Summer Intern Review

Enjoyed the company culture. Good training opportunities. Good insights into different teams working in the business. Flexibility to chat to other teams about what they do. Learnt a lot from the team.

Felt comfortable in the team to an extent. Was invited to a birthday lunch and drinks.

Was given support where needed by management / supervisor.

Was busy to an extent, worked on different parts of lots of different projects rather than being involved with one specific project and all its elements.

Was given a degree of responsibility within the team to work on things and manage my time accordingly. Tended to be involved in certain aspects of projects rather than in all elements of a wider project. Was able to attend a few client meetings.

Skills I developed will be invaluable for my future career in real estate. Have gained entry level skills into a wider range of areas which will continually be supported by university studies and in my wider career.

Friendly office environment. People mix well between teams. People from wider teams were always more than happy to sit down and talk about their work and projects that they have been involved with in order to give a better idea of different work within the business which is always useful especially for looking at future teams to rotate into on the graduate scheme and helping to decide on a pathway for the APC.

The internship was very well organised with departmental overviews and walking tours throughout the 4 weeks. There was opportunity to interact with senior members of the business such as through a networking lunch and also a meeting with the CEO. Could have organised more intern socials perhaps in the first week with mentors in order to get to know everyone in a less formal work environment - there was an intern drink in the first week but this was drinks in a meeting room and there wasn't anyone from the wider business there so could have been good to do an activity with drinks together to get to know everyone in a more relaxed environment and to feel more part of the company by inviting grads / mentors.

There was a mid-placement review and final appraisal to assist with personal development. We had a city tour and cultural walking tour which also provided an insight but there was no formal training as such, but wouldn't expect there to be in a 4 week period. People from other teams in the business were also always happy to sit down and talk about the type of work their team does which also provided a wider insight into the business.

The future employment opportunities within the organisation are positive, whilst it is a competitive process the company takes on a lot of graduates every year. There are a range of pathways to choose from which is positive - this also seems flexible to a degree when you get into the company as many graduate mentioned they had become fixed grads in a certain team that they enjoyed. At times it seems that the company was a little overwhelming by repeating how competitive it is to be there so this could put some interns off from applying if they feel there is little chance of them getting in. Also, the recruitment process for after the internship was a little unclear, we eventually found out there would be a recruitment lunch for all interns at the end of the summer for certain rotations but it is still unclear whether this will be for making early offers or a fast track to assessment centre - in which case it seems like a strange process to have to go back to assessment centre after doing an assessment centre to get onto the 4 week internship and also that the company will look at how you are in an assessment centre scenario on one day rather than taking into consideration how you have performed across the 4 week period. It could be better to do an assessment centre to look at other skills on the last week of the internship so that graduate recruitment are still able to look at debating / presentation skills etc without having to make interns wait until January to return to do an assessment centre again (if that is going to be the case) as the long wait could put people off / they could have offers elsewhere already. So clarity on this from the offset could be better.

There were attempts to provide a social scene between interns by organising drinks, this worked better when it was in a location outside of the office. However, many interns were very focused on impressing their teams and some were more interested in socialising than others. We created a group chat from the beginning but the same people responded each time. Perhaps more emphasis could be placed on interns doing things together such as going for lunch / drinks after work and emphasise that this is also important as well as impressing teams.

Cost of living and socialising in London is expensive and this could have been helped by Savills covering the cost of travel expenses.

The nightlife is good with many bars in close proximity.

There were opportunities to get involved in activities outside of work if your team invited you however there was no emphasis in interns getting involved with sports or other events outside the planned ones on the internship scheme which was only two lots of intern drinks.