Vacation Scheme Student Review

I was given a taste of some of the tasks that a trainee would complete during a seat in each department.

Both departments were very friendly and encouraging about my work.

In my first week I was introduced to my supervisor but then did not see her again. My trainee mentor was fantastic though.

The talks were interesting and gave insight into different areas, but on other schemes I have been on there were also negotiation skills sessions, commercial awareness sessions and presentation skills courses - it would have been good to have some interactive training we could learn from.

I didn't have much to do in my first week as the department was so busy that people didn't have time to find something for me to do. It would have been good if there was a research task to do as part of the assessment; or something else we could do if there wasn't much in the department.

The placement felt quite relaxed and I got on really well with the other vacation scheme students.

I thought the tour of Kaplan was a really good idea, I have never done that before on a vacation scheme and would never have thought of it myself! As mentioned before it would have been good to do an interactive training session with the other vac scheme students.

I didn't have much to do in my first week as the department was so busy that people didn't have time to find something for me to do. It would have been good if there was a research task to do as part of the assessment; or something else we could do if there wasn't much in the department.

It was good that we got to rotate around two departments, but it did feel like we weren't being told some things about the current situation of the firm - we got the impression that not many trainees got taken on.

The talks were interesting and gave insight into different areas, but on other schemes I have been on there were also negotiation skills sessions, commercial awareness sessions and presentation skills courses - it would have been good to have some interactive training we could learn from.

We were paid after the end of the scheme and received £250 per week.

There were several socials organised as part of the scheme, most during working hours which worked really well. We also had a day trip to the Paris office where we met several employees.

We all got on really well and went out together on most nights after work - the small number of students on the scheme made it easy to get to know everyone really quickly.

We were told about some of the sports clubs but didn't find much out about CSR activities available to employees.

I was really pleased that we got to try two different seats as it gave a broader view of the firm - I think vacation schemes work best like this.