HR Industrial Placement Student Review

Amazing company to work for, given opportunity to work in a great team with real projects & responsibility - I would recommend GSK as an employer of IP students, Summer Interns & graduates based on my experience & the opportunities now available to me.

I was part of a small team, so my work fed into our key objectives/strategy and I felt like my work was important & my opinion always respected.

I had weekly one-to-one meetings with my manager as well as quarterly performance reviews & a 'mentor' who I met with informally to discuss my progress & future career aspirations.

Workload varied dependant on team priorities & time of year. Around times of recruitment at GSK I was most busy & less so between those times, but could always ask for more work or get involved with my colleagues' projects.

Some of the work I did supported others and I was not responsible for the end product, but I was given a large project half way through my year that I had sole responsibility for, and this was very satisfying when the work was well received & will go on to benefit the team once I have left.

The skills I have developed in terms of confidence, networking, communication etc are incredibly valuable, I can take these with me in my final year studies and also hopefully into a graduate scheme role next year.

Although a quiet office, through 'smart desking' you can move around and talk to new people, and I found I had just the right balance of being able to zone-out and concentrate on my work and also chat to those around me.

Very well organised. Opportunities to network with fellow IPs, quick response time after assessment centre & process for applying to graduate schemes after your year.

There were limited 'formal' training experiences due to my level & role, although I did attend a few courses and found these valuable. I think the most important experience you gain though is through on-the-job learning and the lessons you can learn from your colleagues.

There are about 6 graduate schemes available, although it would be great for there to be more, and also for there to be a process for IP students to be fast tracked onto schemes rather than attending an additional assessment centre. But this is a necessary process due to the number of IP students & the available places on graduate schemes. My understanding is that this process is under review & may change in the future, with more graduate schemes & positions available.

My colleagues organise Christmas & Summer parties, and the IP community go out regularly, and you can attend as often as you are able.

London is generally quite expensive, better though if you flat-share or avoid pricey areas and stick to the outer-London area.

London is full of clubs, bars and restaurants, so never short of a place to go.

Other than the IP community, there were not many other out-of-work activities, although there was always plenty going on at GSK like the Gold Challenge & there are sports clubs etc.