Manufacturing Scientist Apprentice Review

I manufacture drug products in the form of either inhalers, tablets or capsules. These then are sent for development purposes or to clinical trials. I am involved in the running of equipment as well as in process checks for the product. I am involved in the whole process from start to finish of setting up a room to handing it over for cleaning. I also work at my desk updating the relevant documentation for the equipment which I work on.

I have definitely had to use teamwork in my environment. Producing pharmaceuticals involves communicating to many different teams in the pipeline of creating this product to ensure that the quality is delivered. I have also had to ensure I am very organised to make sure that my training documents are up to date so that I can work in the areas I currently do.

I really enjoy the apprenticeship scheme, everyone encourages us to be the best we can and the company always promotes opportunities to develop our skills. For example, we are allowed development days where we go to other departments and find out more information. We also have a great apprentice cohort and are encouraged to be social.

My cohort is the first year of chemistry students to be with the provider- University of Kent. Because of this, there have been something teething issues, however there has always been a rapid response in resolving any issues. In the workplace, the structure is great and we have a training guide to help us be trained in a variety of equipment.

We receive a lot of support in our university work and our day job. I have weekly meetings with my manager to make sure that I am feeling okay and handling the workload. Also, we fill out a resilience form weekly and our manager always follows up on any poor results from this.

We work online through modules, we have a professor who is online all times at working hours and is always very quick with responses. We complete an assignment weekly to ensure our understanding of a module is excellent. We get a past paper for each module to practice and have multiple choice questions which we use to test our own knowledge.

My job role is more hands on manufacturing based, so some of the principles in the course are not directly related to my role- for example the analytical chemistry module does not relate to my role, but however the products I make are sent to an analytical lab so you can see the timeline and where different principles are used. However, it helps to have the basic chemistry understanding and to have the ability to continuously learn.

There is a group run by apprentices and placement students, they organise social events for different sites. In the summer, our department play football matches at lunch and go to the social club to play different games over our lunch period. We like to meet up at the end of a week in the social club for a game of pool to finish!

Yes

GSK are a very supportive company with lots to offer in a range of fields. It is a pharmaceutical organisation but there are roles for other areas than science. The benefits are second to none and they encourage their employees to be the best that they can and help them to move up through the company.

Be yourself! Grades are not the be all and end all of the application process (providing you meet the requirements). It is more important to be confident and be able to work well across a team. Do your research on the company, but overall just relax and be yourself. If you are successful and reach the assessment centre, don't panic. Also- make sure you are on time and have all the documents needed. First impressions are important.