Intern Review

I have thoroughly enjoyed my internship with Reed however I do feel that this was in part to do with my personal drive to get as much out of my time here as possible. I am lucky to have worked with such lovely colleagues and recruitment is now something I will look to pursue in my future career.

I feel really valued by the colleagues I work most closely with as I do think I have made a positive impact on the temps desk. I don't feel that interns are particularly valued by Reed as a whole however as it is a poor wage, no bonus and no reward scheme of any kind.

I have received the most support from the Senior consultant on the temp desk, Molly, who has helped me with any problem or query I have had. I have had some one to one reviews with my manager however these didn't start until a few months into my time here. The Early Talent team checked in with me during my first 12 weeks and I always knew they were there for support as well which was reassuring. It was made clear to me that there is not much resource for training for the internship which is a shame as I feel I would have benefited from more information regarding recruitment as a whole earlier on.

This fluctuated depending on how many live jobs we were recruiting for in the office, however I have found that on the majority of days I am plenty busy. Even if there are not as many jobs, there have always been admin jobs that need doing so I always have things to do.

When Molly was on annual leave I was left to run the temps desk on my own and I also had to complete an audit for one of our clients alone which was a lot of responsibility. I was responsible for compliance such as references and candidate facing duties but not BD or sales calls. I also pushed to get more responsibility during my time here as I wanted to make sure I was getting the best experience possible as well as being as helpful as possible to the office.

I have already completed my degree, however I do now feel that with some more training I would be more than happy taking on a full consultants position and I will definitely look to go into recruitment in the future. I have gained a solid foundation of knowledge regarding the admin and cadidate facing side of recruitment as well as some exposure to BD and clients.

The atmosphere was generally positive. There were some new starters who left quite quickly which was a shame but I enjoyed sharing an office with another division (accountancy and marketing and creative). Due to the restructure within the business there was some secrecy which was sometimes unsettling but on the whole I have really enjoyed the time.

I think there could be better organisation as there seemed to be no specific job spec as to what was expected of me and no formal training other than iLearns. While this was positive in some ways as I made the role my own, it also meant that I was doing a lot of learning on the go via trial and error and I didn't have set targets.

I don't feel that Reed particularly invested in me, however due to the temporary nature of my time here I can understand in some ways. If the internship was to lead to a permanent position, I would've liked more investment. There is no reward or incentive scheme for interns and no formal training, only the support and help given by the colleagues I work with my closely.

I do think that if I was going on a grad scheme or becoming a full consultant, Reed would be a much more supportive employer. My colleagues within the office are highly successful and I would like to think that I would have been able to follow in their footsteps.

There were no other interns in my office and I was not put in contact with other interns locally. I have made friends with a colleague on the grad scheme and we have been out on one occasion separate to work, but nothing else.

Leamington is fairly expensive to live and socialise in, I am lucky to be living on a subsidised rent now. When I first got this role I could not afford to live here on minimum wage so had to commute from Coventry. Now I live closer due to a lucky change in personal circumstance, things are easier for me but budgeting on minimum wage is still key.

The nightlife is good locally with restaurants, bars and clubs available. I really enjoy living and working in Leamington as it is a fairly young and thriving community with lots on offer.

Other than organising to see one colleague one evening separately to work, there were no social activities outside of work. I haven't known of any options.