Recruitment Associate Intern Review

I enjoyed my time with Hays, the company and its culture is a great place to work however I did find it difficult and some parts didn’t always come naturally. However this wasn’t a negative in terms of the company just my own ability.

My managing director and immediate manager have always been extremely supportive and highlighted achievements even if they weren’t big ones which was nice!

9/10 I was given help or support when I needed it. However this is a fast paced sales environment and everyone has their own desk and business to be cracking on with, so sometimes you just had to get your head down and do your best!

Within the education sector there are busy times and quieter times. But i would say most of the time i was very busy. Always learning, always chasing targets and always left with the responsibility of building and growing my own desk by increasing my activity. I found some times to be very stressful! But I was never really clock watching which is always a positive for me!

At Hays interns are more or less treated as permanent members of staff. You get given a sub-specialism within your geographical area and you run that area; everything from candidate resourcing, interviewing, building client relationships and filling vacancies.

Throughout my internship I also had to complete university assignments, which I received firsts in both. Because of the discipline and organisational skills required for this role, i found university assignments to be a lot more manageable. In addition to this the skills you gain from an industrial placement like this are invaluable. I definitely feel like I am a lot more employable now than i would have been coming straight out of university. I am more confident, I have a stronger work ethic, my time management is superb and I would consider myself even more ambitious than I was before! Skills that I can transfer to most industries.

Most of the time there was a buzz about the place. There was good banter and the people here are great to work with, but this is a serious business and the values and employees do reflect that. There were quite a few paid nights out if we reached target as a team and our managers treated us individually to breakfasts etc. if we did something particularly well. So yeah, all round a good atmosphere.

I would say mostly, it was well organised. Due to the needs of the company I was moved round a fair bit to try out new markets for potential permanent new starters. However this made me feel I didn’t reach my full potential on placement.

There is a lot of training and development training on offer here. You know exactly what training you need to complete and you travel and meet other interns for anything from 1-4 days at a time. Hays invest a lot of money and time into their employee's and interns.

Very appealing. If your desk/ area does well and you are billing fees/ achieving targets you will be promoted. You don’t have to wait for someone to leave or retire. The opportunity is there for everyone. This is what appeals mostly about an opportunity for a graduate job with Hays. At the end of the internship each intern has an exit interview (more or less) and your manager will assess your time with the company, what you have achieved against set targets and discuss future opportunities.

Not really a social scene amongst the interns really, as we were spread out all over the country. So we mixed in with other colleagues in the office and that was fine, I didnt have a problem with that.

I was living at home and bringing some of my lunch's in so this was perfect for me! Got a train pass and i was sorted.

Im not really one for going out every week, but on the occassions we did go out as a comapny I really enjoyed myself. The area I worked was Liverpool, and I live on the Wirral so I was familiar with the location.

I am an events management student so I was able to get involved with internal Hays Education Events which was good, I observed as well as help organise x2 big mock interview days which really impacted the business. I also was able to go along to university open days and use company cars which was a bonus.