Finance Analyst Placement Student Review

I thoroughly enjoyed my placement year at GSK. The experience taught me a variety of useful skills, which I can apply to my final year at university. I was constantly challenged throughout the year and had the opportunity to learn a number of different processes. I also enhanced my leadership and teamwork skills.

Whilst completing the day to day processes it was difficult to feel valued by your colleagues, especially during the busy period, but when completing large projects I found my colleagues gave great feedback. For example, when organising the Team Day I received positive feedback from the team, which was a big encouragement.

Initially I received good support from my manager with regards to training and overseeing my development. My manager helped support me with queries and provide information and guidance on problems. However, I had a change in manager halfway through the year and felt that they were less supportive and could not always help with queries.

During the month I would have 3 very busy weeks and 1 very quiet week. There was not much of a balance in terms of workload. During the busy period I would be working late and have numerous tasks to complete, but during the quiet period I would struggle to find processes to complete.

I was given vast amounts of responsibility during my placement year at GSK. I had my own tasks and processes to complete, which were my sole responsibility. This allowed me to organise my own work and have a real contribution to the business. Initially this was daunting, but it also allowed me to be challenged.

I learnt a variety of different skills during my placement year at GSK. I learnt very specific task related skills, which would not be fully applicable to my final year at university. I also learnt broad skills, such as leadership, teamwork and excel skills which will be useful for my degree.

My office was quite quiet, especially during the busy period. However, whenever an activity or a key date was being celebrated at GSK the office was livelier and had a great atmosphere. My team was quite large and therefore split into smaller separate groups, which made it easier to have a livelier atmosphere.

I found the placement year was very well organised. Everything was prepared beforehand and I was well informed. As the placement year progressed, so did my development as my manager was well organised. I had no issues regarding the set of the placement year and found it was a great experience.

I found that GSK enhanced my development and were keen to challenge me further and allow me to learn a variety of skills. My manager was constantly giving me new processes to complete and experience different parts of the business. I was also tasked with organising the Team Day and Orange Day in order to enhance my leadership and organisation.

GSK has a fantastic graduate programme called the Future Leaders Programme. This has been highly recommended as GSK invests in its graduates and wants to maximise their development as well as expand their experiences. This is a 3 year course within which you will get to experience 3 different departments within the company.

At GSK there is a group called IP unite who organise social events for the all the placement students. There are also different groups on social media which allow you to meet different placement students at GSK from all over the country. The social events were good opportunity to meet new people and learn about their role within the business.

As my placement year was in London I found it very expensive to live and socialise.

There was not any nightlife in the area I worked in, but it was not far to travel to near towns where the nightlife is quite good. There are many bars and restaurants to go to after work or on the weekends. This was also a good opportunity for social events in order to meet other placement students.

There were a few opportunities to get involved in after work, such as a netball group and a football group. There were also a variety of social events after or on the weekends, such as the Christmas party, a boat party and a variety of events at bars around London. This was a good opportunity to meet new people.