Bioanalysis placement Review

This placement offered far more than shadowing and minor contribution work. Instead, I was offered training and given the opportunity to take responsibility for my own projects. For this reason, I enjoyed my placement far more as I could not only learn the techniques, but contribute to my teams goals.

My team were very helpful and always found time to offer advice when I needed it. However, some team building exercises would have helped bring the team closer and therefore function as a unified team, in a more efficient manner. Despite this, every member of the team was keen to help develop the group as a whole.

During the first few months of the placement the support and guidance could have been better to help/speed up my familiarisation and understanding of the job. Throughout the placement I then worked closely with my supervisor and manager to support projects. Fortnightly catch-up meetings helped to maintain this close support and guidance.

A big advantage of this placement job was that you could always put your hand to something, as there was always something that needed doing. I enjoyed the diversity that came with this as no two days were the same. Of course there were the occasional unbalanced workload days but this evened out on the whole.

By having regular catch-up meetings with my supervisor I was able to take on a fair amount of responsibility as there was always an opportunity to seek guidance and make sure I was heading in the right direction with my projects. This system was very effective and gave me confidence throughout.

Fortunately, this placement was very suited to my degree to the extent that I have built upon a limited understanding of the pharmaceutical industry from university study, to a now, relatively sound understanding. I have gained numerous skills along the way which will aid my final year studies and certainly beyond.

The open plan office offered both, a quiet atmosphere; where people could work very productively, and at times, a more social atmosphere; where people talk and network. This naturally found a good balance but facilities were provided for anyone that wished to work in a quiet atmosphere to work in.

Together, the IP unite and SRG teams have thought of everything with regards to set-up/admin/HR responsibilities. One very effective way of delivering this was through regular Skype meetings where details of upcoming events, deadlines and admin/compliance would be explained. The flexibility of these sessions also made them much more effective.

It was clear that GSK invest heavily in their employee's personal training and development, since they offer many opportunities to shadow people in different departments, attend scientific events, seminars, workshops, training courses etc. These endless opportunities help to broaden knowledge both on a personal level and at a company level.

The social scene was very big amongst placement students, since it was like a mini university campus. Plenty of events get organised by representatives of placement students, alongside a lot of socialising and networking opportunities. It made a massive difference to have over a 100 students in the same boat.

Living costs were average to high in the area of my placement but at the same time, it was as expensive as you made it, since being so close to London is a great opportunity to see and do many things, and socialise, but it comes at a cost, unsurprisingly.