Summer Scheme Student Review

The role is very varied because the Development team in Sevenoaks does both valuation, agency and surveying. This means that I have had to find comparable evidence for residential and commercial valuations, created brochures and reports, local market commentary an inspections and pitches for client properties. The HR team also very helpfully organised calls which explained the different divisions within the Savills business, allowing me to gain an understanding of other roles. I found this to be extremely useful since to my surprise, real estate is a very varied field which provides opportunities to find a unique role that fits your skills. Having done this, I now feel more confident in understanding which roles I would be more likely to enjoy or be good at.

Meeting and networking with co-workers: Being new at the company with no other interns meant that I had to integrate myself within the team and make friends with my senior colleagues which is not always easy to do. I therefore developed my Multi-tasking: Being required to do a number of tasks on the go has improved my ability to multi-task and to prioritise certain tasks over others. Cold calling: having had to do valuations meant that I had to make many 'cold' phone calls to real estate agents to ask for final transaction prices. This was at times challenging, despite my previous belief that I was good at talking to people. I now feel much more confident.

During my time at Savills, I was given the right amount of responsibility in my opinion, as it felt I was contributing to the overall goal of the team, and doing many of the same tasks that my co-workers were also doing. The work which I did was used in the final outcome/product for clients. I was even able to attend client pitches and inspections which felt like a privilege given my limited level of expertise.

I received the right amount of support which I felt I needed. I was able to work with many different members of the team, even those more senior without feeling like a burden. Moreover, I felt comfortable in asking anyone in the team questions, even about topics that were not necessarily relevant to what I was doing at the time.

The company culture and atmosphere has been very friendly, and I have found that this is the case at several of the Savills offices. It always feels like people are willing and able to help you, but are also curious to know about your opinion about all kinds of things from politics to the cricket.

I really enjoyed my internship, as I was able to meet many interesting people, carry out meaningful work while also learning technical skills about the industry and the pathway into real estate. Overall I would give my experience a 9/10. In terms of things which could have been better, it would have been nice to have a few interns with me, as being alone made it at times difficult to fully integrate within the team perhaps due to age differences, and perhaps the team could have a tiny bit more inclusive on a day-to-day basis. Having said this, I was still involved in activities such as football against other companies which was very fun, my slight criticism is about the daily interactions.

Yes

Those wanting to work at Savills should try to be as human as possible in their interview, and focus on having a conversation with their prospective employer. In my opinion, they are more likely to go further by speaking about their genuine interest in the industry, as well as their personal interests as this would make them come across more pleasant and a nicer person to work with.