Insights executive Review

I Really enjoyed my placement. My team and manager were excellent. Everyone aided my learning and development and was always willing to include me in projects. Unfortunately Covid-19 meant that my time in the office was cut short. I didn't find working from home easy and missed the office environment, I find it much easier to get things done in the office. However, I still continued to learn and be a part of the team even after working from home!

I felt extremely valued. So many people have told me that I am really going to be missed. I was given a lot of responsibility and I think that lead me to really making a large impact on my team in terms of ways of working and tool and resources that are now engrained in the team that wouldn't have been had I not done my placement and I think my team really appreciate that and value all the work I've done over the year.

My manager was absolutely incredible. She was always so supportive of anything I wanted to do and always there if I needed help or support. She never made me feel as if I was asking a silly question but would also encourage me to find solutions on my own. She treated me like an equal and was never harsh if I did something wrong.

I think my business fluctuated over the year. I had times when I was a perfect level of busy and I found this energising and was even happy to take on more work because I felt like I was learning so much with having so much to do. However, there were times, especially when we started working from home that I had little to do or had one ongoing task that would become slightly boring. It was also harder to be given things to do when we all went into lockdown.

I was given a huge amount of responsibility, more than a placement student normally would be according to my team. I was put in charge of managing a relationship with an external partner, something a placement student would never be allowed to do. It also meant that I made a real difference to my team and the way we work so I really feel like I've left my mark at GSK and on my team.

In terms of my degree I don't think I've learnt many skills that will assist but this is mainly because of the difference in my degree and what I spent my year on placement doing. Beyond my studies however I think I've learnt so many extremely important skills. my placement has made me realise what I am good at and want a career in so I've made sure that it gave me all the skills I will need to progress in that career path.

The office generally had a very relaxed atmosphere which I really liked. There was no pressure to stay like or to get in really early so it felt nice to be quite flexible with my hours and work late one day so I can leave early on another. My team were all very busy so in meetings a lot of the time which sometimes meant there weren't many people around and no one to chat to much.

In general I think it the placement was well organised and set up. My manager was clear on what kind of projects she wanted to give me. But things would also change based on what was going on in the team. So rather than having one or two year long projects I was engrained in the team and would work in the way my manager did as if I was a full time employee which I really enjoyed!

The company really invested in me. My manager was always putting me in touch with people that might be interesting to speak to or giving me work opportunities that required more skill and responsibility. I worked closely with the marketing team too and they were always really happy to get me involved in their work so that I could learn about what they do and how they work. I didn't have much training because my role was more about learning on the job.

I think future employment prospects within the organisation are very appealing. After speaking to many people in different roles and people of the graduate programme I decided that I wanted to apply to work within the organisation in the future. My manager was very supportive of this decision and made sure all my development and learning catered to this decision. I'm now halfway through the process of getting a place on the future leaders programme.

I was able to find friends among the other placement students and we became a very close group. It was nice to be able to see your friends everyday at work. However, a lot of the placement student were very different from one another so it was sometimes hard to socialise with the others. We would all sit together at lunch and went out for a Christmas dinner together but other than that everyone seemed to stay within the friendship groups they made.

The cost of living was very high as Weybridge is a very expensive area. I chose to live at home to avoid these costs. The main benefit however would have been how close you are to the office. In terms of socialising there were a few places near the office that were not that expensive for example topgolf in addlestone and potentially even getting the train into London. But for drinking and dining Weybridge is very expensive.

There was no nightlife in Weybridge at all. It is a very expensive area so even going to the pub after work wasn't something any of the placement students would do. There are good train links into London however so we were able to go out a few times in London. But it was very difficult for those who lived in Weybridge to get home unless they caught the last train home which sometimes wasn't easy.

There were a few social occasions with my team outside of work but no activities. We had a site Christmas party which involved everyone from Weybridge and I was invited to lots of leaving do's. My team also had their own Christmas dinner and drinks in central London. Unfortunately halfway through the year we all started working from home so that meant that any social occasions or activities that could have happened would not any longer.