Intern Review

I have thoroughly enjoyed my work placement at Hays, due to both the role itself and also the people. Hays has a very vibrant culture and the people are all very like-minded which made it extremely easy to settle in. During my placement I was continually gaining new knowledge and was truly pushed to achieve all I could during the year. At Hays your hard work does not go unnoticed and there are continual incentives to reward you.

At Hays you are 100% valued by each and every colleague. You are treated the same as every other employee and are given full responsibility of your own work from day one, therefore the work you provide is invaluable to the business. My colleagues would value my opinion on things from how to handle certain situations, through to which of my candidates would be the perfect fit for their roles.

At Hays I was given full responsibility from day one, with my manager getting me on the phone to candidates straight away. However I was fully supported from day one and right through until my last day. At Hays all interns and new starters to the business are given the same best in industry training, which consists of a 12 week training programme and off site modular training. Further to this you are offered continued guidance by each and every one of your peers, and no question is too silly to ask. I felt fully supported during my placement and was more than comfortable asking for guidance with anything I was struggling with.

It is very cliché to say but genuinely no two days are ever the same at Hays and therefore it is impossible to say how busy you will be on a daily basis. However it was nice to have a varied workload, and you have to be able to work within an unstructured environment, as you can be doing one piece of work but something urgent comes in and your whole days plan has changed.

You are given full responsibility at Hays from the start of your placement and you are in charge of your own workload. I was initially wary when searching for placements because I wanted to secure one which would challenge me, and Hays definitely offers this. You are left to get on with things and can have as much or as little guidance as you require.

The skills I have learnt at Hays are invaluable to my future development and having a global brand such as Hays on my CV will stand out to future employers. You learn how to communicate with both candidates and clients from a variety of diverse backgrounds, and my commercial awareness has definitely increased.

The office is very buzzy at Hays with people constantly on the phone and in meetings. There is always a sense of competition, with continual incentives running. There is always something going on, and often events are held within our offices.

The placement scheme is well established at Hays, as you take over your intern predecessors workload. All interns are given a handover with the previous intern, and therefore you can also learn how they work and they can give you some very useful advice. As the markets and recruitment needs can change, Hays is very good at being flexible and ensuring you always have a stable workload.

Hays massively invest in all of their staff's training needs, including interns. I began a 12 week training programme when I joined the business and also took part in 2 offsite modular training sessions. On top of this I had continuous training sessions throughout the year and I could also request any training I felt I needed or wanted to learn. At Hays you take out of your placement as much as you want, so always ensure you ask.

Hays fully encourage their staff to return back into the business and are flexible on what you come back to recruit for. You may choose you want to learn another market or alternatively you may choose to go back and build up your previous knowledge further. Hays offer a returner bonus to all interns who go back into the business and a fast track promotion.

There was a strong intern community at Hays and a really good social scene both inside and outside of work. There is also a very good social scene among your teams within the business and continual social incentives inside and outside of work hours.