HR Placement Review

I have really enjoyed my placement at Egress. I have learned a lot about HR and had the opportunity to gain exposure to a range of roles and responsibilities during my time here. Being in a small HR team and working directly under the Chief People Officer at Egress has been a great experience and one that has taught me a lot. Being part of a small team meant my contribution mattered and i was given a lot of responsibility. I was definitely treated more as a permanent member of staff as opposed to a placement student which i liked. The culture at Egress also made it a very enjoyable place to work - we had fully funded regular socials, free breakfast, open plan office and lots more! I have met some great people through working at Egress who i will keep in contact with and some amazing friends!

I felt very valued by my colleagues, especially within the HR team. I worked directly under the Chief People Officer and i feel its quite unusual for a Chief People Officer to allocate so much time, effort and experience to a placement student. However, I have been extremely lucky that this was the case for me. From my first day at Egress when i was taken out for a team welcome lunch, i was made to feel an important part of the team. I think the amount of trust that was put into me from my team members and boss was a big reason i felt valued. They trusted me to own projects, the largest being the undergraduate recruitment process and the team always wanted to listen to my ideas and trusted my judgement throughout the whole process. I was treated more as a permanent employee by colleagues from all departments and levels and this in itself made me feel valued and important.

My team were always willing and ready to give their support and guidance. All the training I got on this placement was in-house training. Because the team is small, consisting of 5 members it made it very easy to reach out and get support if i needed it. I did get a lot of independence within my role and i definitely did not get spoon fed or micro-managed. However, if ever i needed support and guidance my supervisor and boss would always make the time to help, support or teach me.

I had a range of roles and responsibilities during my placement, all of which kept me busy. The nature of the HR team being small meant that my responsibilities could change dependent on what was going on in the team and the company at any one time. Some days were completely action packed full of telephone interviews, followed by meetings and then running assessment days. whilst others were quieter, however this allowed me to explore other areas of HR such as benefits and employee wellness. My days were not structured and i was not micro-managed which suited me as it meant i had some flexibility and the responsibility to plan my own day and to complete tasks in my own way.

I was given a lot of responsibility during my placement - especially when it came to recruitment. I was pretty much given ownership over the recruitment process for all the undergraduates coming into Egress. I had to recruit placement students for a range of departments from business related placements such as HR and Finance to more technical placements such as Software Development. I was given the responsibility of screening all the CVS and shortlisting candidates for phone interviews. I was then given the responsibility of conducting the phone interviews and was trusted to use my own judgement regarding who to invite back to the assessment centers, which i also had the responsibility of organising and running. Because i had such a key role in the recruitment process and so much responsibility it made the role very rewarding seeing all the placement students i had recruited join Egress. I also had a range of responsibilities in other areas of HR such as HR admin where i was responsible for created a range of reports for line managers and assisting in the joiner and leaver processes. I also got involved in benefits and employee wellness days.

The skills i developed will greatly assist me in my final year studies, especially my dissertation! I have gathered lots of ideas about the types of challenges and issues within HR that i could write about and research within my dissertation. Furthermore, i know i would be welcome to conduct any research studies on employees at Egress that could assist me. I am very confident that the skills i have developed in my placement will help me in my future career - especially when it comes to getting a job after i graduate as my CV will have improved massively after this year!

The general atmosphere in the office was very laid back. The offices in London were open plan, we had a dress down code, a kitchen, pool table and TV. Everyone at Egress works really hard, but they also like to have fun! It is a very young people (most of which are 20-30) and therefore there is a very work hard, play hard attitude!

My placement was well organised. I had a 2 week handover period with the previous HR placement student which was great as it gave me a chance to learn from the former placement student and for her to teach me everything they knew, as well as helping me to settle into the team and company. There wasn't a formal structure to my placement as such but this did give me some flexibility to explore other areas of HR i was interested in.

The company invested in me a lot when it came to training and personal development. My team took the time out of their own days to ensure I knew everything that i needed to in order to be successful in my tasks and responsibilities. Furthermore my boss was more than willing to pay for me to do things such as attend career fairs and visit other offices. Most the training i got was in-house and continuous which was good for my development! I also had a couple of reviews with my boss which enabled me to find out how i was doing and what i could develop further.

As Egress is experiencing a massive period of growth and we are constantly recruiting, there ares some appealing future employment prospects at Egress, especially at a Graduate level.

Yes, in the London office there was a great social scene. The Old Street offices have a roof top bar and there are always work drinks going on after work on a Thursday or Friday. The location of the office is also great, with so many bars, restaurants and clubs to choose from. Along with this we have regular socials which the majority of the office attends. There is a large amount of placement students, apprentices and graduates at Egress within the London office, which makes the social scene within the office a lively one!

As the offices are in central London the cost of living and socalising is therefore high. Although there are lots of areas you can live near by for instance East London that have cheaper accommodation. Saying this, i never struggled financially during my placement and i am not from London either. I managed to pay rent and still have a social life just fine - you just have to be careful and go to the 2 for 1 cocktail nights!

There is just so much to do in London when it comes to nightlife especially where the London Old Street office is. There are so many bars, clubs, restaurants, comedy clubs, cinemas and more! Its actually hard to choose where to go at times because there is so much choice!

Yes, there were always activities to get involved in outside of work from charity events such as the tough mudder challenge, to casual drinks after work or activities such as football or pool. I made a great set of friends at Egress who were very inclusive and invited me to a lot of events or social activities outside of work.