Commercial Analyst Review

I greatly enjoyed my time at GSK. I learnt so much which I can take back to my final year of university and beyond. I was given a lot of responsibility which made me feel very valued, and all my tasks were interesting and challenging for me. So overall a great experience

I felt very valued by my colleagues. I was in a small team of 5 people, all of whom gave me a variety of tasks to keep me busy throughout the year. As well as that I worked with people from all over the world, from USA to Singapore. I received great feedback whenever I completed a task, and the support I got from my team was excellant.

I received excellent support and guidance from my manager, as well as all of my colleagues. Everyone in the company who I spoke to, both in the UK and from sites around the globe, were always really supportive and gave lots of help in my tasks when asked. As well as a line manager, I also had a custodian, who gave me an extra point of support, and gave guidance when it came to applying for the graduate scheme.

I was given a lot of responsibility right from the start of my placement, so I was always busy on a daily basis. Whenever I got to a point where I had finished my tasks and didn't have anything else planned, my colleagues were always there to give me some more work to do.

I was given a lot of responsibility right from the start of my placement. My main responsibility was working on maintaining and improving the in-house Project Management system that our department used. I was also given control of deciding the budget for Operating Costs for sites around the world, which amounted to over £3 million.

I learnt a great deal from my time at GSK. I will be able to take so much knowledge into my final year of university and beyond. I was sent the ITIL Foundation course by my manager during my placement, which allowed me to become part of the BCS (British Computer Society). My team working and communication skills were massively improved from my time at GSK, as I was constantly talking to people all over the world regarding my tasks.

I was sent on the ITIL (Informaiton Technology Infrastructue Library) Foundation training course by my manager. This cost my manager around £700 to send me, but he was perfectly willing to send me on it as it would develop my skills. This included all the training materials, as well as the 3 day course with and exam at the end. After passing the exam I was then able to join the BCS (British Computer Society) which gave me access to CV/Interview help.

There are a number of future employment prospects within GSK. By completing a placement there, you are fast tracked through the grad scheme application process. This makes the process shorter than normal, and allows you to apply before the application open up to non-placement people. The FLP (Future Leader Programme), Grad Tech Scheme, and Direct Hire are all options for continuing work at GSK

There are over 300 IP (Industrial Placement) students who work at GSK over the various sites in the UK. There is an IP led organisation within GSK (IP Unite) which regularly puts on events and parties for the IP students. There are also Site Ambassadors for each site which do the same at a site level (i.e. nights out, pub quizzes etc.)

For my year long placement I lived at Hertford, working at the Ware site. As I lived near London, the prices of living and socialising were very high. I paid around £600 per month in rent/bills. However, GSK pay IPs very well, and I was getting just over £19k for the year, which meant I didn't struggle too much.