Contingency worker at GSK Review

I very much enjoyed my placement. Working in a vibrant environment with a variety of people from different backgrounds, I was able to understand a huge range of scientific techniques inside and out of the laboratory. My supervisor was very helpful and always gave me feedback on everything that I did.

All the work I did I had to present to project teams and I felt like these experiments I did impacted their decisions, therefore I felt very valued. I also had to present all of my work to the department once I finished my placement and having people ask me questions on it made me feel as if they valued my contribution to the department.

Both my supervisor and line manager always ensured that I competed my work and helped me do so if it was needed. I had regular one to ones with both of them and they were always double checking that my workload was never too high or too low. I feel like they gave me a lot of guidance which helped me feel settled in the role.

My supervisor ensured that I had work to do every day and that the work I did was being valued. At times I had less work, however this meant that I could do background reading on other things and learn about other areas as well. There was never a period when I had nothing to do throughout my placement.

I always had responsibility in my team to carry out my work to the highest level possible. There was a nice balance where I felt responsible for the work I was performing but I also knew that I could ask people for help and that if something went wrong I was never in trouble.

All of the scientific techniques that I developed will be a huge help when applying for jobs in the future as laboratory experience is something that companies will look for. There are many opportunities to develop yourself outside of the laboratory too by networking with lots of people around, especially in such a large company like GSK.

We hot desk in our office and so there is a lot of flexibility in where you sit and who you are around. Generally there is a very good atmosphere around where people bring in lots of cake for birthdays or to meetings and everyone is very upbeat. There were times when the office gets quite busy but the volume was never high enough for people to complain.

The placement is very well organised as the department first analyses where positions are possible and what their projects would look like. And having the structure of a defined project really helps when it comes to understanding your aims and hypothesis for your report. My line manager was also very good at making sure everyone understood what they were doing in terms of their placement.

I often shadowed different people in the laboratory in different places in GSK as a way to see how other parts of the company work and develop myself. But this is very much driven by the student and so I put a lot of time into doing this. However the company do help in terms of providing opportunities fi you did want to develop a skill in any way.

They are very appealing. There are various schemes present at GSK which look quite interesting and I would probably apply. This includes direct entry as a permanent employee, the future leader programme, or a PhD within the company. The most appealing part is that it would be with GSK, and from how I have been treated this year I would be very happy to continue working here in the future.

Yes, I regularly went to the pub after work with colleagues from work and with the students outside of work. I also lived in a house with four other students who also worked at GSK and so I spend almost all of my evenings with people from work. There is a lot to do around Stevenage and so there was always quite a nice social side to things.

As I was based in Stevenage, the prices of most things were quite high. However as this was a paid placement, the cost never limited me in terms of anything I wanted to do, as long as I was smart with my money. I thoroughly enjoyed my time and working independently and being paid was very nice.

There is a train from Stevenage into Cambridge and London which both don't take that long and so even though the nightlife in Stevenage isn't that great, if you did want to go out for a night with friends it is very easy to jump on the next train out. However you would need to either come back fairly early or get the train the next day.

Yes, this was not through the company but I still did many things outside of work. On a weekly basis I did French lessons in Hitchin as I have always wanted to learn French. I also volunteered once a week at the Stevenage Haven in the town centre to help there. And so if there are things you want to do outside of work it is more than possible.