Intern Review

I was placed to work in both Michael Page and Page Personnel during my internship, this allowed me to see the two different ways the team would work. My internship at Page was absolutely fantastic, I was able to get involved in the full candidate cycle, make several placements and generate actual revenue for the company. My aim for the internship was to see the role of a recruitment consultant as I was interested in having a career in recruitment consultancy and Page accommodated that for me and gave me lots of different tasks and jobs so I was able to fully experience being a recruitment consultant.

I felt very valued by my colleagues, I would help my colleagues with sourcing candidates for jobs that they were running, they were incredibly helpful with providing support and providing mentoring when necessary. I felt my colleagues were genuinely interested in my development and progress within the company.

The management of my internship was great, I could not rate it more. Every morning I would spend 5 minutes with my manager putting together a day plan, so I knew clearly what I would be doing each day. Throughout the day I would brief her up on what I had achieved. I was able to ask questions whenever I wanted to and was given training when I asked/needed it. The management style of my manager was absolutely spot on to what I needed, it gave me the confidence that I needed in order to progress and achieve results without it being like I was being spoon-fed!

It is very much up to the individual, if you throw yourself into the internship you will be pretty busy. You have to be relatively proactive and very clear with what you want to achieve it, but with that Page will give you what you want. I wanted to experience the full role of a recruitment consultant and I was able to do that, from sourcing candidates, to doing interviews from them by myself very early on in the internship, to taking interview feedback to placing candidates. You have to be good at time management to make sure you keep on top of things but this is not something I feel I struggled with.

I was given a lot of responsibility during my internship, but again, very much up to the individual. I was able to see the full process of a recruitment consultant because I said from the beginning that was what I wanted to do. I was able to get involved in placing my own candidates, where I had full responsibility and candidate ownership. I also got involved in client visits which showed that the company trusted me.

I have improved and learnt a lot during this internship and Page are very interested in continuing training which is something I really valued. I am definitely considering applying for the graduate scheme based on the experience I have had. My communication skills have improved significantly and I now find myself using open questions in daily life to get more information.

The general atmosphere in the office was really good. It's predominantly a phone based role so the office is rarely quiet and people are constantly talking whether on the phone or between themselves. The office has a relaxed atmosphere, there is dress down Fridays but it is up to the discretion of the manager,

The internship was incredibly well organised by the initial internship recruitment team in London. The speed from which I applied to hearing feedback was incredibly quick and the different stages to securing the internship all were done at a good speed. My actual internship was very well organised, started the internship off with a two day training course to get us interns started!

The company invested through us significantly, started off the internship with a two day training course in London where they paid for travel and expenses. We were taught everything we would need to know to start our internship and did a number of role plays to get us confident in talking to people and dealing with different types of situations all very reflective of the job role itself.

Future employment prospects within Page are very appealing, they have offered the opportunity of applying for the graduate scheme and I am about to start doing the process of applying for the graduate scheme. I have been told and I expect that if I am successful I will be returning to university with a job offer which is something I am very happy with.

I felt very valued by my colleagues, they were a great team. Every quarter they have a quarterly bash where everyone goes out, I got to get involved with that and spend time outside of work with my colleagues. Furthermore, they have nights out on a regular basis and I was always invited along. I would also go to lunch with the other interns on a daily basis.

Cost of living isn't the cheapest of places but not the most expensive either. I minimised costs I had as I was staying in the house where my family live so didn't have to pay any rent so I could save the money I earned from this internship.