Recruitment Consultant Review

I enjoyed being given the same amount of responsibility as the associates - the variety of experience and skills I have gained is invaluable. I now feel confident negotiating with large businesses, interviewing and making key decisions on my own. The training was very good, and quickly made me feel confident taking on the huge amount of responsibility I had right from the start. The variety in my job roles provided me with a diverse depth of experience and responsibility

Because I had the same responsibilities as everyone else, and we all received the same training, I felt that I could really pull my weight in the team, and therefore was aware that my activity and targets made a strong contribution to the team, which made me feel very valued as a recruitment consultant. However, my job was essentially taken away from me as 2 new permanent members of staff joined the team, and I was no longer a recruitments consultant but more of a resource/admin person. This rapid change and drop in responsibility made me feel very undervalued not only in the team, but also with the managers.

At the beginning of the year we were set targets by our managers. My own targets challenged me quite a bit, and I did feel that they were slightly unachievable. I didn’t really get the opportunity to sit down with my manager each month to go through how I was doing . When my role changed, I was not asked about the situation, or asked for an input of what my role would entail. I would have like to have had a discussion with my manager and director prior to being told what was happening, so that I could talk through the change with them and gain more of an understanding. After this sudden change in my role, I asked my manager to sit down with me and go through my new target structure, but unfortunately this didn't happened. I was left to my own devices a little bit to figure out the next few months of work that needed to be done.

Very busy - when you are a recruitment consultant it is your responsibility to manage that section of the business, and make money out of it. Therefore each day you have to call clients / candidates to gain jobs, arrange interviews, ..etc. This makes you act on your own initiative a lot, as you become a specialist recruiter in a specific field and therefore it is your responsibility to develop it. Its quite a difference going from uni life to an 8:30 - 6:00 job, and the hours are one of the hardest things I found to adapt too. I almost think it is unnecessary working till 6:00, and you also loose out on your evening.

After 7 months of working on a 360 desk, I was given extra responsibility of looking after another desk alongside my own. However shortly after, both desks were taken over by new permanent members of staff, meaning I no longer had a desk. My role then changed to coding the retail system, and resourcing for the team (which is quite different from what I had been doing). Although this was excellent news for our team (as we had more members than before), I went from essentially managing my own part of the business, to no specialty / responsibility of my own. Unfortunately this left me feeling undervalued in the team.

Hays is a very successful company and works well in providing a lot of training. To be given such professional training and responsibility rapidly increases your own time management, communication, business development and confidence skills.

Very friendly team and we all got along really well. Plenty of socials things to do outside of work too.

I think the normal internship is very well set up. You are clearly informed of your responsibilities at the start and are talked through the year by your manager. You know your position in the team and what is required of you. Because you are given a desk to look after and develop you are treated as a permanent employee and your targets are set long term, which helps you if you were to decided to come back to Hays after graduating. However for me, due to new members of staff, my responsibilities were significantly reduced and therefore (personally) I had a curve ball thrown into my structure which totally changed my internship.

They provide exactly the same training for interns as they do for associates, so there is no difference in terms of skills learnt or knowledge gained. You are given the same responsibility as if you were a permanent employee. Therefore they invest exactly the same resources into interns as they do associates. However I would like to have received more support from my direct Manager and Director

Its very much encouraged to return to Hays as a graduate after your internship. There are different aspects of the business you can join as well should you wish to move away from a recruitment consultant role. What appeals to me most is that you can choose to step away from the role you did as an intern should another position within the business appeal to you. However the biggest things that put me off returning to Hays are the working hours and salary (which is too low for central London).

Yes - every Friday night the business go out for drinks, and whenever it is someone's birthday there is always some sort of even happening in the evening after work. There are also Christmas and Summer parties.

Its very expensive in Central London - I was lucky enough to live close by but the basic salary for Interns is almost too low to be able to feel comfortable spending money on more than food or rent! Buying a drink nearly broke the bank - but that's London for you!

Very good - London has lots going!

There are a couple of things organized by the business such as football and netball games, and yoga or boxing sessions. Although I would have liked more variety and at more convenient times.