Candidate Manager Review

I have gained an amazing experience from my placement year at Hays and enjoyed the entire year. I have enjoyed the role itself and the team made me feel welcome which made me enjoy my experience more. I have gained a positive impression of the company which has made me enjoy my experience more.

I felt hugely valued by my colleagues as gratitude was often shown by the team for my achievements and when hitting my targets. I was continuously thanked for my assistance and as my role is a role that Hays actually recruit for, I felt highly valued in terms of the contribution I made to the team.

The support from my manager was great in that I had regular meetings with her to monitor my development, ensure that I wasn't having any issues or had any concerns and setting targets to promote my development and enhance my skill set. I also had continuous support from the team as a whole and I felt that I could approach anybody if I had any questions about my role.

There was never a dull moment during my placement at Hays and there was always something to do. However, I never felt I was 'too busy' so that I felt overworked - I think the perfect balance was achieved. I never felt bored in my role but I didn't feel like my workload was unachievable in terms of meeting my targets.

I was given much responsibility in my role in the sense that I was treated in the same way as a permanent member of staff. I felt like a valued team member in that my role involved resourcing candidates for the consultants for their jobs and finding the right role for the candidate. I felt hugely proud that I felt partly responsible for ensuring the right match was made.

I have immensely developed as an individual from my placement both personally and professionally. My confidence and communication skills in particular have developed as a result of my role, due to continuous interaction with candidates, client and my colleagues. I believe my role has provided me with many transferable skills which I will be able to use both at university and in my future career.

The atmosphere is very much work hard, play hard. Everybody in the office is ambitious and hard-working which is very infectious as it also makes you want to be the same! But the atmosphere is also light-hearted as everybody gets along with each other and you can sense this in the overall atmosphere.

When first joining Hays, I was given a folder of information which also included my 12 week intern plan. This was a plan I was to follow in terms of where I should be week-by-week. I was also given a 2 week training timetable so I had allocated time to complete all compulsory training modules as well as ensuring I had the opportunity to participate in on the desk training.

I was given the same training and development opportunities as a permanent staff member. I was involved in continuous on the desk training and support from my colleagues as well as organised training sessions that occurred in house or elsewhere. There was also continuous opportunities throughout the placement for additional training sessions for specific areas.

Hays have very clear opportunities in terms of progression. They also have a variety of different opportunities available from being a recruitment consultant, to an internal recruiter, to working as an administrator. Hays have given me a very good impression in terms of being a good place to work and so available opportunities in the future would be appealing to me.

There were lots of opportunities to socialise outside of working hours, including the work Christmas party, end of year party and additional nights out for the end of each period. There were also opportunities to participate in activities outside of work and so there are plenty of opportunities to socialise.

I lived at home during my placement year and so I didn't have any additional costs to pay. I travelled on the bus to get into work which wasn't a costly expense as I still qualified for a student bus pass. I didn't have to use any additional transport as the bus public transport links to the Birmingham city centre are very good.

I worked in the Birmingham city centre and so the nightlife was good where I worked. Broad street, Grand Central, Brindley place and the Mailbox are all close by and so there is a vast array of shops, restaurants, bars and club in the local area, all within easy reach.

There were some activities to get involved in outside of work, including the power peaks challenge which was a 25 mile work for charity. There were also opportunities to socialise including attending work events such as the Christmas party and the end of year party and evenings out at the end of each period.