Process Microbiologist Review

Overall, I had a really fun year at GSK Worthing. The job itself was interesting and enjoyable, although every now and then it became a little repetitve, but this didn't have a huge impact for me. The atmosphere was fantastic - most people were so friendly and helpful, and there was a great balance of work and play!

Throughout the year I was given projects that were important for the continuation of medicine production, so there was no feeling that I was being given all of the small and boring projects just because I was the student. There were obviously restrictions on what I could or couldn't do, but this is understandable given the reputation of the company and the complexity of some of the projects! Carrying out good work was always met with praise and even rewards every now and then, so I definitely felt valued.

I can't fault the support I was given at all - there were regular meetings with my manager to discuss how I was getting on, what I would like to be involved in, my feedback on things I'd already been involved in, things I was doing well and things I could improve on. This lead me to get the best out of the year that I possibly could have, being involved in a variety of different things and devloping my skills in a number of ways. On top of this, most people were always ready to give a helping hand if it was needed!

Whenever I had an ongoing project I was busy (but never too busy). However, although there was usually plenty to do whenever I didn't have a project going on, there were instances of times where the workload would suddenly take a drop and I wouldn't have very much to do for a number of days, but this was always quickly rectified.

Although there was plenty of support on hand, I was never smothered or led by the hand through anything -there was an excellent balance of teaching and learning new skills and being left to my own devices to get on with work or develop myself. As mentioned before, the projects I was given were for the most part all important tasks and I was in charge of them, so I had a great level of responsibility here! There were numerous other investigations or meetings etc that I lead too. Obviously there were a lot of situations where I couldn't lead or help to lead given the industry, but all round there were plenty of opportunities.

I think I've developed a lot on my skills throughout the year, and have learned many new ones too, and although these will definitely look good on a CV and will assist in my years beyond education, I feel that the work itself was not very related to my degree course, so in terms of helping with my degree it wasn't fantastic. That said, the skills I have developed on will help in a more general sense, such as organisation and presentation skills, but in a more degree specific sense there wasn't too much that was relevant.

The atmosphere was fantastic, with everyone being incredibly friendly and laid back when appropriate but all with a great work ethic too. As I mentioned before, there was an excellent balance of work and play and this meant that by the end of the year a lot of the people in the office weren't only colleagues but were friends too.

For the most part, the organisation of the placement was fine. As mentioned before, there were times where the workload slipped and possibly this could have been organised slightly better, but at the end of the day the workload will always slip at points in any job.

There was an extensive amount of training that I underwent in the year, and I definitely feel like there was a lot of time and resource put into developing me specifically as well as just me being an employee.

GSK is a large, well-known and respectable company in one of the fields I would be interested in persuing a career in. They also offer two schemes for IP students - a future leaders graduate scheme (revolving around training you up after graduation to become a leader at GSK) and a direct entry scheme (revolving around making it easier to gain a job with GSK in the future). However, although these are both great opportunities they are both quite difficult to be accepted on to. Having said this though, having now worked at GSK for a year I have been told that this will make it much easier for me to gain a job with GSK in the future anyway. Personally, I would definitely be interested in a career with GSK as it is a great company to work for and comes with many benefits, but not in the specific job role I've had during my placement year.

There was a great social scene amongst all of the IPs on site - everyone got on really well and spent plenty of time together both inside and outside of work. There was also a GSK service run by IP students for IP students called 'IP Unite' that was set up to provide support and social activites for IP students across the country. However, although the group held a few good development sessions and social events, the organisation of it was pretty lacking.

The cost of living was quite good for the flat I shared with three other IP students - we had a pretty cheap deal that included gas and water bills within the rent, so the cost shared between the four of us overall was easily affordable on the salary we were on at GSK. There are a selection of supermarkets in the area, so groceries were also easily affordable. Restaurants and bars varied in prices, but they too were not back-breaking. There are also plenty of other places to socialise, all varying in price but again all fairly decent (most astoundingly of all was how cheap the independent cinema is for students!).

The nightlife in Worthing itself is okay - there are a variety of bars that are quite good, but there are only one or two clubs that aren't all that great. However, with easy transport links to nearby Brighton a night out was never a problem (there are plenty of good clubs, bars and casinos there!).

There are a number of clubs and groups in the local area, such as the local rugby club, plus there is a discount at the local gyms for GSK employees and students.