Summer Scheme Student Review

I very much enjoyed my placement. The team were very welcoming and approachable, allowing me to feel comfortable to ask questions.

I felt very valued by my colleagues as I believe that they enjoyed a young, fresh face in the office! They were always inviting me for lunch and coffee, being genuinely interested in my life. Whenever they had jobs needing to be done, they would always email me to help out. This enabled me to feel like I was doing something worthwhile.

I was given a lot of support and guidance by my supervisors. My graduate mentor would always talk me through things and explain everything which he was doing. He also gave me a lot of advice on future career steps, including his own experiences with a masters degree and the APC.

As the market is quite slow and due to the nature of the summer period, there was not a great amount of work in the office. However, I was constantly involved in whatever people were doing to keep busy and be of help. I was able to help in the rural, residential, planning and commercial departments so I always had something to do.

I was given a fair amount of responsibility for the tasks which I was set. However due to the slow climate of the office, the tasks set were not very challenging.

The placement has enabled me to become much more confident amongst professionals from dealing with clients and my seniors on a day to day basis. This will significantly aid my own personal development.

The general atmosphere in the office was very positive. Immediately I felt comfortable around my colleagues and could voice and express my own opinions and ideas. I became friends with the graduates in the office, so work became very enjoyable as I always had someone to talk to.

The overall placement was very well set up by the London Graduate Team. I was constantly kept up to date and set reminders of upcoming events and what to expect in the future. There was a lot of support throughout my placement and I felt like I always knew who to email or call if ever there was a problem. I enjoyed the departmental overviews and being able to see and understand the extent of the work which Savills does through dialling in to presentations.

I felt that the graduate team were very invested in the summer scheme placement students. Constant training enabled me to understand the extent of Savills work and all the different aspects of the business. The appraisals with the director both mid placement and end of placement were both very beneficial to reflect on what I had learnt and what I hoped to achieve.

Future employment prospects are very appealing within Savills. As Savills has spent 10 years as graduate property employer of the year, it is a very appealing company to work for. Through the placement, the graduate application process and the scheme was very clearly explained enabling me to understand what Savills had to offer. The support of the graduate scheme is first class so I will definitely be applying for the upcoming intake in September.

As I was the only placement student in the office there were not many social events. However, I was invited to a colleagues leaving party and always invited out for lunch with people in the office. Due to it being August, many people were out of the office as they were on annual leave and taking holidays.

The cost of living and socialising in the area I worked in was expected. It matched my university costs so I did not experience any extreme expenditure during my period of work. Additionally, I live with my family very close by to the office so had very little actual living or travel costs. Thus, this was of no problem to me.

As a local of the area and having grown up and been to school in the area around the office I have a lot of friends in close vicinity. Thus, I am very aware of the nightlife which the city has to offer. The nightlife is average for the city and could do with some improvement but I have also been to the venues frequently so they are of nothing special or exciting to me.

Due to the slow market, small office and nature of the August month with a lot of the office on Annual leave, little activities happened outside of work. As the youngest in the office by 10 years there was little opportunity to meet those in a similar position to me. The graduate in the office however always invited me to external activities.