Chief Scientific and Medical Office Executive Review

I thoroughly enjoyed the placement and will be so sad to leave! Its thanks to a combination of factors ; the friendly colleagues and work environment, working in a dynamic and fast moving team where I learn and push myself every day, opportunities to branch out and experience working in other teams. The list goes on, but overall I'm very glad I did the placement.

My team went above and beyond to make sure that I was making a meaningful contribution to the teams output, while also giving me frequent opportunities to work in new areas I had expressed interest in. They definitely treated me like an equal rather than an 'admin' role which I know can happen on a lot of placements.

Within my team I have a manager and four other members who all supervise and work with me on a daily basis, but there are also plenty of other people I work with on specific projects. At times it can get a bit hectic for the whole team, but we make an effort to catch up frequently, and my manager is great at making time for 1:1s whenever I need them, no matter what his schedule is like. We have a team meeting once or twice a week, with other meetings and individual catch ups on other days, so there are plenty of opportunities to ask questions or run ideas past the team.

This was really down to me, there is always new work to be taken on, but a lot of the time it was down to my own initiative to find new and exciting projects to work on. The role if very project based, with few recurring weekly tasks. This means the role if fast moving and there is a lot of flexibility in the work you do, but its down to you to manage your schedule to a level that suits you - with help of course!

A lot. At first, I thought that some of the jobs I was being given must have also been done simultaneously by someone more senior as practice for me, but this wasn't the case. My team will always offer extra support if I ask, but if I feel confident in my work they just leave me to get on with it. its been a really fantastic way to learn in that sense!

GSK and ViiV offer various training either online or in person via their personal learning platform, I took a few classes but found that I learnt most from the experience and actually working. I developed a lot of skills from just being in the office environment - professional communication and learning to be concise and direct in meetings, facilitating large meetings and managing multiple projects . I've also picked up a lot which I will take back into my final year of university, largely down to the medical nature of this role. I've been able to read a lot of study reports and learn how to best interpret and display data to demonstrate and highlight important findings, but also a huge understanding of the virology of HIV, which I hope to pursue in my future career.

We have hot desking at ViiV, which means one day I could be sat with other placement students and the next I could be sat next to a senior member of the executive team. People are very friendly, and there are social events or drinks every few weeks. In the ViiV office there are about 8 placement year students and a few people on the grad scheme, but in the whole building there are almost 150 placement year students, so a lot of opportunity to mean new people.

I haven't had any problems at all. There was a contact person at ViiV between receiving my offer and starting placement, so I was able to ask her any questions in the gap. I cant think of any ways this could be improved.

We have been on a few training days, but on the whole personal development isn't a box that's ticked once a month, it is thoroughly embedded within the every day. The company is really fast moving, and a lot of my superiors were once placement year students or on the Grad scheme - that's clearly demonstrative of the companys culture and investment in each of us that these people were supported to progress to their current roles.

ViiV doesn't have its own graduate scheme, but its incorporated into the grad scheme at GSK. As I've said, a lot of the people I work with on a daily basis started as Grads or placement year students and have progressed rapidly. The Grad scheme is very competitive so a job isn't for definite, but i'm confident that my experience here will help me get secure a grad scheme elsewhere in any case.

GSK has an 'IP Unite' (IP =Industrial Placement) committee, which organises socials like trips to the pub or bars, bowling and sporting events. There's tonnes to get involved with and its a great way to meet others early on.

On the pricey side - but there are plenty of Spoons so manageable. Living in London is expensive, but definitely manageable, and im hoping to leave with some money saved up for travel after final year.

Near work there isn't a lot going on, but a few nice pubs. For more nightlife we usually would head further into London, but there are a few nice bars and jazz clubs in the local area which can be nice too.

London has so much going on, i'm usually at events a few times a week - whether this is live music, art exhibitions or talks at the various Unis, there's a lot to get involved in.