Recruitment Consultant Review

My placement year was very enjoyable. I was given lots of responsibility from day one and made to feel very welcome. On my placement year, I did not feel like an intern, more like a normal employee. The team around me made every day enjoyable, even when things were difficult.

From day one of my internship I was treated like a normal employee of the business. People within the business made me feel welcome and were on hand to answer any queries that I had. I was able to attend important meetings and speak to senior management regularly, making me feel valued in the business.

The training and support given my my management and other managers in the business was second to none. The first few months there was training every week on a range of helpful topics. Throughout the year my manager was always on hand to offer support and guidance and would always make time for me.

Each day was extremely busy. Despite working long hours it often felt like there weren't enough hours in the day to get all the work done. Each week I would have lots of internal and external meetings as well as plenty of things to do at my desk. The job is very fast paced so I was busy every day!

From the moment I sat at my desk I was given lots of responsibility. I was interviewing candidates alone in my first week and leading client meetings in my first month. After a few months I was left to run my own desk and trusted to do so without any issues.

This placement could not have been any more beneficial at developing soft skills and working with a range of people. I have learnt valuable interview techniques after seeing things from the other side of the table. I now feel extremely comfortable talking to owners of companies and holding my own.

The team I worked in were all similar to myself and made me feel extremely welcome. There was opportunity to get involved in everything from my first week and everyone really encouraged each other to succeed. Everybody celebrated success and there was a great competitive nature between each person in the office.

The placement set up was very well organised. There were socials between the interns to get to know people in your position as well as socials with people new to the business who weren't interns. The year was structured out with lots of training and you always knew what the next step was.

The company offered weekly training sessions by people with lots of experience in the business and also offered a 3 day course dedicated to training and developing new professionals. This did lighten up towards the end of the year but in the first 6 months it was second to none.

Hays is a FTSE 250 business and market leader in its field so is definitely an appealing organisation to work for. The culture definitely appeals to me and if I were to go back, I would love to stay in the same team. The team are very open about the opportunities if I came back, which was very re-assuring.

Yes, from week one we were in training together and socials were organised to help us settle in. Before we even started they offered to help us find places to live with each other if people were unsure about accommodation. Throughout the year the interns always remained in touch and came to each other with any issues.

Living and working in London the cost of living and socialising was very high! As I could not commute from home I had to rent a flat and commute into the city which left me very little money for myself. Socialising was also extremely expensive so it was usually best to stay away from Central London.

The nightlife was good but extremely expensive. There was a good social culture in the team so we went to plenty of venues around our work and they were all very enjoyable. The company were generous and did subsidise some of the socials which definitely helped to have a better time.

There were opportunities but not lots of them. I got involved in 5-a side within my team and went out most Fridays with them. Apart from the nightlife there wasn't much outside of work socialising. There maybe could have been more opportunities had I actively looked for them but during the week it was hard to find time.