Sandwich Placement Student Review

I very much enjoyed my placement year, I was able to experience a wide range of work and had the opportunity to get stuck in straight away. I worked with two teams mainly however due to COVID-19 I was able to assist two more as they were very busy, which was very interesting and useful to experience more of the business. I enjoyed the scope of work and found that I was supported well by colleagues.

Each team that I worked with provided me with a lot of support from the beginning. My first team were able to help me settle into the company, as it is definitely a different experience working in such a big office. I was invited out for socials regularly. Due to COVID-19, socialising with my second team was more difficult however they frequently contacted me and I was supported well through an evidently weird time. We had a number of online social events.

I was given guidance and support by my supervisors as and when I needed it. If I was unsure on a piece of work, or didn't full understand what the work entailed then they would happily go through it with me. They were always approachable and explained what they needed from me very clearly. I was able to access sessions for APC support and guidance which were really useful to my understanding of the APC process.

Most days I was reasonably busy, having time to go on inspections of visiting sites. Occasionally there were days where there was less work within the team, however other days I was incredibly busy and had to stay longer to complete work, however this was quite rare. I had a good balance of work and social interactions, and was able to work through reports etc at my own pace, without having too much of a time constraint.

I was given a fair amount of responsibility during my placement; in my first team this was taking on more work independently, and only contacting my supervisor when there was something that I didn't feel confident enough to complete myself. Part of my placement was during lockdown so this made it more difficult to take more responsibility as I was unable to have as much professional experience, although I did work a lot more independently.

The work I completed will benefit my final year of university significantly. I developed my understanding in modules that I had studied in my second year, and was able to put this knowledge to practical use. I was able to fine tune my understanding of certain subjects, and developed my confidence within networking. The connections I have made whilst working for Savills have been fantastic and will be very helpful to my future career and development.

The office was a fantastic place to be, it was very open plan and allowed for easy interaction with different teams. The office is very large and was always busy. There were often lunch and learn events for CPD, with various areas for meetings and this meant there were always people around to interact with. Working from home was difficult as you definitely missed the office atmosphere, so I was very pleased to be able to return for the end of my placement.

As soon as I joined the company, I was taken into 3 days of graduate training, where placement students merged with the graduates. When I joined my first team, I went through the system and got set up online before anything else, and then was introduced to the team. This was the same in my second rotation, I went through the online systems before working with my supervisor to start going through day to day work.

The company did invest in the placement students however not as much as they do the graduates. They do not offer you a job at the end of placement and do not mention it to you before you finish, however individual teams would tell you they would love for you to be re-employed. This may be a problem due to the fact that the company is so large that those who do the hiring process may not see how you work from day to day. I would love to be able to go back and work for them.

As the office was located in central London, the cost of living and socialising was very high. Depending on the type of socialising; if I was with the team then a lot of the time it could be expensed as a team activity. I commuted in from my family home however this did cost a significant amount of money, although less than if I lived nearby. Transport and living expenses are obviously very high in London.