Intern Review

I extremely enjoyed my placement at Hays, I was given lots of responsibility from day 1 and was frequently supported by all my colleagues in the office. Joining as an Intern meant I was slightly apprehensive at first due to the fact I had no experience in both sales and recruitment. However fantastic training was provided within the first couple of months, which enabled me to become an expert in my particular specialism.

Throughout the duration of my placement I felt very valued by my colleagues; they were always happy to help with any questions of queries I had and even though I was an Intern I felt valued by the team. On my first day I felt very welcomed and everyone was really friendly and engaging.

On a daily basis I am immensely supported by my manager, mentor and regional director. Every morning I would sit down with my manager and colleagues to discuss plans and objectives for the day. Throughout the day guidance was offered and I felt like I was able to comfortably and confidently ask questions or for help if it was needed.

Busy days did vary from time to time but for the majority of my time at Hays I was relatively busy. There were periods that were extremely busy; for example when I first started in September I was managing multiple jobs and similarly there were a lot more candidates on the market around Aug/Sep.

I was given lots of responsibility from day 1 of my placement where I was tasked with managing a 360 desk. Pretty much as soon as I started I was managing the recruitment process from the very start to the very beginning; getting the job on, sourcing candidates, getting interviews booked, filling the job. Additionally during my placement I was given the responsibility to assist with the management of large recruitment campaigns. This gave me the opportunity to interact with individuals from a different field of work and learn about a completely different industry.

I have developed numerous skills and attributes throughout my placement and these will prove very beneficial in the future. From beginning my Internship at Hays with no recruitment experience and very little experience within a customer facing role, I can now say that I can confidently communicate with individuals of all seniority level. Additionally the specialism I currently work within will prove immensely beneficial when I return back to University, as one of the unit's covered in my final year is 'Procurement & Supply Chain"

There was a real buzz in the office that I worked in and all my colleagues were very sociable and engaging throughout the day. Additionally end of period wrap ups were always well received by everyone in the office because they were a great opportunity to communicate individual achievement throughout the office.

Overall the work placement at hays was very well organised, from the day you start to the day you finish. The training provided to interns is extremely thorough and is the exact same training provided to associates, which proves that a lot of time and effort is invested into interns at hays.

Hays offer fantastic training and development to all their interns from day 1. Firstly you are assigned a mentor to assist with your training and development and then in the first 12 weeks you are invited to numerous training sessions. The majority of interns are pretty much thrown into the deep end, which I actually found a lot more beneficial.

There a lots of opportunities once you have graduated at Hays and numerous Interns actually return to the company once they have finished at University. Additionally some interns are given the opportunity to become Talent Scouts during their time at Hays and then Hays Student Ambassadors once returning to University.

Unfortunately I was the only intern in my office so I didn't really get the opportunity to go out and socialise with interns and instead did that with my work colleagues. However during my 3 day training course, I was able to go out and socialise with interns from up and down the country, which was really nice.

Throughout my placement I actually lived at home (my family live in MK), so living costs were very minimal for me. However I did socialise at the local pubs/ bars and the prices weren't too extortionate so that wasn't too bad. However offices elsewhere are situated in places that are a lot more expensive and with the salary offered to interns, I can imagine this would often cause problems.

I grew up in the location where I was based, so I had previously visited all the local bars/ pubs and clubs. Personally for me the nightlife isnt great compared to other cities I've visited. However when we went out as an office, the nights were always very fun and extremely enjoyable.

Within my office there wasn't a great deal of opportunities to get involved in activities outside of work. However at the end of period wrap up a lot of colleagues would go for a drink after work, so there were still opportunities to go out and social with colleagues in your office.