Summer Scheme Student Review

I thoroughly enjoyed the whole of my placement. The majority of my work was for the Tourism, Leisure and Events Consultancy, yet I was lucky enough to get involved with all of the rural departments in my office. The experience I gained will not only help me with my Masters, but also prepare me for employment afterwards. As well as learning a lot, I was also surrounded by friendly and helpful colleagues who made the placement even more enjoyable.

As mentioned above, everyone was friendly and approachable. They gave me plenty of tasks to do, which all had importance and actually relevance to the work done by Savills. This was done right from my first day, making me feel like I was really contributing towards the teams objectives. I worked hard and put effort into every job I was given, and I feel this was appreciated after receiving positive feedback in my appraisal.

Whenever I was given a task it was always explained to me. While I felt like I could always go back to the person for further guidance, I was left to complete the tasks on my own. I do feel some of these explanations were a little vague, but I do not view this as a negative thing. It showed their trust in my ability and I was able to demonstrate what I was capable of.

At the beginning of my placement I was still getting settled into the office and the way it was run. People were also busy with their own jobs and there was some sickness, so I was occasionally left without a vast deal of things to do. However, as soon as I had settled in I managed to get involved in a large research/data gathering project which was a collaboration between the Tourism, Leisure and Events Consultancy and Nicola Buckingham from Research. This was an on-going project which I continued to my final week of placement. I was also given a multitude of tasks from other departments, and often had some work to do in relation to the site visits I attended.

I was given a reasonable amount of responsibility considering my Summer Scheme Student status. As previously mentioned, every task I completed had direct relevance to current instructions. I was also given some jobs which were time sensitive, and I was trusted to prioritise my jobs and complete things quickly on short notice.

As a non-cognate student everything I learnt and observed during my time with Savills will help with the Masters I will start in September. During my time I was able to develop many skills; examples include communication, Microsoft Office, analytical, time management. It is also a personal aspiration to get onto the Savills graduate scheme, so this provided invaluable insight to the company and fantastic networking opportunities.

There was a happy and sociable atmosphere in the office. All of my colleagues appeared to get along well, and were always friendly to me. However, as expected, people got on with their work. The office itself was quite busy over the period of time I spent there.

My overall opinion of the placement was that it had a good structure. Even when the team I was mainly working with were out of office, there was always work for me to do. I do feel like these factors would vary depending on the office the student was assigned to, and I may have been extremely lucky with mine. I particularly like the webinar talks offered, particularly the ones on APC and graduate opportunities. Additionally, I highly valued the written and numerical test which I undertook during my third week.

As mentioned in the above question I thought the webinar talk and written and numerical tests were fantastic. I also appreciated the welcome package of the notebook and pen embossed with the Savills logo. While I did not receive any specific training, I do feel the company were preparing us for our future careers.

I already believed the Savills graduate scheme was my first choice, but after my time with the company this idea has only been strengthened. As well as the talks given to us, I was also lucky enough to be taken for coffee with a current graduate and someone who has already been through the whole process. They shared their opinions on the appeal of the company, and explained what was required to further your career with them.

I did not have the chance to meet any fellow placement students or partake in any social events.

I already lived in the area, so the cost for me was minimum. Obviously Cheltenham is not as expensive as London, but I believe the cost of living and socialising is higher than the national average. However, the town has a greatly mixed demographic, with both the extremely poor and extremely rich.

I did not partake in any nightlife in the area during my placement, but as I am from the area I know that there is a range of nightlife to suit a variety of people.

As I was only here for a month I was not able to get involved in Savills activities outside of work.