Summer Internship Student Review

I have given my placement a 7 because I did enjoy my time Savills, the people were very friendly, I gained some great experience and learned loads. However there were a few days where I struggled with the work that I was given to do and I didn't feel as though I was able to request help or further instructions. This was quite distressing because although I appreciate it is important to be challenged, and have no problems being thrown in the deep end, I lacked the skills/knowledge required to do some of the tasks set. Far from learning anything from these situations, it just became quite demoralising. However, the rest of the time I enjoyed my placement very much, the tasks set were challenging but achievable and I learned a lot doing them.

The general opinion that placement students are a bit useless was made quite obvious. One comment I heard was "as soon as you placement students actually become useful, you bugger off!" I realise that there is a complement in there somewhere, that by the end of my placement I have achieved a level of acceptable usefulness. I also realise that everyone has to start somewhere, and we must all suffer being a bit useless whilst we learn the ropes. But yes, I suppose this does limit the extent to which newbies can feel valued. This was exacerbated by the fact that sometimes there was nothing for me to do, and people would more or less invent tasks for me to do. Many of these were good for me, since I learned a lot from doing them. But I wouldn't say that I felt like I was contributing or playing a useful role.

Apart from the times mentioned above, I was given adequate support and guidance from the team. Everyone was very open to answering questions either about specific tasks/issues or regarding general advice. Though I wouldn't say that I received any support from management, as I barely corresponded with the senior member of the team at all. However, I did receive plenty of guidance from my mentor, who was a significant part of my placement overall. My mentor worked hard to ensure I was involved in as much variety of work as possible to widen my level of experience.

When I was out on site visits I was given a specific task to do such as taking minutes or notes or pictures but when in the office I didn't always have any useful work to do. There were many days when I would struggle to fill an entire day of work and had to find other things to do. The homework assignment that I was required to complete was finished very early on. In addition, speaking to my fellow placement students from other departments, I get the impression that this issue was even worse for them than it was for me.

During my placement, I was given the opportunity to source some suitable fixtures and fittings for a fit out and present them to the client during the meeting. On another occasion I contributed to a Surveyors Report document by writing the "general construction and description" section. However, the majority of my work was supervised since this was my first placement and it was only 4 weeks long. My work on site was rarely independent for safety reasons. I was given all the responsibility that was realistically feasible given the situation.

They will not assist me in my studies since I completed my degree whilst on my placement. However, I am due to start work as a graduate surveyor and my placement has provided me with some really valuable knowledge and experience. These will assist me in my new job to a very significant extent, especially in the beginning. In addition, the network of contacts that I have made on my placement will also assist me throughout my career. I have scored my placement a 10 for this question since whilst the skills obviously can't help me with my studies, the placement literally has provided me with skills for life. I'm glad I have had the opportunity to prepare myself for my new job as much as possible.

The general atmosphere was friendly and intimate. Everyone in the office was clearly very friendly with each other and they were very welcoming to me. There was a definite social element to the office dynamic and an attitude of openness and support. Obviously there was a lot of sarcastic banter and piss-taking too! I felt there was a good balance of work and play. People were generally very cheery, and there was rarely an atmosphere of gloom or frustration that I have experienced previously in other offices.

The set up of the internship was very casual. There was no set amount of work that I had to do, as it was very ad hoc and I did whatever was required at the time. The set up of all my details on the system etc was very good. I was provided with a log in, completed a health and safety checklist etc all on the first day. However as discussed there were times when I struggled to find work to do. I can appreciate that to a certain extent this cant be helped, since the workload of the surveyors in the team varies considerably. In addition, a "meet and greet" event was held for the placement students to meet and interact with the rest of the team. However this was organised for the last week of the placement so it was a bit pointless, as we all knew each other already. This could have been organised better.

Very little. As I have said, I gained a lot of knowledge and experience on my placement, but this was gained on the job. There was little formal training though this is unsurprising, as my placement was only 4 weeks long. I therefore did not expect any formal development or training since I would be leaving after a short period of time. However, I was given the opportunity to attend a CPD event, though this event was mainly for the benefit of the fee earners. Whilst on site, the surveyors that I accompanied were happy to answer my questions and provide a more or less running commentary, from which I learned loads.

Future employment prospects with Savills do not appeal to me. The Summer Placement Programme is essentially designed for students who are about to start their final year of study, with the intention that they would then apply for Savills graduate intake the following year, this year's being already filled. However, having completed a one year MSc, this would be impractical for me since I would be looking for more or less immediate paid work and am unable to wait for next year's grad intake. In addition to this, the prospect of working for such a large firm does not appeal to me. I have undergone my placement in a regional office, where most of the surveyors get stuck in with all types of surveying work. However, in the London office (where I am from and do not intend to leave) the roles are further departmentalised and surveyors are required to specialise very early on. The variety of work involved is what attracts me to surveying and I do not yet have enough experience of the different roles to be able to decide on a specialisation so quickly. My upcoming role is with a smaller company in London where I will be required to get stuck in with all kinds of surveying work.

There was no social scene between myself and the other placement students. There were two other placement students and I did meet them and we had lunch once. We also all attended the "meet and greet" at the end of our placement. This was the extent of my social interaction with them. This may have been because my placement was building surveying and centred around building consultancy. Whereas their placements involved rotation around other areas of the business and required them to be located in other areas of the building to myself. There was a good social scene amongst myself and other fee earners in my team however.

The cost of living and socialising was cheaper than what I am used to since I live in London and my placement was in Birmingham. In addition, the Savills Summer placement is paid, which covered the costs of my living and socialising. This was a major plus. I consider myself extremely lucky regarding my accommodation since I landed myself a very reasonably priced room with some of very, very lovely people, 20 mins away from the office. The cost of travel was also much cheaper than I am used to. The cost of socialising was definitely cheaper, since drinks are about half that of London prices!

I do not know what the nightlife is like in the area that I worked since I did not attend any of it. I did socialise with the people that I lived with in the evenings but this was not quite in the area that I worked. Most of my socialisation with work colleagues occurred during the day at lunch time. Especially on Fridays. The pubs and restaurants in the area are very nice and reasonably priced. I did not attend any of the clubs. I did do lots of touristy stuff however, and discovered that there is quite a lot to see in Birmingham! Especially if you're into architecture, like me.

No, I didn't get involved in any activities outside of working hours with any of my colleagues. I think this was more to do with there being a bit of a dry spell. Many people were on holiday etc. I did attend several birthday lunches though. I also had plenty of opportunities to get involved in activities outside work with other people, but not people from work. All socialising that I did with them was during the working day. And again, I was only there for 4 weeks. There were plenty of activities that were being arranged for after I left haha.