Summer Placement Student Review

I thoroughly enjoyed my time at Savills. The experience gave me a great insight into the work of a Chartered Surveyor and into Savills as a company. Savills have a great work/life balance. I met some great people both when working on projects in the office and at social events after work.

I felt very valued by my colleagues. They were always very supportive of my work and gave me invaluable advice throughout my placement. I gained so much knowledge in such a short time, mainly thanks to the entusiasm of the team I worked with and their time and patience.

I was given support and guidance by management from day one. When I first started my placement they provided me with advice about which university to apply to to study for my masters and they helped me apply for funding for my masters. In addition they organised talks and presentations from different departments in order to give us an insight into the work carried out in these departments.

I was busy the majority of the time. For the majority of the time I worked with one team within my department and they ensured that I was busy but not swamped with work. On occasions, if my team could not provide me with work I helped out other teams within the department who had a high work load at the time.

I was given a great deal of responsibility from the start of my placement. I worked in the Valuation team and so was able to work on projects from start to finish, from inspecting the site to sending the final report to the client. I was responsible for certain sections of the report, which was great.

I believe the skills that I have developed during my time at Savills will greatly assist me during my masters course. Before I came to Savills I had very little knowledge of the property industry but I have learnt so much during my placement and this can only aid me next year.

Everyone was very friendly and willing to help, however it was quite stressful at times.

Overall the placement was well organised and managed.

I was invited to attend a company IT induction day and an introduction to Savills day, which helped me settle in.

I have been asked to apply for the grad scheme in September and will be fast-tracked through the process.

There were lots of opportunities to go out with the other placement students, both on organised and independent events.

I lived at home in Cambridge and commuted into London on a daily basis. This was expensive but cheaper than living in London, and the benefits of the placement greatly outweighed the travel expenses.

The nightlife was great - I was based in the west end though so it was to be expected!

There were lots of organised events both for placement students and grads as well as company wide, such as placement students v grads rounders and the Savills annual cricket match.