Skin Health Insights Executive Review

I enjoyed my placement at GSK. It has been challenging and has allowed me develop significant business skills and make beneficial relationships with my colleagues. Some challenges along the way did arise, when my team moved locations and sites and had three managers within 6 months on placement. Managerial changes lead to some uncertainty and sometimes means you have to start again which can be tricky.

There are some colleagues that I feel very valued by and I believe my contribution is valuable. However, I do not feel like I am completely valued by some of my closer team as they are quite distant and we wouldn't be going having personal chats or having a laugh together.

I have been given some great support throughout my placement by my managers and other colleagues. Sometimes it is a case of me having to ask for things a couple of times for them to happen, ie. a mid-year development review which was very important for me to have during my placement.

At first I didn't have a lot of work at all so I was very bored and wasn't really getting the grips of the job. Upon managerial change I became very busy, which I enjoyed as there is nothing worse than having nothing to do! Recently I have been increasingly bored, I guess it is coming to the end of my placement so work load is reducing.

I was given full responsibility of all my teams admin and was trusted to get along with this. Eventually I was given full responsibility of projects for my team which was great as I got recognition from this and it increased my overall workload. I was given responsibility for leading the training of new research methodologies to other colleagues and have responsibility to pass this on to the new placement student who is coming in.

I definitely will keep to the 9-5 routine at university next year. I have also learnt how to manage my time properly and make the most of year hour you have. Being resilient is a big thing I have learnt this year and to put your head down to a task every if it is not exactly something you want to do or very interesting. I have learnt how to be agile and adapt to significant change during placement and this is something I will be carrying with me.

Dependent on where I was working.. if I sat with my team, the atmosphere was pretty dull and boring and no one really talked about anything other than work, which you need when you work 9 hours a day 5 days a week. If I sat with another group of colleagues or fellow placement students it would be a lot more fun and I would enjoy the day more.

Pretty well organised - at first I didn't have a laptop which was frustrating as there were a lot of online trainings to catch up on. We had an average handover week but it wasn't necessarily that useful. SRG was pretty useful in providing us with the information we needed but placement students at GSK definitely aren't a priority.

I got to be involved in a lot of opportunities however, I never got the opportunity to attend any training sessions for training and development and I would have liked to do that. I don't know whether GSK have this opportunity for their placement students. I was able to go on trips to agencies and in to London and up to Manchester too.

There is a lot of information provided on their graduate schemes and future leaders programmes and you are able to apply internally and miss out a few stages in the application process upon recommendation from your manager so it is pretty appealing. There are also direct entry jobs for those who aren't wanting to go on a graduate scheme so it is pretty open to all who would want to apply across all functions and businesses.

Initially, there was a great social scene. There were lots of parties in the first few months. Obviously this dies off when the novelty wears off. IP Unite hosted a couple of events like the IP Christmas Ball and the IP boat party at the end of the year. there are always extra opportunities to volunteer at events which are always a great way to meet people.

London is very expensive, but doable. Average cost of a pint near work was around £5.50 which is pretty expensive compared to Leeds where I go to Uni. Rent is also very expensive, but you need to pick the right location and avoid having to pay for public transport to work too.

There is not much of nightlife scene in Brentford at all. there are definitely some great pubs around but you would need to jump in a 15 minute taxi to get to the nearest nightclub or head in to central London on the Piccadilly line if that tickles your fancy after work!

So so many opportunities! there are so many opportunities to be involved in charity organisations where you can volunteer. Helping out at major events like the IMPACT awards and the Well Child awards are some highlights and you get to meet some incredible charities and people. There are also opportunities to join sports teams like netball, rounders, touch rugby, tennis, football and cricket!