Summer Scheme - Worldwide Occupier Services Review

I thoroughly enjoyed my Summer Scheme at Savills - it was great to be given a variety of work from cashflows to lease summaries and side-by-side analyses. I was also given a lot of support from across the team - from Director-level to a graduate mentor, which was a great experience.

I have been very lucky to get along extremely well with my team on a social and professional level. I feel valued as a part of the team and I could easily see myself working here in the future. In particular, I was impressed with the approachableness of the Director.

The Savills Summer Scheme has a great system of providing each intern with a graduate mentor and a Director to work under. My mentor has been extremely helpful in aiding my understanding of the APC and similarly my Director has used his immense experience to support my career trajectory for the future.

The busyness of my schedule varied considerably. Sometimes I was incredibly busy; other times I had very little work. This variation was mainly due to colleagues being away, or out of the office. Nonetheless, the variation in busyness allowed for plenty of social and networking opportunities, which greatly enhanced my Savills experience.

I was given a variety of responsibility across my time at Savills. Sometimes I was given a cashflow to complete with the support of my mentor (which became a joint effort), whilst other times I was supporting my team entirely. I was never put in front of clients nor communicated with clients over the phone.

As I study a Geography degree, the skills of organisation, commitment and independent working will greatly support my final year as I commence my dissertation. Subsequently, the Summer Scheme skills developed are immensely useful. Other skills of teamwork and collaboration can be applied to the outside world and further higher education also.

The atmosphere of the office varied from floor-to-floor. Interestingly, on the investment floor, the atmosphere was a lot quieter and serious, and somewhat intimidating for me. However, on my floor, I felt very relaxed and comfortable. Everyone is very friendly and the hot-desking arrangement supported socialising and networking amongst teams.

Hebe (in HR) is an absolute STAR! She has been incredibly well organised and arranged many internship activities that truly enhanced the Savills Summer experience. The ability for us to complete a tour of the City as well as meet other Savills employees across the business at networking Departmental talks has hugely helped.

The appraisal was a hugely useful experience, allowing me to understand where my strengths and weaknesses lie, and take these with me to other internships. In this sense, Savills has provided great personal training and development to apply to the future, and shows a committed investment from Savills. Hebe's provision of APC and graduate application information also helped enormously.

Through the summer internship, the appeal of future employment prospects at Savills is incredibly high. I believe that the summer scheme is great preparation for the Graduate application process and provides a well-versed understanding of Savills' culture and what to expect if I did one day work here. The strength of HR has supported this greatly.

There was a good social network amongst the fellow interns and within my team. HR organised social events for the interns, and fellow placement students similarly organised social times, allowing to develop a great network. Overall, the Savills summer internship was good fun socially and demonstrates the wider social scene within the firm also.

The cost of living and working in London is expensive, however the experience of working the Savills Head Office was second-to-none. With 1000 Savills employees, the scheme allowed for a huge variety of experience and networking amongst a wide array of people. However, the cost of living does remain an expensive factor.

Whilst I did not personally get hugely involved in any sporting societies, I am aware that there are societies that other interns did get involved with during their time here.