future as it is a great place to work.

There is a committee made up of elected placement students called IP Unite who throughout the year put on various social events for all IP's to attend. They organised events such as Thorpe Park, clubbing nights out, summer boat party and a Christmas ball. Amongst colleagues it varied depending on your team - I know of some teams who went out every week whereas some rarely did anything.

My placement was based in Brentford and for the placement I lived in Ealing which was a 30 min bus journey away from the office. The rent in Ealing was high around £650 a month but this is about average of London prices. The area was good as there was plenty of bars/restaurants around that offered somewhat cheap prices. Many of the restaurants were chains so there were options for cheap food/drinks.

Nightlife in my area was okay, it was easy to go out for a few drinks after work in a pub but not that many clubs around. However, a short tube or train journey can get you into Central London where the nightlife is much better, but obviously a lot more expensive.

There were a few opportunities to get involved in activities outside of work, for example when IP Unite had organised a social event. However, the remaining opportunities are dependant on your team and what they liked to do outside of work.