Placement year lab scientist Review

I really enjoyed my work placement, as my work was challenging but I was always supported and helped when I needed it, my team were friendly and we all got on well, and it felt like my contributions were valued. I definitely enjoyed having other placement students in my department too.

My supervisor was really good, she was always available to help out and answer any questions, even when we were all working from home during the coronavirus pandemic, and made sure I never felt stupid when asking a question. She was also always happy for me to do any extra development opportunities (like shadowing other people/training courses).

As a lab scientist this really varies based on experiment planning. Some days would be full lab days and other days were less busy and so filled with more computer work (e.g. results analysis) or meetings. At the start of the year things were generally less busy whilst being trained but then after that it got busier quickly.

The lab skills I learnt will be hugely helpful when finishing my degree, and for any further study. The more general transferable skills such as giving presentations, team work, communication and just generally learning how to work and be comfortable in a professional environment and have responsibility will also be useful for future jobs .

There was also a nice friendly office atmosphere. I was in a fairly small office (about 10 people) but that was nice because everyone knew each other well. There was a nice level of chatting, and on our floor there were smaller meeting rooms where you could go for group discussions/call to not distract other people.

The placement was well organised. There is quite a lot of information given at the start from SRG about admin (timesheets/payslips). At the start there was some confusion between IPs as to holiday allowance and how it is accrued but once we all figured it out everything was pretty simple and quite well organised. My team were from GSK were really well organised.

My supervisor was always happy for me to organise shadowing of other people/meetings to learn about other jobs and areas of the business. There was also a scheme set up were an IP can have a mentor who is on the future leaders grad scheme which was a really useful opportunity.

Having done a placement year at GSK I would want to return to work with them in the future. Everyone was friendly and got on well which created a nice working atmosphere. The lab facilities and lab opportunities are really impressive and generally the company seems to care about its employees.

There were over 100 placement students at the Stevenage site, and most of them live in Stevenage for the year which was nice as it meant we could all socialise together at the weekends. There were a couple of organised socials but generally people just organised things themselves which worked well.

There is a gym at the Stevenage site which was really good as there were classes/sports clubs to get involved in. It was pretty cheap, especially for IPs, and there was a good range of gym classes and social sports teams to go to either before work, at lunch or after work.