Savills is 1st in Real Estate Top 100 Undergraduate Employers 2020 - 2021
- Savills
- Placement Year (10 Months+)
My year with Savills as a placement student is everything I expected and more.
I did a 12 month placement in Savills Business Space Property Management team where I was involved in the management of properties on 6 portfolio’s mainly based in London.
Before joining I was expecting my involvement to be on the level of work experience tasks. However, I think it would be fair to say that as a Placement Student at Savills you are treated as a Graduate Surveyor. The main difference is that I had 12 months in Property Management rather than a 4 month rotation. This meant that I had an opportunity to develop relationships with the tenants, clients and building management team as well as continuously improving my property management knowledge.
At university I have a module called “Property Management” where we were taught the fundamental principles of Property Management, such as; service charge, landlord & tenant, assignments etc. This module at university was very well structured and helped prepare me for my placement year. It meant that when my line manager asked me to complete a task such as, recommend an assignment of a lease to the client, I already had the base knowledge of what to do.
Although I was a Placement Student in Property Management I had the mindset that I was also a Placement Student at Savills, meaning that I was keen to learn about the wider Savills Business. Throughout the year I got in contact with surveyors from different part of the business to understand what they did. I emailed the surveyors after listening to a talk they did, or if I had worked with them on a project on a property I manage, or searched on LinkedIn for Savills employees with a mutual connection I had. My line manager was very understanding of this and was more than happy for me to go for a coffee or site visit with these people I spoke with.
The whole Savills Property Management department are incredibly friendly, supportive and understanding. They were all more than willing to help whenever I had a question.
The social side of work has been great as well. There was a group of us that would go for drinks after work every Thursday, and they were very keen that I go along with them in my first couple weeks. The Christmas party is undoubtedly the highlight of the placement calendar.
Having had a couple mates do Placement years with various other firms all over the country I am of the opinion that the Savills Placement scheme is the best.
