Work Experience Student Review

I did work experience with a friend. I thought it was really good as we got to experience a variety of sectors in the pharmaceutical company as well as being able to see many different demos, tutorials and experiments in action. We were shown many things that we had previously been curious about, for example how tablets were made. I'm very keen on maths so I liked being able to take part in the finance department and seeing how all the spreadsheets work in a huge pharmaceutical company. The only reason I've rated it a few stars lower is due to the fact that we weren't given many responsibilities to do things for ourselves, however this was just work experience so it's somewhat understandable.

I learnt various things such as how inhalers are made, how tablets are made, how tablets are delivered, FDA approval procedures, testing procedures, the financial aspects put into a vast pharmaceutical company and much more.

I found it extremely enjoyable as we witnessed a large variety of things rather than just one or two. If it was only one or two it would have felt much more tedious as I feel like the different aspects might have slowly lost their thrill.

We were only 15 at the time of our work experience yet felt as though the staff were all still so respectful and kind towards us. We were given free lunches joined by different sector managers and staff members and felt valued the whole time.

There was a definite structure to our experience even though it only lasted a week we were given a complete time table and taken through all safety measures. It was very well organised.

Our training provider was extremely helpful and lovely. If we were in her sector during the day we would constantly be under her supervision - being helped in various things where we needed and when we were not in her sector during the day, she would contact people to make sure we were getting on well and doing okay.

Same as the training provider as our employer was our training provider.

Since this was a work experience package for no longer than a week, neither my friend nor I received any salary, instead we were just given the beneficial experience of being able to work in an amazing and interesting environment.

GSK has always been a esteemed company and looked good on CVs. I appreciate having had the opportunity massively.

Yes

I think working here for my work experience helped me a lot even if it was just to get a sense of a working environment and to be able to see what happens in the real world at a huge pharmaceutical company.

I would say during work experience it is always great to ask as many questions as possible, even if you feel like you're being annoying, employers appreciate the questions as it shows you're determined to do well and interested in making sure you understand.