Statistics Industrial Placement Review

I absolutely loved my placement year! When I first started I was nervous not only about all the new statistical techniques and programming skills I would need to learn, but also about getting to grips with all the products manufactured at the Ware site. I need not have worried, I was given plenty of time and support from my team to learn all that I needed to know and I thoroughly enjoyed completing all the work I was assigned throughout my year at GSK. There was also a good social scene amongst the placement students, which made the year even more enjoyable. There was always somebody to go to lunch with at work or somebody up for a trip to the pub after work!

Although I was 'only' a placement student, from day one I was made to feel like a valued member of the team. Everybody in the team was really friendly and easy to approach if I needed help. The team would always thank me for any work I had done. It was a lovely team to be a part of, it was such a shame to leave it at the end of the year!

My manager was brilliant at supporting me throughout my time at GSK. We had fortnightly meetings to check how I was getting on, see how my current work was progressing or set me some new project work. My manager always made time for me if I needed help or advice, even when they were extremely busy with their own workload.

On the whole, I had a very manageable workload. While there were a couple of occasions where I was extremely busy and had to stay late in order to meet an impending deadline, this was not a regular occurance. A typical day for me involved reading/replying to emails after arriving at the office, checking my calendar for any meetings scheduled that day and then starting the day's work (i.e. working on one of my allocated projects). At 5pm, the end of the day, there was absolutely no expectation to stay longer or take any work home!

I was given a lot of responsibility during my placement year. When I first started, to allow me to settle into the role, I was given time to complete online SAS programming courses and read statistics textbooks to learn about the procedures I would be using. After this, I was allocated my first project. As the months went by, and my experience grew, I found that I was given more and more responsibility. The complexity of my projects increased and I was also trusted to present proposals from our stats team alone at cross-functional team meetings. Essentially, I was given the same level of responsibility my colleagues had.

In terms of technical skills, my placement year definitely developed my statistical knowledge and this will be very beneficial for my final year at university. My placement year also gave me the opportunity to learn and use SAS programming, which is a skill that will be extremely valuable when it comes to searching for a graduate role. In terms of soft skills, it would take far too long to describe all the skills I developed whilst on my placement year, but I know that the experiences I have had whilst at GSK have prepared me well for starting full-time work after graduating from university.

Our team was based within a wider technical department, which was usually a quiet place to work. However, it was also a friendly place to work. There is an annual Great British Bake Off style competition for charity, where a different person brings in a cake each week (anonymously) which everyone else then gives a rating. Cakes and chocolates were also brought into the office on people's birthday or after returning from holidays. The office also has send-offs for people when they leave the department.

As my team have employed a placement student each year for many years now, I feel my placement was set up fairly well. When I first started, a lot of attention was given to building up my knowledge of the products manufactured at Ware, as well as ensuring sufficient time was given to completing my training. There was also a handover period between the outgoing placement student and myself, although this time would have benefitted from being more structured. Also, due to the nature of the team's work, it was difficult to know in advance which project work you would be assigned to complete. This is problematic when trying to set targets for what you want to achieve from your placement year, as they will largely depend on the work you do.

When you join GSK as a placement student, you are treated in the same manner as a permanent member of staff. Therefore, you are required to attend a lot of company training sessions throughout the year. There are also frequent lunch and learn events you can attend if you wish. When I first started my role, I completed online courses to learn SAS programming. There were also many opportunities available to gain a wider understanding of how statistics is used at GSK in the clinical side of the business. I went to the GSK Quantitative Sciences annual conference in London, attended a clinical statistics insight day and visited the Stevenage R&D statistics team. If I spotted a development opportunity I wanted to attend, I only had to ask my manager whether it was okay to go.

There are many possible ways to return to GSK, but to be able to return as a Statistician you would firstly have to obtain an MSc in Statistics and then apply when a vacancy arises. To return to GSK in another area of the business, there is the Future Leaders Programme (FLP) and other site specific graduate programmes. You can apply for the FLP whilst on your placement year, as long as your manager recommends you. If recommended, you complete a short video interview and then, if successful at this stage, you are invited to attend a final assessment centre. I had a brilliant year at GSK, it was a great company to work for and I hope to return as a graduate.

There was a great social scene amongst the placement students. A couple of months before you start, an introduction day is held for everyone to meet each other. This is usually how you find your flatmates. After starting at GSK, the placement students tend to eat lunch together. There were also many after work/weekend activities organised like days out and dinners in London, crazy golf, pub golf, pub quizzes, nights out.... there was always something going on!

As Ware is close to London (approx a 45 minute train journey), it meant the rent was quite expensive. However, the cost of socialising was pretty reasonable. For after work drinks, we would head to the bars with 2-4-1 cocktail offers, which helped to keep the cost of drinks down.

While the high street in Ware has tons of bars, pubs and restaurants, most of these close at or before midnight. As such, because most of the placement students lived in Ware, we would have pre-drinks at someone's house and then catch a 5-minute train to Hertford for a night out.

Outside of the events organised by the placement students themselves, there were only a few activities you could get involved in outside of work. You can join the sports and social club which is next door to site. Here it is possible to participate in sports like football, rounders, cricket etc.. You can also join the gym on the neighbouring R&D site.