Consultant Review

It wasn't the most intellectually stimulating job in the world and not much variety. Only variety it provides is working on new jobs, with new clients/firms and meeting new candidates. But in terms of

All of the line managers and colleagues in our Financial Markets division were great. Everyone is really friendly, making you feel at ease as soon as you start, getting you involved with work events, etc. However, I didn't feel valued much by our senior managers (Director's of Financial Markets). They didn't sit with interns much and see how we are doing because of how much they have to do, so when results were poor, that's all they would focus upon rather than what you have done well.

Huge amount. Your line managers act as mentors, giving you quizzes to do each week ensuring you know your market but also so that you're constantly learning throughout your placement. They genuinely want you to get something out of the year with Hays so that you can use it to either come back to the firm or elsewhere if you want to go down another career path. Monthly appraisals took a bit of a nose dive, but I felt comfortable all the time going up to management to talk about an issue or ask for advice on the work.

Extremely busy. There isn't a day when you are trying to find things to do. The days go by fast as you need to be spinning multiple plates at the same time. Compared to my other university friend's doing a placement year, they even had enough time to complete their university work during work hours. Us on the other hand of Hays had no time at all. However I would say this is a positive aspect as you are genuinely assisting the firm with what they have to do.

A lot, to put it simply. The unique aspect about this placement with Hays is that you are literally doing the exact same job as your boss. I have family in the financial services industry and they all tell me how interns at their firms do the most simple of jobs. Us on the other hand are doing valuable work that looks amazing on your CV. I've been applying for a 1 month internship when my placement ends and all the firms are impressed with the work I am doing and the responsibility I am given. The responsibility although a bit of a burden, has to been seen as adding value to your CV and how employable you are after uni.

I would reiterate all of the comments above in the responsibilities section where what I have learnt has been invaluable. It's beefed up my CV immensely. Not just that, you are constantly learning as you have to become an expert in your area so when you meet candidates and clients you can portray that you know your stuff and your market. I had an interview with an insurance firm for an internship in their financial lines division, and the amount I showed about my knowledge of the market was immense, compared with if I didn't do a placement with Hays.

Very lively, very fun and a lot of banter. Being in recruitment means generally the environment is young. On a Friday everyone gets alcohol and drinks at their desk after about 4pm... you're regularly out for lunch/dinner/at the pub after work with colleagues. There was a ping pong table in our kitchen which made things more fun. Being here allows you to get a feel for the buzz that exists in financial services, especially as you're working in the City, the financial district. There are also always games when we have our team meetings every month to see how we did financially, whether that be drinking games, or others.

I would say really well organised. The internal recruitment team and management have clearly put a lot of effort into what your year will consist of. There was never a day where I was looking for work to do. You are also given regular projects to do to ensure your productivity doesn't nose dive (particularly towards the end of your placement). I thought this was a good idea though and enjoyed doing the projects as it adds an extra point to my CV showing how valuable it was. One project including being put into a team of 3 and being given areas to look at within the business and give our ideas on how we would improve them. It actually made you feel valued more knowing they cared about what you thought.

As mentioned earlier, my manager acted like my mentor. Whether that be quizzing me on my knowledge of the banking and asset management sector, or general chats around what I want to do with my career and him providing advice. This is probably the best environment to get advice on your career as Hays are a recruitment business.

For me personally, not very appealing as I don't want to go into recruitment due to not being very intellectually stimulating and the job is very repetitive. But the recruitment market is very saturated and thinking about it, if I did want to go into recruitment, I would certainly seriously consider Hays as an option. My team would sway my decision a lot on this as they were great. Also a great job to earn a lot of money.

Absolutely. We had a team of 10 interns in our Financial Markets division and we were always going for a drink after work or organising events, like laser tag (better than it sounds), bowling, dinner, ping pong tournaments. Everyone gets involved as well, even your managers and other colleagues which makes it more fun and allows everyone to bond. The worst one was probably being made to do a hot wing challenge, a lot of banter though, and we all got the free food with our boss expensing it for us.

I was in the City, the main financial district so I can't say my days were cheap. Bars and pubs aren't the cheapest. You're surrounded by lunch spots but then again there are also Tesco's around if you want to cut down on costs. Being in the City means there is a good balance between fancy places for food but then also your typical spots too, like Greggs, Eat, Pret, Leon, Costa, etc. So you get a bit of both worlds. On Friday's though with everyone else drinking, your boss pays for your drink too which is good. Sometimes on events as well your boss might expense the food!

Really good. Again, you're in the City, so there is tonnes around you. Pubs on literally every corner and bars as well. You have all the fancy places and high street places. We were right by One New Change which has the Madison bar on top of it which is a rooftop bar. Then you have your typical places too such as Dirty Martini. If you have some spare cash though then you have places such as Sushi Samba in the Heron Tower, Sky Bar in the Walkie Talkie... Loads to go to compared with doing your placement year elsewhere.

As an intern you're amongst everyone in the office and constantly interacting with everyone so you are never left out of work events. For example our Financial Markets team hit our financial targets so all 50 of us got to go for bowling one evening with free food and drink and all the interns were a part of it. Whenever work colleagues go out for a drink you're invited as an intern too. Also if you do sport... the guys go and play football if you organise it and there is netball for the girls, and yoga (for men and women).