Business and Tech FLP coordinator Review

I enjoyed my placement a lot. It gave me a huge variety of opportunities and introduced me to the corporate environment.

I was surprised about the level of responsibilities I was given. Industrial placement students are treated like full time permanent employees and are valued by the team members. Everyone in the company is very supportive and you do feel as a part of a huge family.

My manager was very helpful and was giving me a lot of responsibilities. Frequent 1:1s and performance reviews are encouraged within the company thus placement students are getting a lot of feedback on weekly/monthly basis. Most of the times line managers are based in the same office, in the same team as students which makes the communication easier and more productive.

In such a big company, there are always things to do! Do not think that as an Industrial Placement student you will get a lot of free time. There are times when the workload is noticeably less, however there are always options of extracurricular activities and voluntary work out there.

The level of responsibilities given to me was very high. I was project managing few events including 50+ external visitors. Trust is very high in the company thus if you show your proactivity and hardwork, you will be granted with a lot of tasks for sure.

I would not say that skills and experience I gained while on placement will support the academic side of my studies. However what changed for sure is my approach to team tasks, my ability to manage time and my skills to see everything in a bigger picture. I am also a lot more employable than most of my peers who did not have a placement.

Because I was based in the headquarter, the atmosphere was rather formal. However we did have a lot of internal socials. As a placement student or any employee, you are not restricted to sit and spend time in one particular place in the building- everyone is encouraged to move floors and spend time networking.

Placement was organised very well, I knew what will happen next regarding the placement structure any time of the year.

There are a lot of resources in the GSK that can be used by any employees, including different skills modules. However modules that had to be paid for required approval from the line manager. Depending on what area of the business you are, these approvals can be either very easy or very hard to get, depending o budget and a business need.

Spending a year with the company, I realised that I would love to work for this organisation in the future.

Brentford office is placed not far from the Piccadilly line thus getting to central was not a big problem. A lot of socials within the team and other placement students were happening nearly every month. Everyone among those groups was very friendly.

The Brentford area is quite affordable, however as you move closer to central- Ealing Broadway, Hanslow, Chiswick the rent prices were getting higher and higher.

The nightlife around Brentford does not exist. There are few pubs near the office that give all GSK staff discounts. However you do go more central, there is a huge variety of clubs and restaurants.

I was always challenged and encouraged to participate in different voluntary activities. These were not always run by GSK thus I got to meet a lot of different people from different companies.