PULSE Administrator Review

I thoroughly enjoyed my placement year at GSK- it was a fantastic opportunity for me to develop skills, explore my interests, and grow professionally in a sociable and friendly working environment.

I felt very valued and respected by my colleagues and was able to build good strong working relationships with them as a result. I found everyone to be approachable and willing to help throughout my placement year.

I received the up-most support from my manager, meeting weekly for one hour to discuss my progress, development and work. This was extremely valuable time and we often set targets and objectives, frequently reviewed these.

On the whole, every day of my placement was different. This meant my workload varied from day to day and from month to month. I found that some times I would be busier than others but I was given the responsibility to manage my own time and to meet critical deadlines. There wasn't a significant fluctuation in workload but the quieter times allowed me to explore the business, to network, to complete training to improve my performance, and to take on extra responsibilities outside of my role.

I have always had a lot of responsibility and was accountable for my work-stream for our team. I aslo had the opportunity to lead a project and to manage a small team. There were times when I was the only point of contact for my team where naturally I had more responsibility.

Skills I will undoubtedly take forward to my career, experience that has helped me to decide on a career path, and knowledge and examples that I will use in my final year and hopefully as I take the first steps thereafter.

The office was open plan which I found daunting, particularly at first. The atmosphere was on the whole welcoming and friendly.

Very well organised with a clearly defined job description and responsibilities. I would have liked to have received a formal performance review to clearly record and track my development. GSK employees receive this and it would be excellent if placement students did too.

Again, a personal development plan would have been useful. I found that I was mainly the driver of any training I received but they were happy for me to own my learning. I think a more structured learning plan for willing placement students would have been helpful and could improve performance.

Very competitive but I would love to go back on the Graduate Scheme (Future Leaders Programme)

Yes excellent social scene! Over 300 placement students and lots of intern events.

West London- very expensive but manageable

There was very very little nightlife in the immediate but easy access to central London via tube.

Yes lots of opportunities to get involved in activities throughout the organisation or with other placement students. I had a very sociable team and we often did out of work activities.