Commercial Channel Management Executive Review

I have really enjoyed my placement year. I have learnt a lot throughout the year, varying from how a global business is run and how different departments work together to technical skills such as advance skills in Excel and Nielsen market data tools to commercial understanding including how to manage a P&L and different ways supplier and customer relationships work. There is always more to learn and more things to experience which makes the year varied and extremely value to my development.

I was the only placement student in my team which allowed me to become fully integrated into the team and not be seen as a placement student but just a member of the team. I worked with every member of my team on different projects as well as many other people in the business and always had my own role and work I was responsible for in the project so always felt that my contribution was valued as much as other colleagues.

My manager was extremely supportive, always happy to answer questions and give guidance. He also made my role flexible so I could gain experience of other areas in the business and projects that I was in. As well as the support and guidance from my line manager, my team was also very supportive and I could always ask them for guidance, and as they all have different experiences and ways of working so I learnt different things from all of them. Even when not working with my direct team, the culture of the GSK consumer healthcare business is very supportive meaning I never felt out of my depth as however much responsibility I was given I knew I could ask for guidance, if needed.

Due to the nature of my role, my work load could vary quite a lot meaning that some weeks were busier than others, either due to the time in the business cycle or the amount of ad-hoc requests I received. I liked being busy and sometimes at the beginning of my placement I found it a bit awkward to ask for more work but someone in my team could always find me some more work to do when I asked. But, later in my placement year I found the quieter times were good to reflect on the business and use my initiative to see a tool or process I could improve and make more efficient.

I was given a good level of responsibility through my placement year, in some projects I was given an area of work which I was responsible for and other projects I was solely responsible for delivering. However much responsibility I was given, I never felt out of my depth as I knew that I could ask for guidance, if needed. I think the amount of responsibility you are given partially depends on your attitude, how proactive you are and your performance in previous pieces of work. My amount of responsibility increased throughout the year as my understanding of the business grew and i proactively looked for opportunities.

I think my placement year has given me a good work ethic which will help me manage my work load at University as improved my analytical skills and commercial understanding which will improve my application to the real business world in my university assignments. However, I think it will have a greater effect after university, not only does a placement year give me a great addition to your CV, it will also help me at Interviews at graduate jobs due to having better and more relevant examples to use when answering competency questions, help me settle into a business quicker in a graduate role and gives me a better idea of what kind of jobs I would like to look for after graduation.

The office had a really good atmosphere throughout most of the year; everyone is very nice and supportive while also working hard to meet their targets, which makes it easy to settle in. During some times of organisational change the atmosphere was a bit quieter and more restrained but this is understandable.

GSK have a lot of experience of hiring placement students so it is well organised and due to this experience they understand the learning curve that placement students will go through and know what needs to be done to help people settle into the business.

I found that the 'on the job' training was very good, but did vary depending on who your manager/team were. However, I do not think the formal training was as good, there was a two day training course especially for placement students run by the previous years placement students as well as some online training courses which everyone had to complete. But, the majority of training courses that the rest of the business could do were not open to placement students.

Working for GSK in the future is very appealing because I have had a great placement year experience and the culture of the business is really good but I know that it is very competitive which makes this difficult, especially the graduate schemes which only take on a few people. I will look into working for GSK in the future but will also look at other companies as there will be other places that are also great to work and where i gain new skills and experiences.

On my floor there were about 20 placement students and we all got to know each other quite well and there were often pub trips or people meeting up outside of work with people that leave near you, as well as all of us working together on charity initiatives within work which helped us get to know each other better, There are a lot of placement students at GSK and there are some events that are organised for everyone, including an end of year boat party. But, because there are so many placement students I found that I got to know the others on my floor better than anyone through the big events. The amount people got involved was up to each individual.

The cost of living and socialising is quite high, but this is as expected in London.

The nightlife in the local area around work wasn't very good, there was one pub which we visited quite often but that was about it. But, there are good transport links into central London where the nightlife was much better, but could be quite expensive.

GSK organised a few things such as evening events and charity events and some people got involved in sports clubs after work. Otherwise, having good transport links around London means there are plenty of things you can get involved in outside of work. It is what you make of it.