Insight Review

I really enjoyed the insight. I was made to feel really welcome and was exposed to a wide variety of tasks which gave me an insight into all the day to day activities which a graduate surveyor might be involved in. Although only in a regional office, we still went out for dinner with directors and graduates, and had drinks at the pub one evening. I really enjoyed the insight because it was busy, varied and interesting.

The mentor I was shadowing was always grateful for the tasks which I completed, especially those which were more laborious ones they usually don't have time for! As it was only an insight programme I wasn't given real responsibility as I would on a longer programme, but for the work which I did complete I felt like my mentor and the director in the team really appreciated the work I did carry out.

I felt very supported by everyone I engaged with. My mentor was always happy to answer any questions I had when completing tasks. Key terms and legislation were explained to me clearly as I had no previous knowledge of a lot of things! The graduates at the firm were really keen to offer any advice for our careers and our graduate applications which was gratefully received.

I am not studying for a property degree and I am in my final year and thus have little of my degree studies for anything to aid with. However, for preparing me for beyond the insight was great- for learning how to interact with new people, forging relationships quickly and carrying out new tasks. I developed communication skills and the ability to be interpersonal with colleagues, as well as adjusting to working 9-6 each day!

Although I was given a good range of tasks, I did not feel like there was a structured programme of work for me to be getting on with. This might just be because it was a step down from an internship I did and thus we weren't given a real project as we were only here for a week. I did keep having to ask my mentor if there was anything I could help them with which made me feel like there wasn't much structure provided by my mentor, as often there wasn't anything for me to help with. However, the departmental talks and the guidance we got from graduate recruitment team beforehand was very well structured.

The atmosphere was brilliant. There was office banter across the floor. Everyone was keen to meet us and really friendly. As I was partially hotdesking, anyone new I worked next to was friendly. The office atmosphere was open and welcoming. Everyone within the office were friendly and banterous with eachother which made for a welcoming community feel to the office.

As we were only there for a week we weren't given much training or development. However, I felt like the firm invested in me in terms of the departmental overviews and introduction to the APC and graduate opportunities we were given. With any new tasks I completed whilst on my insight I was also given enough information/training in order to complete the task. Due to the nature of the short insight week, there was little training/development but this was to be expected.

I think this really helped me infer how it would be to be a graduate at the firm. I really appreciated the shadowing of a graduate as this made it easy to relate to our mentor and made you easily imagine you could be in that position soon. I was introduced to what it would be like to be a graduate there, from speaking to and shadowing my mentor and also when talking to the other graduates at social events. I was pleased that I enjoyed my week and the work was varied and the mixture of going out on site and being in the office was a good introduction to how a career would be.

I think the insight really helped with understanding how the company operated and what type of person is employed by the company. I learnt that the company has a friendly and open culture. I knew that the company values included brilliant customer service and entrepreneurship which I wasn't really exposed to in the week which was interesting, but again this experience helped me to experience the culture in person rather than just reading about it online, and identifying these differences was useful.

I was really glad I did this insight because it has confirmed for me that I would really enjoy my chosen career path. The content of the insight exposed me to the day to day tasks I would be involved in when I start working, and thus it was really helpful in helping me to decide whether I would actually want to do these things in my career. It was great to get an insight into the graduate job but also to shadow a director for the day and to see the long term future prospects.

I am grateful that they reimbursed expenses however this was limited to £100 for the week. I do feel that for a week of our time we could have been better reimbursed. In particular, it seemed that people who applied for positions in the regions were reallocated in random places across the country, thus having no guarranteed place to stay for the week. The cost of a hotel for the week obviously is not adequately covered by the £100 limit. I feel that if they are going to reallocate people to random locations they should pay for whichever accommodation costs come with that.

I met a lot of other employees due to the nature of the office culture and the willingness of my mentor to introduce me to a lot of people. We had two lunches both with graduates and directors and so were able to network with graduates and also directors, which was a brilliant experience and enabled us to forge contacts with people across the company. We also had drinks at a pub which was great for talking casually to other employees and made the networking very easy.

The networking opportunities involved having lunches and having drinks at the pub one evening. There weren't any other company or industry specific formal networking events, but the things we did do meant we were able to network and socialise with employees. We didn't network with any other people within the industry apart from company employees.

They weren't really advertised to us but speaking to different people I realised that they had a cycling club and that employees were involved in some sports and activities with other employees. I didn't really ask about outside work activities which employees can get involved in. The company does seem very sociable and friendly however. I did learn that there is a graduate charity which I wasn't previously aware of, which really appeals to me.

I would definitely recommend this insight to a friend and I am so glad that I was able to do it. It was a great insight into the graduate job and into the company itself. I would do it again! I wanted to stay for longer than a week, I was learning so much each day that it was definitely very useful. I would recommend it for understanding the company and the graduate surveying job role.