Respiratory student Review

As Jobs go I've had a great time. I've realised that working in a lab isn't for me but that's nothing to do with the job. GSK provide a great deal of support for the placement students. They have provided many opportunities and have allowed for the option to take up many responsibilities.

I feel like the work I am doing is going to make a real difference and that I am need within the team. I feel GSK have trained me up for the job so much so that they can rely on me to do the job as much as another employee.

I could ask for much more support from my two supervisors. They have gone above and beyond. If they cant help me with something then there is always someone round to help. The only annoying thing is that on a GSK placement you are employed by another company called SRG (and then sub contracted out to GSK). This can be annoying as that company isn't very organised.

I've been very busy. There has been something new to do ever month with varied tasks. GSK were very flexible and allowed me to choice the sort of areas I wanted to work in. Towards the end of the year when I had been fully trained and was deep into my project I was structuring everything about my day myself.

They treat you like a more employee. I was given a lot of reasonability even with tasks with millions of pounds and lots of time at steak. They have allowed me to be given as much or as little responsibly as I want but it is great that there is that level of trust.

I have learn a lot about how a large company like this runs. I have also been given the opportunity to do some qualifications/ present to large crowds/ run my own projects. All of which are incredibly beneficial. The placement has also helped me refine what I want to do after my degree.

The company have invested an incredible amount of time and resource on me. The have sent me to London to do different qualifications and they have spent months training me up. I was supposed at the amount of time that my supervisors have set aside to help me with my project too. At the beginning of my placement I can only remember one time when I was standing around wondering what to do and someone on the team showed me what they were doing and let me have a go at doing it.

It has given me a great understanding of what a full time job will be like. I have had full time jobs before, but I always remembered clock watching. Working here I have not clock watched once. It was also an insight as to how the hierarchy of such a big international company works.

Before I started the company I did a lot of research into have GSK runs before the interview. They seemed like a very ethically sound company with good ethics. Now that I am part of the company its good to see that the culture is as good as I'd hoped.

I was paid a very reasonable wage. They also were paying for my fuel to work and any trips that they sent me on they would pay for my train tickets. They have giving previous placement years bonus twice a year but sadly they have stopping doing that this year.

There were many opportunities for networking and meeting other employees. In fact the company actively encouraged it. There is this program called the future leaders program which allows placement students to fast track onto GSK's graduate program. That encourage you to see other areas of the company because students might want to join a program elsewhere in the company.

There are many opportunities for networking and socialising. There are about 300 GSK students in England. About 150 of them are the site that I work at. so there are many people in the same boat as me. They have a student union team and they put on a ball at Christmas and a Thames boat party in June.

I was easy to find out about activities that employees can get involved in outside of work. GSK put us all up in a hotel in the summer before we started the placement. We could all get to know each other. They also put a facebook group up for us.

Yes I would definitely the opportunity to a friend. I have been given so many experiences and opportunities. I've met a lot of really great friends and contacts. And I have got a really good year's worth of experience for me to apply the other companies after my degree next year.