Industrial Placement Student at GSK Review

The majority of this placement year did not focus on my personal development, rather on work that met the needs of the department. I found much of the work low-skilled and monotonous. I did enjoy certain aspects of the job but did not feel like I had the opportunities that other students across the company had.

In my department at GSK I felt highly valued by my supervisor, sub-team and department as a whole. The culture at the company is one that encourages responsibility and ownership for actions which allows students to have independence for work. This is a rewarding feeling. I was never treated as a placement student or temporary member of the department, but as a full-time employee. This was also something I saw reflected for work-experience students and temporary members of staff.

To begin with, there was sufficient guidance to become able to do the job. However, I felt that a large proportion of the year was quite independent with only once-weekly, hour long catch ups. I had to ask for more support in certain aspects of the job which was very warmly received and since then improved massively, with much more focus on what I wanted to achieve during the year. I think that this is very supervisor-dependent and may require some student-ownership to ask for further support.

I felt that the majority of this placement had either long, intense days or rather quiet and boring days. Whilst I appreciate that this is so-called 'working life', at times I had too many important tasks to complete at the same time. I would probably estimate that I felt the balance of work was 'good' for less than 25% of the year.

I definitely feel that I was given lots of interesting and often important responsibilities. It was very encouraging and rewarding to undertake, analyse and present large studies of my own that were well-received and will be useful for the company. I feel like this is an important motivator for myself and others. At times, it may have helped to have slightly less responsibilities however I feel like many students try to make the best impression across a year by saying 'yes' to many opportunities.

I disagree with the low star-rating suggesting that this was a waste of time for not helping in my degree studies. Whilst my placement was highly different from my degree and therefore the skills not very transferrable, I learnt many interesting techniques which, unfortunately, I may never use again. It was good to broaden my skills portfolio however I did not feel like I will use many of them in the future. I learned many life and professional skills this years which I will definitely implement moving forward.

My office was very interesting with a good blend of characters. There was a professional yet personable atmosphere where everybody was included. We had several opportunities to get involved in social activities such as team builds, games nights etc. I enjoyed the monthly sessions to display to work undertaken across the department. There was an atmosphere of support for everyone within the office environment.

I believe the organisation was satisfactory and sufficient. At times, there was not enough focus on personal needs such as university work although personally I found this to be ok. Regular meetings allowed organisation of personal work across that week. Regular team meetings also allowed the focus of the team to be aligned therefore this organisation was quite good.

I felt that for large parts of the year the focus was not on my personal development but on completing work for the company. Some of the roles I had were low-skilled and boring yet intense. I did however get some input into my personal development with my supervisor who was happy to discuss ideas I had and how to implement them. There were lots of opportunities across GSK and SRG for development but I rarely had the time to attend.

There are very few opportunities to return to GSK at the post-graduate level, to the extent where I do not think it is possible for me. The Future Leader's Programme may be accessible to some people however at this stage no R & D positions are available. I believe the best and potentially only way to return would be following a PhD, based upon the recruitment of full time employees during my year.

Some social groups did organise meals/nights out etc although I think in general the social scene was quite poor, from my experience. The local area in Stevenage is not good for social activities and many people return home at weekends. The best option for social activities is lunch times out during the week.

Stevenage is very expensive for the quality of living. This is in terms of rent but living costs are not too much. For socialising, there is little to do except a nice park and a few pubs. Stevenage has everything you would need to live comfortably but is not pretty or particularly good for socialising.

As above, the nightlife and social scene in Stevenage was poor.

There were some opportunities for social activities with work colleagues outside of the site such as lunches out, nights out etc however this was rare. Team builds did allow some opportunities but again these were uncommon. There were very few opportunities for activities with non-work colleagues due to the area.