IVSD apprentice Review

Day to day work involves pig, rat and mouse husbandry; Training in methods of dosing as well as restraint and sample collection. I am also in the process of being trained up in rat dual cannulation surgery and tissue sample collection. In addition to this I complete online university work for 1 out of 5 working days.

Having deadlines for both work and university coursework and exams has forced me to develop my time keeping skills. This has also enabled me to improve my future planning skills to schedule my days and weeks appropriately. Going from school to working in a professional environment has shown me how to communicate effectively and professionally.

I enjoy my apprenticeship. It is not what I initially expected upon application however I find it very interesting and I am glad of my decision to apply for and accept the position. In the future I don't think I will continue to work in the department I am currently a part of however I like the GSK company and hope to continue to work within it.

Day to day work is well organised however the university side is less organised. I'm not sure what I will have to do with regards to my final project and I knw that quite a few apprentices have been asking however none have received a clear answer. Mainly I rely on second, third, or fourth year apprentices to tell me what they did which is convenient as were a fairly close group.

I know that my manager is open for meetings if I need them with minimal notice if necessary. I also have monthly catch up sessions with the early talent programme manager here at GSK. a Kent representative also comes onto site quarterly to check how were getting on with our SIAS objectives.

We have meetings with a representative from Kent university to check on how we are getting on with our university work as well as our SIAS objectives which we decided to focus on in the previous meeting. SIAS objectives are a list of objectives that must be completed in order to pass the apprenticeship. We are able to contact them through email at any time.

Due to my degree being fairly vague (biological science) and my department being very specific (IVSD) quite a lot of my coursework and study is not relevant to my work. Doing this degree does however increase my understanding of the process of drug discovery as a whole and understand more of the scientific language used in the workplace.

As an apprentice community we have regular socials such as pub crawls, lunches, quizzes, resilience events etc. There are also a large amount of voluntary seminars going on all of the time which everyone is free to attend. At my site there is a gym which has morning, lunch and evening workout classes such as boxing, kettle bells, spin class, and circuits which are always fun.

Yes

GSK as a company it is very friendly and social. Most people I have encountered are happy to help and explain something if I'm unsure. Being as large as it is, GSK has many opportunities across the departments and sites with opportunities for day visits to different parts of the company or secondments.

When you apply to the apprenticeship make sure you have plenty of time to fill it out. The application process is fairly long in order to filter out the people who don't really want to be there. Also, try to be confident and don't put too much pressure n yourself.