Businiss Analyst Review

I really enjoyed working with those in my team and interacting with other colleagues and placement students (IPs) within GSK. The people in GSK are what really made the placement memorable for me. The work itself was a 50/50 split between mundane documentation and interesting problem solving. The problem solving parts are great, but being in such a large organisation there is documentation for every process, and that's the only reason I haven't given a 10.

Overall, I definitely felt valued by my colleagues in my direct team. Mostly working with those in my team, the majority of work I completed eased the burden on their own roles, so obviously I was valued by them. However, there are still some who don't value me so much, and I got the impression that I was lesser because of being on placement. This is only the minority though, my score of 8/10 reflects that mostly I felt valued.

My manager was amazing throughout my placement, at the beginning he dictated the level of support and offered a lot of guidance. But after I settled in he was quite happy for me to dictate the level of support and even went out of his comfort zones to support me better.

On the whole I was kept very busy. I like to work on several projects simultaneously and found myself completing work quicker than my manager could give it to me. This occasionally meant I had periods of little work (maybe 10% of the whole year) but mostly my manager could provide me with enough work.

Throughout the placement, responsibility I was given largely varied from task to task. Some tasks I would be given full responsibility, working within live environments and handling important data without any supervision. Whereas other tasks which were much more time sensitive, and where I had far less experience in I was supervised closer and given slightly less responsibility.

The technical skills I developed will definitely help me in my studies and future career, while I wish I could've done more technical work and less documentation, its unavoidable in a large company. My professional skills have developed loads, I'm much better at presenting to large audiences, leading meetings, communicating etc. all of which will help me in my degree and beyond.

At the start of the year the atmosphere was pretty good, a nice positive and friendly atmosphere. However, we went through a massive re organisation of departmental structure, which led to a lot of teams and friends of mine moving to different floors. This of course meant the atmosphere died down a lot and certainly for the last half of the placement year has been relatively quiet.

The actual scheme was very well coordinated, plenty of IP roles to take on and lots of support from various groups and mentor schemes already in place. The scheme benefits from being around so long, such that there are lots of previous IPs hired within the company, who also offer support and know exactly what it is to be a placement student at GSK

During my placement I received a lot of time invested by my manager, however I was also sent on a fully paid project delivery course. We also had a budget given to IPUnite (the team which organises events etc. for all GSK IPs) which I was part of, here we decided on events using our budget for IPs development. This is all funded by GSK.

I think that when I want to settle down and retire I will definitely consider GSK in any role, but while I'm young I would definitely look elsewhere. The only role within GSK I would consider as a fresh graduate would be their Future Leader programme which aims to equip you with the tools needed to lead a large organisation.

The social scene for fellow placement students is pretty good. While it could be better, I'll admit that it's not the easiest trying to coordinate hundreds of students in one building, particularly given that there aren't any large venues in the direct area of London where we are mostly based. Joining a sports team is the best opportunity to get involved with socials, and there's a few different IP sports teams set up so plenty of opportunities. We also have a big Christmas ball and end of year boat party on the Thames for all IPs, which are always a good hit!

The cost of living is okay, its certainly doable given the salary, and if you're good with money you can even make some savings. I haven't left with any savings but I did manage to buy a car outright and insure it for the year, as well as purchasing two road bikes among generally living well. I still had money to socialise as well, I went on many socials throughout the course of the year, drinking and eating out as well as doing things with IPs from my department such as cinema trips.

The nightlife is terrible in Brentford. If you like pubs and Indians then you're sorted for the year. If you venture 15 minutes away from Brentford you can already find some variety for food out, but if you want to go to some good bars then central is the only thing I'd consider which is 25-40 minutes on the tube.

Yes. There's plenty of opportunities and clubs/societies/gyms outside of work, its just a case of doing your research and finding them really. There's loads of gyms at different pricing options nearby, and there's lots of local football, netball, hockey, badminton, rugby etc. sports clubs. Within GSK we also have many clubs and groups for various sports, including competitive games of squash, badminton etc.