Internal Communications Assistant Review

It took me a couple of months to get into it and for my workload to pick up but once it did, I really enjoyed my placement year. In my role you got out of the placement as much as you put in, so the more responsibilities that I picked up the more I enjoyed it.

I felt highly valued by my colleagues. I worked in a small team (4-5 people) so felt like a really integral part of the team. Although it took me a few months to understand what was going on in meeting and build the confidence to share my thoughts and ideas, whenever I did I was supported.

In the first half of my placement I was given a large amount of support by a member of my team. Contact with my line manager was regular but less often. In the second half of my placement I was given much less support but by that point felt confident that I knew what I was doing.

I was kept busy but didn't feel overwhelmed most of the time. I had a lot of short term deadlines to manage so my tasks tended to vary day to day. There were some times of the year (eg around quarterly results) which were very busy but never to the extent that I had to do much overtime.

My responsibility increased throughout the year. As the job was in internal communications I feel I was given a relatively large amount of responsibility from the start as my team were able to check my work before it was sent. Later in the placement I was trusted to lead on work and make decisions for the team.

My role was not so relevant for my degree, and I'm not sure that it is an area that I will go in to after finishing my degree but communication is a desirable skill for all roles - so although I may not use the skills I used directly later in life, the skills I have gained are generally transferable.

The building in its entirety had a great atmosphere. As the global HQ of a FTSE 100 company, everything felt very grand. It was also great to get involved in various corporate events and I had lots of exposure to the Corporate Executive Team. The area where I sat had a less exciting atmosphere - everyone on my floor were Regional Heads so often weren't in the office and there were always lots of people coming and going. The student community was good though.

It wasn't planned month by month, rather I was quickly integrated into the team and became a regular part of it, which I liked. My manager regularly asked me to assist in planning my development throughout the year and was happy to help me see more of the business, for example by reaching out to other departments that I was interested in learning about.

I didn't do any certified training while on placement but I was seconded internationally at the end of my placement.

Highly appealing - GSK has a very well respected graduate scheme, albeit very competitive.

GSK have a group called IP unite which is very similar to a university society. It's run for and by placement students and links placement students from the country. They had a regular newsletter and organised social events like sports, bowling, night outs etc. They also arranged other interesting things like trips to other GSK sites which was a good opportunity to meet other people from the business.

I commuted from Surrey. There wasn't much choice for socialising in Brentford.

There's not much going on in Brentford - but its approx 40 mins to central London.

Yes. The Community Partnerships intern asked for help from placement students at a number of events. I attended the Well Child awards which were filmed and hosted by Dick and Dom. I also attended the GSK Impact Awards. I helped out at the Annual General Meeting (AGM) which was very interesting to attend.