Associate Study Manager Review

I have really enjoyed my placement at GSK. It has not only given me a massive insight into how clincial trials are conducted but also how big companies operate. It has been an invalubale year that has really helped me to decide what path I want to chose when I finish University. Before undertaking the placement I was really interested in working in a lab based environment, however now I am clear on wanting a more office based role.

On my study team I felt very valued, I was often praised for the work I was doing and told how vital the work is for the running of the study. I could clearly see how the work I was doing helped my collegues do their tasks. I built a very good working relationship with people in my department.

My line manager was very supportive of me and tried to help me out where ever possible. She not oly helped me with work for the job such as if I was quiet finding me more work but also helped me with other tasks such as my CV and placement report. I found the supervisor on my study very helpful and guided me through the tasks I would be undertaking throughout the year and was very approachable if ever I had any issues/problems.

I would say work has varied greatly throughout my time here. Some weeks I have been very busy with almost no time to spare but other weeks have been very quiet. I think this is the nature of clinical trials as some weeks recruitment was high and therefore made me very busy or we were working towards deadlines. If recruitment was slow or countries were on national holidays I could find my days quite quiet.

I have been given quite a lot of responsibility on the trials I have worked on. I have managed to work on a massive data cleaning deliverable sending vital emails to all country contacts. I have also been given my own countries to manage which was a massive responsibility as I was now their first point of contact for almost any issue.

I would not say this year has related to my degree so will not help me when it comes to my knowledge base. However I would say this year has been invaluable on developing my transferable skills. This I am hoping will help me to manage my time far better when I return to university and therefore help with my grades. I also think the skills I have built will help me massivly when it comes to writing appilcations for grad jobs and for my CV.

Everyone I have met have been most friendly and welcoming. I have worked in two departments on my placement and each time I have been made to feel like part of the team. Everyone I have been around have been very chatty and willing to help with work if I get stuck. It is a very laid back atmosphere which helped put me at ease when I first started.

I was put into a team where they had placement student before and therefore knew how to best support us. However this team got disbanded half way through my placement but this did not have an impact on how I was tutored. Furthermore a transaction with Novartis meant all the studies and teams I worked with moved and I was unable to stay with these teams. Since I have been welcomed into another department but as they have never had a student before they are not as well set up to help me. Saying this though all members of the team have been very willing to help me if I am stuck.

I felt the company did invest in developing my skills, I was given responsibilty to push me and help me develop.

The grad scheme for GSK is very very competitive and even having worked in the company for a year it does not really give much of an advantage when applying for the graduate scheme. There are direct entry level jobs however I am not sure how easy it is to get into the company through that route. I would say I would like to come back and work for GSK as I have found it a very friendly and worthwhile expirence.

I lived with 5 other placement students so we would often go out as a house and would always eat lunch with the other science placement students on our site. There is alos a seperate organisation that works to organise events for all placement students across all sites. Events they have organised includes a winter ball, cocktail nights and a Thames boat party.

Coming from Sheffield the increase in price of nights out has been a massive difference, things are a lot mroe expensive in the South. Living costs were slightly higher also but not massively so. It is not a problem however as the wages paid are more than enough for me to pay rent and have an active social life.

The nighlife in the area is not particulary great. There is one main club in Uxbridge that is easy to get to and free before 11. However to have more of an exiting night out then you do need to venture into London. The taxi from central back to where we live costs around £40 so is pretty expensive if you want to go anywhere other than Uxbridge.

With the events organised by the IP unite team there were a fair few activities outside of work to get involved in. However as this is seperate to GSK I would not say they did alot of things outside of work as there were issues with us not being permenant employees so therefore had more rules and regulations that the company could not get around.