Global Internal Communications - Newflow and Content Review

I really enjoyed my placement as a Communications and Media IP within GSK's Consumer Healthcare business. I learnt so many valuable skills that I can take with my throughout my final year of university, but also into whatever job I go into next. It's been a great 12 months, and I was placed into an amazing team that were so welcoming, supportive, but also fun to be around.

I felt like part of the team from my first week of placement. They gave me real work to do, not just small jobs that they didn't want to do themselves. My ideas and input were taken into account and they always listened to what I had to say.

I was given a lot of support and guidance by my manager throughout the 12 months. We had weekly informal check-ins to see how I was getting on and every 3 or so months we would have a more formal chat about my development and where I wanted to develop my skills. If I ever had any problems I knew I could speak to my manager about it whenever I wanted to.

It varied throughout the year, some periods were a lot busier than others. On a daily basis I would say I had a good amount of work to do, in terms of my day to day responsibilities. There were also ad hoc things that would come in that I would take on, and during busier periods for the company as a whole, such as our CEO transition, my workload was increased - but still at a manageable level.

I was given a good amount of responsibility on my placement. For example, I wrote numerous articles that were published in our global newsletter to over 20,000 employees and had a real input into ideas for a couple of big events that we organised.

I developed many skills that I will take with me into my final year at university and also post-graduation. Simple things like being organised, being on time and having a good routine will stay with me forever, and the more refined skills such as writing, teamwork and leadership will be invaluable to me through my final year at uni and also into whatever job I get when I leave.

The atmosphere in my office was really good. We have open-plan offices with hot desking - meaning you can sit wherever you like. My floor was really bright and airy with a lot of internal and external facing windows which opened the office up even more. It was also very social on my floor with people always chatting, so you didn't feel awkward speaking to anyone.

The overall placement was organised really well. I knew exactly what I wanted out of the year due to recurring chats with my manager. All IPs were communicated to reasonable well by GSK and SRG (the recruitment company we are employed by). At the start there were a few issues regarding SRG, but over the year these were ironed out and everything ran a lot more smoothly.

My training and development was mostly on-the-job, there was no funded training or development days for IPs to attend. Within my team, I stressed a strong desire to learn about external communications within an agency, so they set up a week for me to go into one of our agencies and learn about how communications works there.

GSK provide a grad-scheme called the Future Leaders Programme, which allows you to go into a specific business area (for example, Communications and Government Affairs) and undertake 3-4 rotations within that area to expand your experience and skills as widely as possible. Unfortunately, just because you've undertaken a placement year with GSK, it doesn't mean your any more likely to be chosen for the FLP. The process is the same as any other grad scheme, with the initial application, online tests and then the interview and assessment day. The other route back into the company is through direct entry, which is just like applying for a normal role.

There was good social scene amongst placement students. At GSKH, there are a few pubs located nearby that students regularly went to after work. There was also a student community called IP Unite who were responsible for organising social and corporate events for IPs, and they organised two big events (Christmas Ball and a Boat Party) as well as smaller events such as bowling, a welcome party, netball and various other socials.

The cost of living is expensive wherever you are in London and socialising is just as bad. On our salary, we were able to live and socialise adequately but a lot of budgeting needed to be done and saving money was nearly impossible.

The nightlife in Brentford/Ealing wasn't great. There were a few pubs that people would go to but no bars or clubs. There are however a number of tube lines (Boston Manor, Northfields, Ealing Broadway) that will take you straight into central London within 20-30 minutes and now they are 24 hour, this really helped at weekends.

There were a few opportunities to get involved with activities outside of work. Every year, GSK employees are allowed one paid day to volunteer for a charity of their choice - this is called an 'Orange Day'. Last year, I organised an Orange Day for my team, and we volunteered at a homeless charity in East London. We had a really great day and not only helped the charity, but also bonded as a team. I was also able to help out with fundraising for Save the Children at Wimbledon at the start of the year which was great fun. IP Unite also put on a number of activities outside of work that loads of people took part in!