Placement Student Review

I thoroughly enjoyed my placement with Savills due to being able to take on responsibility for several projects in order to ease the work load on my colleagues which made me feel like a valuable member of the team. I would go as far to say the best job I've ever had as I can see myself working there in the future if the opportunity arises. Everyone in the office made me feel welcomed and involved me in activities that were happening inside or outside of the office

As previously mentioned, I was able to take responsibility for several projects, especially in the valuation department due to the pressure of having to update the quarterly reports, meaning that newer instructions have to be shifted down the priority list. It was therefore my job to start dealing with the new instructions which was a valuable learning experience for me and a valuable task for my colleagues to ease their work load.

If there was a problem or concern that arose during my placement, my colleagues were very approachable and helped answer my questions. As mentioned before, there were busy with other projects which makes it harder to speak to them in order not to break their concentration. Due to the structure of the business I was able to ask the surveyors who had more experience in the business.

During most of the days I had various projects to keep me busy that also involved prioritising work load, which is a valuable skill to develop going forward, on occasion I had a small gap in work load which then meant asking around for any work that I could assist on and it would eventually find someone who had a small project until such time as a larger, more time consuming project was needed my help on.

As previously mentioned, I had several projects that I was solely responsible for until a qualified surveyor could take over or my placement ended. There was naturally a safety net in that I didn't send work directly to clients which I noted but is less important as I know some of the work that I helped with was provided to clients with the Savills branding on it

I feel that I learned more on placement than I do at university as the real life examples and being able to work out the problems by myself helps me to learn better. I have had members of the valuation team offer to help answer questions that I may have on my dissertation as they have been involved in works in the location that it's based upon, which is very generous and likely going to be needed. Some skills such as time management and work prioritisation are key in surveying and university work which was built upon in the placement and will continue to be improved

The office was an incredibly friendly atmosphere, with the graduates having a good culture of trying to do something every week outside of work, which I was invited to join. There was a good balance between having a laugh and being able to get some head down work done. I was also close to knowing everyone's name in the office by the end of the placement which shows the quality and appraochability of everyone in the office.

The overall placement felt very well organised with several online lectures planned evenly across the placement period. There were a few issues when I first started in that the secretary for the valuation team was not present due to an illness and the surveyor who also deals with the graduates in the team was on holiday so it fell to the graduate in the team to sort me out on my first day, which she did the best she could with what I can only guess had been last minute dropped into her inbox so she didn't have the full details. However, after this was all sorted the rest of the placement ran smoothly and I was able to organise my calendar around the various training opportunities on offer.

Not only did the company invest a good amount of money into making sure that all the HR staff are ready to help whenever needed, it also invested a month of its time into me, which I am incredibly thankful for. Not only did the company invest into my personal development but the individuals who make the company what it is invested their time and resources into my development making sure that I gained the most out of the placement possible.

I will definitely be applying in September to get onto the graduate scheme for September 2018. I was able to see what life was like working for Savills over the month and I would very much like to see what working for Savills is like as a full time employee. I believe that from the review and feedback session during the placement they would like to see me return for the applicant day.

The younger employees of the business had a good social side, and they tried to organise weekly events after work. The graduates that who looked after me where very good at making sure I was included in all opportunities that were presented to me. I was able to expand my network beyond just the team that I was working for and was able to meet some of the graduates in the management side of the business who are temporarily working out of a separate office

The cost of living and socialising cost was about what you would expect for Central Manchester. I was able to stay with family who live under 20 minutes train journey from Manchester stations so my main cost of living was the commuting cost which was still minimal. For socialising, my colleagues were very good at making sure that I was minimal out of pocket but would still allow me to get my round in, in order to be even with them by the end of the night.

Being honest, didn't try it during the placement. There were of course bars that members of the business would go to after work but that wouldn't go on til late in the evening so wouldn't really be considered to be a nightlife.

As previously mentioned, the graduates of the business made sure that I had the option to see what was going on outside the business and despite there not being any massive out of work activities I was able to see all of the smaller more regular activities that keep the graduates busy.