Intern Review

I have really enjoyed my work placement at Hays Recruitment. I have become a lot more confident and have had experiences that have been completely outside of my comfort zone on many an occasion. This has allowed me to push myself and achieve more than I ever thought I would in my placement year.

I have always felt very valued by my colleagues in my office and also my colleagues in other offices in my region. Hays really do welcome you in and I was given an excellent team to work with. In the initial stages when I was first getting to know everyone, people were supportive and I always felt I could go to my colleagues in the office and ask any questions I had.

In all honesty, I don't think I could have had a better, more supportive direct manager. She would always be there to answer any questions I had at the beginning (and even now), always encouraging me and has given me opportunities to learn so much about recruitment. I enjoy working alongside her immensely and will miss her lots when I finish my placement year.

My responsibilities within the office meant I was extremely busy on a daily basis, I would be hectic with emails to action from 8:30am and would be pulled left and right to help with other tasks throughout the day. I enjoyed the busy days as it would feel as though I was really productive, however, I think I have learnt it is so important to manage it so you have the perfect balance and don't feel too overloaded.

I was given a lot of responsibility within my office and across the East of England. I was looked upon as a helping hand for key compliance issues and would assist other consultants as well as conduct training sessions. I have taken on a whole portfolio of clients that already had a good relationship with Hays and therefore maintaining that good relationship and doing my best for the business was a big responsibility.

I believe the skills I have acquired and developed in my year at Hays will allow me to be a more confident individual within my studies and in general life also. Hays training is known as being the best in the industry for recruitment and I feel confident that it has taught me real world examples of topics that I have previously studied and will use in my HR degree and even further.

Initially the general atmosphere in my office was very fun, exciting and up beat, my particular office was doing well and achieving their targets. Unfortunately, in recent months it has deteriorated slightly as there has been a real struggle to retain excellent staff and to push the office to achieve their targets. It has been quite difficult to stay motivated, however, I have proceeded to keep my head down and get on with what is expected of me.

I believe the overall organisation of the placement year at Hays was very good. I think having a manager that only managed me and not a whole other team around her was helpful to both myself and her. I have been given set targets/KPI's to work to, I feel I have been supported and have been treated exactly the same as a recruitment consultant which has made me feel truly valued at times.

In terms of my personal development, Hays have allowed me to take on as much responsibility as I like, always reminding me that if it is getting too much I can say no. Hays has trained me in how to manage people, how to be organised in time management and how to react well in certain situations where people may have objections to you.

I believe the future employment prospects at Hays are very good for me, my manager has actually joked on occasion that she is not letting me go back to University and wishes to keep me on here permanently. I believe it is 100% an option for me to return here and I am hoping I would be welcomed back with open arms.

There was an excellent social scene and I met many other interns at our main training sessions in London, an Intern conference we had based in the Head office, the East of England Christmas party and just generally through visiting other offices. I always felt as though we were given many opportunities to integrate.

The cost of living in Cambridge where I was based is very expensive, however, I was l lucky enough to be able to live at home and save on living costs. The office was central city based and so there were good public transport links for me to get into work.

The nightlife in Cambridge is very good, it is a big student city and therefore is excellent for meeting people. There are many pubs, bars and clubs so works for anyone really! The only downside majorly is that is very expensive on nights out and it has a negative effect when you are worrying about spending £20 on a single!

For me there have been lots of opportunities, including organising sporting activities such as bowling and go karting. We also do go out for a drink at the pub every 4 weeks as a celebration for the previous months work. I find these opportunities are great for turning off from work and getting to know the people you are with all day long a little better!