Delivery Recruitment Consultant Review

The placement year was good in the sense that I was able to do independent work to an extent. I was responsible for recruiting for one of the key accounts which was very rewarding. I enjoyed the company events and working with new colleagues as well as team meetings and targets. There were many opportunities to excel and it was beneficial understanding the job market and how to succeed in interviews, CV writing and what the employer is looking for.

There was a lot of recognition to go around. Every Friday we would reflect as a business on how each team did, if anyone excelled in particular for that week or any news we may have had. We also did quizzes and sales days whereby if you won, you were rewarded with a breakfast, all paid for by Randstad, in your teams. Team work was key on my department and I had a very supportive placement team and the perm members also were very helpful and supportive

There were always 1-2-1’s every month to discuss what I was doing well, and what could be improved on. This focused on how I in particular was performing and how I compared to the rest of the team. These were helpful in improving my overall performance and gave me an opportunity to discuss with my manager if there was anything I wanted to do to further myself or any questions/complaints I may have had at the time.

As we were in finance on a very fast-paced team, it was usually very busy days. However around certain time periods recruitment could be quite slow as people may not have been looking to leave jobs e.g Christmas. However even if we weren’t recruiting, we had candidates already in jobs who may have needed assistance/guidance who could come to us. This would usually be for help in the workplace or holiday requests/payroll, anything they needed help with.

A lot of the time we were made to make our own independent judgement on things. This meant that there was a lot of responsibility and pressure to do well, but that was expected. As I worked on an account more or less by myself for the last few months, (prior to being furloughed) I was responsible for liaising with clients, maintaining headcount, and prepping candidates for interviews. In this case, I was responsible for all the aspects of insurance recruitment so I had many independent tasks.

I feel that, although the placement year was not very catered to my degree, I now know how to navigate many aspects of customer service and administration. For instance, managing excel sheets full of different candidates and information, maintaining confidential and GDPR, inbound and outbound calls, using specific systems and programmes, punctuality, time management, and above all teamwork and perseverance. All these skills will be crucial for most roles so having experienced them first hand has been ideal.

There was always an enthusiastic atmosphere in the office with sales days, workplace meetings and social media to help this along. We were always encouraged in our teams to do well and push each other in a competitive manner.

We were welcomed into the office from day one and all training was prepared for us. However we were not offered thorough training in Luton until a few months into the placement so it was as if we had already learned everything by that point so the training days seemed a bit pointless - it may be worth doing this a lot earlier in the placement year.

We were given phones and all the tools needed at the drop of a hat and the events/training days attended were all paid for. In my opinion we were an investment for the company however we became a very crucial part of the team also and a few of us (myself included) were kept on for a month after many perm staff had been furloughed during coronavirus lockdowns. This showed to me that we were valuable to the team.

I realised although recruitment was something I thrived in, it’s not for me so in that case, I would not actively seek a recruitment position in the future. However, I would return to Randstad as it was a lovely company to work for.

Yes, we were all very connected and close friends who were always meeting up after work for drinks. This was encouraged by managers as they knew the better our rapport, the better we would communicate in the workplace. On training days we were always kept together which was nice and we were never discouraged from talking during work.

We worked in Liverpool Street which was very central so quite a pricey area. It was usually the case that my bank account would take a dent after going out at the end of the week due to high drink and entry prices however we still managed to socialise. I wouldn’t suggest going out in that area however as it may lead to financial issues for students in the future - especially those who do not have experience with managing money.

It was a good scene, the environment was very nice, modern and there was plenty to see and do. Again it was very expensive e.g around £10 just for entry before drink prices, but overall we had a nice night out wherever we went.

In all honesty due to the hours being 8:30-5:30, there was very little time to do activities. I myself would not get home until around 7 despite living 25 minutes from work as the queues at that time were severe. we did plan a few things after work but they were often cancelled or not kept to as a team. Even if we did we could not be out too long due to needing to leave the house at 7am the next day.