Industrial placement student, respiratory biology Review

I thoroughly enjoyed the year placement and found it extremely valuable.

Everyone was very welcoming and helpful and I made some great friends throughout the year, both regular workers and others on their student placements. There were lots of fun work socials too :-)

My supervisor supported me throughout and although he allowed me to have a lot of independence he would always be there if I had a question. Other managers and colleagues were always around and their wise words and helpfulness were appreciated on many occassions.

This tended to vary, some days would be very quiet whereas others would be manic, dependent on what work needed to be done. Planning your time and week carefully allowed for a good balance to be achieved. You would find on various days you would be writing up lab reports and analysing data so wouldn't find yourself in the lab, but on the whole there was lots of lab work to keep you busy. If you were bored you can find something to do; more work, help someone out, read up around what you are doing, or have a quick tea break!

Personally I was given a lot of responsibility, i was told what was expected of me and what i needed to accomplish within set time periods and then i was left to sort out exactly what i wanted to do, manage my time, sort protocols and carry out the assays in the lab. However there was always support if i needed it at any point. I could then report back results and discuss further advances or my next aims.

I feel that the skills i have learnt will be very beneficial to both complete my current degree in biomedical science and in future work. I feel confident in a lab environment and in the presentation of data. I have also gained many values involved with working; team work, comminication skills, time management; which i hope will give me that edge on applying for jobs in the future.

There were a lot of fun characters in my office who were great to work with, however this being said everyone still got down and did their work.

The whole programme was very well co-ordinated from the interview process where communication was brilliant, the familirisation day where you could meet everyone and get an idea of the work you had ahead of you which is a great idea, and throughout the year placement where we were continually looked after. I didn't notice any faults in GSKs Industrial Placements and they are a fanatstic company to work for.

I feel the company offered me all that they could, they taught me a lot of skills and had a lot of opportunities available for me. Employees never seemed like they felt we were wasting their time and taught amd helped us continuously throughout the year.

Anybody interested in pharmaceutical research i would highly recommend GSK as they are fantastic employers. I personally am not looking for a future job in this field.

There was a really good social scene, amongst colleagues there were work socials to include christmas time and easter which were both great fun, there were also many pub lunches to celebrate various things, and generally good socialising at lunch and tea breaks, particularly when there were lots of cakes for peoples birthdays! The students tended to meet up of evenings and weekends, and there were a core number of us that went out regularly at the weekends, maintaining some of the more student like aspects. GSK was particularly good because there were lots of students working there, so lots of friends to be made.

I think the cost of living is the same as anywhere else, depends what you are in to and how you like to spend your spare time. You will find that because you are earning more you tend to spend more and then eventually don't have as much as you thought you would to show for your year of working, but it is always good to enjoy yourselves.

I loved the nights out! I think this was more due to the numbers that went out which always made it fun filled. However it depends what your taste is. In stevenage there were 3 main clubs (Jumpin Jaks, Chicagos and Liquid) and i never had a bad night out! We even managed the 3 club triathlon on the last week of work!

There were many opportunities to get involved in anything outside of your monday to friday 9-5 job, sporting activities and social events, it depends on the person you are and what you like to do.