Consumer Healthcare Placement Student Review

I don't feel as though my placement could've gone much better - the opportunities I had and the people I worked with were so much better than I imagined.

Despite being on placement, I felt like a valued member of the team by all levels, and always felt comfortable approaching them with any problem or query. I feel that my skills were recognised, and utilised by the team to ensure I developed and maximised my strengths.

My supervisor is a very busy person, however always made time to talk to me should I have any issues or concerns. I think my supervisor really helped me to settle into the job, as she was so friendly and caring from the start.

I never expected to enjoy my job as much as I did on placement, I always felt as though I had a purpose and my work was valued. I was generally the perfect balance of busy; and if I got too busy my line manager was always happy to offload.

I got involved in an extra opportunity within the placement student community, so was in a position of leadership in that. I was also given my own project to run (where I was they key contact with the agency), which was a fantastic experience and one which I felt really developed my skills.

Doing a placement has been invaluable, and I feel that I will go back to University with a totally new mindset. I have improved my leadership, organisational, communication, presentation skills etc; and many more. I also think I have matured this year, and working 9-5 has taught me to manage my time more effectively when back at uni to ensure I make time for fun too. I highly recommend doing a placement year to anyone!

Excellent community atmosphere not just in my office, but in my site. Employees ensured placement students were invited to get involved in all activities, and I felt a real sense of community. I worked alongside another team, and was made to feel at home by them when my own team was working from home.

From GSK's side, very well set up - everything was in order for my arrival. The recruitment company were slightly disorganised at the start of the placement, however this was improved during the year. It didn't affect my enjoyment of the placement, however things like booking holidays around Christmas could have been made clearer.

Compared to any friends I spoke to within other companies on placement, I was involved in so many activities to help me to develop. Most people on placement are expected to just do their day job, and there is little time for personal growth. This was not the case during my placement - I was involved in Presentation Competitions, LinkedIn Learning Courses, Networking Events and more.

I would love to seek further employment, GSK clearly look after their staff and it was especially great to see that during the Covid-19 pandemic, they prioritised health and wellbeing over productivity which is exactly how I believe it should be. We were advised to WFH before lockdown even began, which shows how GSK value the health of their staff.

Relatively good, or as good as you can expect. This varied from site to site, but at my site we arranged a few social activities during the year. It's nice to have so many placement students on site, as you can always find a friendly face as you're walking around the site.

Very expensive, but the wage GSK provided was more than enough to allow me to rent a property with other students and afford to travel, save and socialise. More expensive than my university living costs, but they're in completely different locations.

I didn't really get involved in too much nightlife during my placement, however I know people who did and apparently surrounding areas weren't bad. My site was close to London, however it is hard to get home during early hours of the morning. The GSK Christmas party was a good night though.

Plenty! If you want to do extra activities, there is plenty of opportunities to get involved in things - both on site and within the wider company. I was very lucky in this department, as I had potentially better opportunities as part of my team than most, however many teams had pub lunches and cocktails etc.