Summer Intern Review

I thoroughly enjoyed my internship with Cushman & Wakefield, and I believe it gave me the best start to my career in this industry. I felt like the work I was given was meaningful which made completing it feel completely worthwhile. Everyone was so friendly and willing to help, which made each day fun and the workload manageable.

I felt completely valued by my colleagues, my team were fantastic and so helpful and supportive. They showed a clear interest in the work I was doing and wanted me to succeed. They were always on hand to help, no matter how busy- they would even pause meetings to check that I understood everything.

Although my supervisors were not always in the office, I felt I was given more than enough support to enable me to succeed during this internship. My line manager arranged for me to get some experience in different departments which has been particularly valuable, and there was always guidance on hand when I needed it.

The workload was quite light for the first couple of weeks while I adjusted to the workplace, and I think this was the same for a number of interns. However, after this period it quickly but steadily increased to the point where there was a lot to do each day.

I was definitely given more responsibility than I expected. I always had several projects that I was working on completely independently, and the level of responsibility certainly increased as the internship progressed. At the end of the 6 weeks the majority of my projects were independent, but the responsibility was always at a manageable level.

Coming from a non-cognate background, this internship was excellent preparation for my postgraduate studies this year and indeed for my future career. Notably, we had several workshops to develop aspects such as presentation skills and workplace etiquette. These have proved to be valuable experiences already and I am excited to apply the knowledge I gained in these sessions to situations in the future.

The office was much more relaxed than I expected. The general atmosphere was positive and there were certainly some fun elements. That said, there was certainly a large emphasis on work at all times. Most people sat at their desks rather than occupying communal workspaces, but hot-desking made the dynamic each day completely different.

I would say that the internship was extremely organised. All of the events ran on-time and the 6-week schedule was strictly adhered to. The HR team were incredibly helpful and supportive if we had any issues or questions, and they clearly wanted us to get the most out of the experience.

As previously mentioned, a series of workshops were organised to develop various skills we would need in the workplace. There were additional talks arranged by the company for all staff that were on different aspects of real estate, which were also really interesting to attend. Meetings were also arranged with several different members of staff throughout the internship to track my progress and check that I was happy with my development.

Having spoken to many of the company's current graduates, I think the future employment prospects at Cushman & Wakefield are extremely appealing. There appears to be a high level of support available for progression through the APC, and the format of the 2-year graduate scheme appears to be extremely effective.

There was a reasonable social scene amongst fellow placement students. The company arranged a couple of events geared towards socialisation, however some were poorly organised. For example, we had a softball event midway through the experience that the organisers did not attend. However there were several opportunities to socialise which were certainly a success.

I cannot speak for living in the area, but given that the office was in central London obviously the prices of everything were exceptionally high.

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I was not made aware of any opportunities to get involved in any activities other than an invitation to attend a CREation event. However I'm sure if I had been at the company longer I would have been introduced to some other activities.