Intern Review

Hays was a great choice for my placement year. The skills involved in recruitment consultancy are core life skills which can be transferred into any profession. My time at Hays provided me with an opportunity to interview candidates, lead client meetings and provide candidates with jobs and schools with staff.

The Education team at Hays was fantastic. Every consultant in the team is on hand to provide any guidance and advice when required and there is a strong sense of community within the group. This is further reinforced during the four weekly target celebrations and team incentives arranged each quarter.

My manager was very supportive from Day 1 and taught me the role of a Recruitment Consultant. He was on-hand most of the time to answer questions and provide support. I also had the opportunity to sit-down with my manager once a week to go through KPI results and discuss my desk in more detail. I found this particularly useful as the feedback provided at these meetings was not generic but tailored to my own desk.

I was extremely busy on a daily basis. The first hour of the working day is very intense and there is always plenty to be getting on with. I felt that the "activity" expectations, in terms of the number of calls, expected each day was unrealistic and more often than not, there is too much to do in the 9 hour working day.

The level of responsibility I was given during my placement was fantastic. Despite being an intern, I was given full responsibility to run a 360 desk, interacting with both candidates and clients. I was trusted to go out and meet with Headteachers in Schools myself as well as conduct competency based interviews with new candidates.

The skills involved in Recruitment Consultancy are core life skills transferrable to any career. Your interpersonal skills and self-confidence are drastically improved both in-person and on the phone and the busy working day encourages an efficient time management approach to be developed. All of these skills shall be utilised in my final year at University as well as my future career.

The general atmosphere was good. Each time a consultant made a placement or hit a milestone, a bell was rung and the rest of the office responded with applause and cheer. Notable achievements were also highlighted in the weekly meetings, attended by all of the consultants in the Education team.

The internship was very well organised. From Day 1, each new consultant was issued with a training folder and training schedule, designed to accelerate the learning of each new starter. Classroom based lessons were provided on different aspects of recruitment and this was supported by interactive e-learning modules and on the job training.

The training provided by Hays was excellent and exceeded my expectations. Classroom based training sessions were provided during my first month with the company and after my eighth week, I was sent on an all expenses paid training week to Birmingham, were all of the content taught in the initial month was re-visited and reinforced with role plays and advice from a specialist trainer.

The social scene at Hays was inclusive and regular. At the start of each period (4 weeks in a period) fee targets were set to be achieved by the end of the period. Providing these fee targets were met, each consultant would then be issued with five redeemable drink tokens to be used at the local pub. This ensured not only a great sense of personal and team achievement, but allowed fellow consultants from other specialisms to network and socialise in a less formal setting.

London is very expensive, no two ways about that.

Quarterly team incentives were organised, providing an opportunity for everyone in the team to socialise in a less formal setting. These incentives varied each quarter; on one occasion we were treated to an all expenses paid for meal in a Michelin star London steak house while on another incentive we played a few rounds of indoor mini-golf, followed by a meal afterwards.