Analytical Scientist Review

I have really enjoyed my work placement, mainly because GSK has such a friendly community with people all committed to living the company's values. Being in a community where people are dedicated and are passionate about their jobs, this has highly motivated me when completing my work. In terms of the work provided, I feel sometimes the work can be repetitive and the role itself may seem very minor to the overall company's goal. However, it is rewarding to see that the work we do can have such a big impact on the manufacturing process.

I feel I am very valued by my colleagues. I was also pleasantly surprised that coming into a company as an industrial placement student, I was treated just like any other employees. Because I was working within the analytical team which requires assisting other teams, many people would come to me for advice and so I felt I had just as much responsibilities as other analyst in my team.

I feel that my manager will give me as much support as she can to aid me in the work I do. However, as my project is a subject of less familiar grounds, most of the time, it was left to my own device to work out the problem and not much direction was given to me. I do feel that this has consequently developed my problem solving skills and my independency.

On a daily basis, I would say I am quite busy, however this is dependent on the projects which we have in the department. As we are a department which provides technical support to other manufacturing sites, my work is very busy when we have to troubleshoot a problem in manufacture. This is often work of high priority therefore there are high demands and pressure on meeting targets. However, when the manufacturing process runs smoothly, work is more balanced and targets to meeting goals are more flexible.

I feel like I was given a lot of responsibilities during my placement. In fact, industrial placement are often given more work than other colleagues in the team which is good because you get to learn more and become more exposed to the different types of work you can be doing within the role. Generally, my manager tries to ensure work are distributed evenly between colleagues in our team, however depending on the work and its demands, sometimes this may end up leading to more responsibilities.

When I applied for this role, I was hoping to develop more technical skills and have the opportunity to learn more about different analytical equipment which are used within the industry. However, I was disappointed that I didn't get these opportunities. Most of the work which I have carried out, were coincidently developed previously from university. Although I do not think my skills as a chemist has developed, I do feel I have developed transferrable skills from working in a professional setting and learnt more about how a business operates.

As we have an open office, the general atmosphere in the office is very good. People will often bring cakes and snacks in to increase work motivation. As all the managers and other colleagues are sitting at close proximity, support is quickly provided if it is necessary and it is useful having people with different expertise in the office, as this makes solving quick problems easier.

The organisation of my work placement was not particularly good, as I joined the company as they were going through a site closure. As a result, I was moved into a different department where I had to adapt to a new job role. However, both of my managers (from old and new department) tried to make the transition as smooth as possible, and a new project was quickly assigned to me in my new role.

GSK has a learning programme which contains compulsory and optional modules for their employees. Before starting any task, it is often required to complete a learning module, therefore I have never felt out of my depth when I am performing a task. Out of interest, there are also modules which allows you to self-assign for self-improvement.

For graduates, GSK has got a future leaders programme which is appealing for people who would like to develop transferable skills and become leaders. However, this programme is not particular suitable for people who would like to become experts in a particular field (ie become scientists). It is also optional to be registered onto the internal job database for job availabilities.

There is a great social scene amongst placement students and colleagues! GSK has got an IPunite group which is run by current placement students and so many large events are organised via the committee. There are also social committees in each GSK sites for organising local social gatherings such as BBQ, meals out, bowling, and cinema. Between colleagues, often there are also dinners, nights out and charity events.

The cost of living and socialising is slightly less than the living cost in London. Worthing is fairly expensive as it contains high numbers of retired homes, but it is very close to Brighton which is a more lively town. Price of living and socialising in Brighton is also similar to London.

The nightlife in Worthing is average. There are 2 main clubs which are relatively small but is sufficient for a good night out nevertheless. The rest of the town consists of mainly pubs. However, Worthing is only 20 min away by train to Brighton which has great nightlife and attractions.

There are many opportunities to get involved in activities outside of work. GSK promotes employees to help out in the community and has a day each year, where employees volunteers for a good cause. I was also a STEM ambassador therefore I had the opportunity to reach out to schools where we had delivered presentations to educate children in our local community.