Summer Scheme Review

The insight week was very enjoyable and credit to Savills for running it, despite the global pandemic. Whilst it was reduced from four weeks to just a week, the team in which I was placed, made a big effort to provide a good overview of their day to day roles, as well as some of the more strategic thinking underpinning the longer term plan. Everyone was friendly and accommodating and ultimately, it was a great experience.

Fundamentally, the fact Savills ran a shortened summer scheme is evidence that they do value their graduates highly. Within the office environment, it was clear on several occasions that having new graduates and investing in their learning and development is key to the Savills business plan. Whilst it was difficult to meet everyone in my area due to COVID, those who were in the office were friendly and accessible. I was given work which was used by the team.

The support and guidance on offer was of a sufficient level. Given that not everyone was in the office on a daily basis, some of the conversations were over email, however, that is probably indicative of the new normal in terms of work going forward. Whilst the work was not particularly technical, care was taken to go through the strategy behind decisions and some of the key considerations for advisory work. Overall, the guidance/support was good.

Any experience is fundamentally useful and so huge credit to Savills for this. On balance, the skills / information I received were largely soft skills - communication, adaptability to office environments, diplomacy etc., as opposed to technical skills like valuation. The nature of the work I completed did give good access to the overall picture of a role in the team which was useful. This will be helpful going forward, as well as the enlarged network I now have access to.

Insight was fairly well structured. The HR side was excellent in terms of organising talks, seminars etc. and ensuring regular access and catch ups. It was impressive given the difficult situation and office management. In terms of the structure of the day to day role, this was less structured and was more completed on an ad hoc basis. Overall, there probably were areas where a structure would have been helpful to establish a clear learning pathway for the week.

General atmosphere was positive, everyone was keen to be back in the office and it was a friendly environment. The office was busy and so it was a good place to be around and to pick up insights. People were friendly and took the time to talk to you which is clearly an added bonus. COVID made meeting people slightly trickier but in the grand scheme of thins, it worked well and I would recommend it.

Given it was only a week's experience, it was slightly tricky for a personal training and development plan to be established. However, a programme of sorts was implemented to give an overview of different areas in the business. This was in line with the nature of the summer scheme, given that it had morphed into an insight week. The overriding concept, I would imaging, is to provide insight and allow you to meet the company and vice versa, so it worked in that regard.

This was done very well. Full overview of the day to day role of the team I was in was provided, along with repeated pointers to what would be required as part of the Graduate scheme. Opportunity was give to meet people at various stages of their careers, thereby providing a good overview. Therefore, I think most scheme placement candidates would have a good idea of what is on offer in a graduate role within the business.

The ability to work in the office gave great insight into the company culture. This was particularly important as it is difficult to gauge over webcam. For people in my situation, it was a great way to do things and people were keen to identify the nuances of the role and the business. Everyone was friendly and stressed the amicable nature of the industry, so it was very apparent the focus placed upon healthy relations within the business.

The content was valuable and will be hugely instrumental going forward. Fundamentally, it is useful to do any sort of work as what you do, or do not do, will help to formulate your thinking. It may be that the team was great and you could see yourself there, or you had access to another team and preferred that. But being around different teams and sectors was very useful and will be important going forward.

Expenses only.

There were opportunities for networking / meeting colleagues throughout the firm. Given that it is a tricky time at the moment, some of the networking events had to be put on hold and so opportunities were slightly more limited than normal. However, overall, effort was made to help candidates to meet people and speak to those in different sectors to have access to a well rounded view of the company, its key activities and potential plans going forward.

See above

Yes, different activities were mentioned.

I would recommend it as it is just useful to get a flavour of the business / industry.