My name’s Sarah and I am a third year BA Business and Management student. I am currently on placement at Reply Ltd who are a tech management consultancy. I am having a really good time and learning a lot about the industry!
My father worked with some Reply employees and found out that they offer placements. I got in touch with the company and asked if they were running any placements in HR or Marketing. I received an email back saying that they would be thrilled to interview me. After 2 interviews they offered me a job as HR Recruiting Intern.
I received a great amount of support from the employability team throughout my application. Matt kept me motivated to keep applying for placements! He was always ready to help me, by finding different opportunities or just to have a general chat. I would definitely recommend using the service.
A normal day
- 9am Arrive at work
- 9 – 10am Check and respond to emails
- 10 – 11am Call potential candidates and book them in for interviews
- 11 – 12pm Interview graduate candidate
- 12 – 1pm Write up interview report
- 1 – 2pm Lunch
- 2 – 3pm Check for new applications, call candidates and book in interviews
- 3 – 4pm Another graduate interview
- 4 – 5.30pm Check with manager what needs to be done – normally making calls, filing in spreadsheets or organising career events.
I like how much responsibility I am given at work. I’m left to do the work that needs to be completed as I think best. There’s great variety in what I do: it’s not just recruiting, but employer branding and attending career events too.
I have also had the opportunity for international travel, which I never thought I’d get to do as an intern. Visiting Milan on a business trip, I got to see a beautiful city and attend a career fair at one of Milan’s universities.
What I’ve learnt
I have learnt so much doing this placement. It has allowed me to mature and understand the working world. My confidence and general communication skills have improved. I have also learnt that the working world can be challenging. Knowing how to deal with different clients has been one of the most challenging things for me.
I love York as a city and I really liked how the University is campus based, it creates a friendly environment. Before I started my degree I was very apprehensive about going into further education but now I see that it is one of the best choices I have ever made. I was so surprised at how open lecturers are in helping you. I thought they would be unfriendly but I was completely wrong.
