Digital Engagement Industrial Placement Review

Overall my year at GSK was perfect for my career development, and I enjoyed it thoroughly from start to finish. There were plenty of opportunities both at work and externally, and my job role was one in which I was able to give my own input and leave my mark.

I was constantly given feedback from my team and the wider team I was in. This included praise when it was due but also areas of improvement and what I could do to keep improving. This was done both verbally and written.

I had weekly 1 to 1 meetings with my manager as well as regular catch ups with my director. We also discussed my progress in weekly team meetings. If I ever had any problems my manager always made time for me to provide assistance.

I was given the freedom to prioritise tasks and manage my own workload. As I joined the company at a busy time there was lots of work to do and there were plenty of opportunities to take on more work. Overall there was a lot of work but this was due to my willingness to take more on and a desire to stay busy.

For some of the joint venture work I was made to sign a confidentiality agreement which shows the degree of trust involved and responsibility I was given. The stuff I was working on was distributed to thousands of employees and a high quality level of work was expected.

I was able to improve my skill set as a whole - this includes the basics such as teamwork and communication as well as the stuff that takes years to master - things like leadership and project management. Looking back on who I was when I started GSK, I didn't ever imagine I could develop as a person as much as I have and I feel anyone going into a placement year at the company would have made the best decision to help strengthen themselves and their CV going into their final year and then graduation.

There were multiple floors at GSK and different floors had different atmospheres. I was fortunate enough that my team were generally more lively and talkative, however they also knew when work needed to be done (which was most of the time) and things got a little more serious. Overall, the balance was perfect.

The IT set up at GSK was 10/10, however in Consumer Healthcare where I worked things were a little more unclear. This wasn't helped by my manager and director not having an Industrial Placement student before me, which meant everything was new to them. It could have been a lot better but this was not for the want of trying.

The company invested heavily in me and some of the training I went through was essential, albeit expensive. It was necessary for my job role to have the Adobe suite for software such as Photoshop, and I was bought a license for this in my first week.

The graduate scheme was good, however the noise in Consumer Healthcare meant that I didn't hear about it until fairly late and when I leaned more information past the application deadline, I wished I had put more effort into trying to get a role. The schemes themselves look very good, as well as direct routes into the organisation.

There was a dedicated group called IP Unite which helped run social events for all of the placement students. For me this was the highlight and I made many close friends through this. Some of us ended up going to Budapest on May Bank Holiday, and 240 IP students filled a boat for a party down the River Thames for our end of year party.

Rent was extortionate, and over half of my pay slip went on rent alone. This was expected though for living in London and generally there were others paying the same price as I was for accommodation in the area. Of course there were cheaper alternatives but the quality of housing was a lot poorer. Socialising was ok as we were able to find cheap alternatives, and with the group of IPs all in the same position we were able to have cheap nights out together.

Brentford (where GSK House and my flat were situated) was fairly poor, but due to the excellent transport links you could get anywhere in London in less than an hour, so this was perfect. The night bus ran direct to my flat so time wasn't an issue.

IP Unite provided some social events and there were sporting facilities for GSK employees only over the road from work, however 95% of placement students didn't utilise this. I personally used the facility about 3 times, and some did not know they even existed. Although it could be argued more could be done for this, I think it would be hard as there is such a high number of placement students.