Aseptic Validation Specialist Review

I really enjoyed my 13 month industrial placement as a Aseptic Validation Specialist at GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), based at a Global Manufacture & Supply (GMS) site. Throughout the year I learnt so much, got involved in many amazing opportunities and worked with lots of inspirational people. My role was very varied and there were lots of different projects to get involved with both on site and across the global network. I was pleased to be asked to support for an extra 4 weeks.

I felt very valued within my team throughout my placement year and I was given lots of responsibility and a wide variety of tasks to get involved with. I really enjoyed working with other supporting teams and helping out where I could on the manufacturing site. A highlight for me was planning and lead 5-day process simulations as a key worker in the COVID-19 pandemic. I received feedback after work and projects from my manager and learnt the importance of self reflection and development.

I was given great support and guidance from my mangers, team members and mentors. At the start of my placement I discussed with my manager what I wanted to get out of my placement and each month would talk about my progress, areas for improvement and development and what other tasks and projects I was going to get involved with. I was pushed out of my comfort zone but people were willing to help out when needed.

Some weeks I was very busy an other weeks i was less busy (due to the nature of a global manufacturing site), giving time to complete admin tasks. When I was executing a project myself and my colleagues would be very busy and work together as a team. I enjoyed attending meetings and helping out with other projects, teams, events like being part of the site engagement and culture group and placement student and apprentice events. I built my planning and organisation skills and focused on balancing my time well.

I was given lost of responsibility whilst on my placement year from leading projects and departmental daily strategy meetings to supporting deviation investigations and level 1 audits. Each month I had opportunities to build my confidence and take on a little bit more responsibility- stepping out of my comfort zone. I was honoured to be elected student site representative and IP Unite UK committee member- where I had the responsibility of organising learning events for all UK IP students.

I developed lots of different skills on my placement year at GSK and received a wide range of training. I built upon my Management and people skills, Adaptability and flexibility to change an planning an organisation skills which will all help me greatly in the future. I also learnt more specific microbiology skills like environmental monitoring techniques in clean rooms which will help me in my final year of my degree. I enjoyed learning about the wider business of GSK and how all the different functions of the supply chain link together.

The atmosphere in my offices was relaxed and my colleagues were up for a chat. At the start of my placement I was in an office with just my team and the it department, but then we moved to a larger office with other teams supporting the antibiotic manufacture. I found it easy to work in the office and it was nice to have my team next to me and set desks so that I could ask people for advice/any quick questions. Some days were harder when the was company restructuring.

Well organised, by our site early talent lead, hr people and personal mangers. We were employed by SRG and they were quick to respond to emails and give presentations on our time sheets, payslips, holiday and contract details, however it was sometimes confusing being contractor, as the communication between GSK and SRG could be improved. I set out a clear development plan with manger. GSK were very good at giving me 3 monthly baseline health surveillances, including breathing tests as I worked on a penicillin site.

GSK place high importance on the personal development of their employees. I considered from the start what I wanted to get out of my placement and discussed this with my manager regularly. My confidence and courage improved, and I got much better at speaking up, confidently with my answers. I had lots of training (both in person and online) including: fire extinguisher training, Data integrity training, level 2 contamination trainings, audit training, site validation procedure training.

The future employment prospects are exciting and appealing, like the future leaders graduate programmes which give you the opportunity to rotate around sites an roles throughout the company. There are also great direct entry roles.

There was a good community amongst the placement students, apprentices and grads as we were all in similar boats. We would normally have lunches all together. We met up some evenings to go to the beach, paddle boarding, pub drinks, meals, or nights out along with virtual quizzes and bingo during the covid-19 pandemic.

The cost of living was more expensive that at university.

The Nightlife in Brighton was good and there were lots of nice local pubs by the seafront in Worthing.

Yes there were opportunities like: charity work, events, Christmas dos, new year celebrations, meals, visits to other sites.