Welcome to our NTU Placement Student – Natalie Bristol

After attending the Nottingham Trent University Graduate and Placement Fair in March this year to recruit for our permanent Graduate opportunity we were so impressed by the calibre of the students we spoke to that we decided to also offer a year’s placement. After a lengthy selection process (due to the sheer numbers of applications) we were delighted to offer Natalie the position after she delivered a presentation to us – on the benefits of using a recruitment consultancy – in the most professional, confident manner. Natalie is studying Business Management & Accounting and Finance at NTU and her excellent interpersonal skills have ensured that with our support and mentoring she has grasped the opportunity with enthusiasm and the results are already rolling in for her.

We asked Natalie to write about her experience so far:

 

I am currently studying Business Management and Accounting and Finance at Nottingham Trent University. Despite thoroughly enjoying my first 2 years, I decided to try something different in my placement year.

 

I began my search just like most people my age, unsure of what it was that I wanted to do. I had really enjoyed the HR modules at university so thought I would try something along these lines. My search began in summer of 2016, when I started improving my CV and looking for potential roles. I was focusing my search criteria on the placement itself and what it offered, as I was open to relocating and salary wasn’t an important factor. I was offered a few interviews but didn’t manage to progress any further. When it came to Christmas, I had started to get despondent. I felt I had worked very hard and focussed on applications but wasn’t getting anywhere. I also wasn’t sure that I could picture myself doing the roles I’d been applying for. I then decided to focus my search on recruitment as this is the key thing I had picked out from job descriptions and had thought about doing this sort of role before. 

 

It came to May and I began to hear back from lots of companies. I was also offered some face to face interviews which were lovely; although slightly typical they came around exam time! I still didn’t have any success and was starting to lose hope! I’d be lying if I said I hadn’t cried down the phone to my Mum several times! 

 

Luckily, I then stumbled upon the advert for a Junior Recruiter at SOLOS! I was really excited by this opportunity, not only did the job description sound intriguing but it was also nice to think I could be staying in Nottingham, instead of having to find my way around somewhere new. Therefore I was very excited when I was offered a telephone interview and subsequently a face to face interview. Having had many interviews beforehand I now wasn’t too daunted by the thought of an interview, despite being told I would be required to do a presentation! I actually found the presentation really interesting to research for as I learnt a lot about the recruitment industry and SOLOS itself. 

 

Interview day came and I still remained relatively calm. I was very pleased with how the interview went and felt I relaxed and was more myself than I had been in any other interview. I felt this said something about SOLOS and the job, hopefully that I would get on well there. 

 

The days passed and I tried my best not to get my hopes up but I was absolutely thrilled when Helen offered me the job! Despite the stress that I had encountered during the placement process I felt I had learnt a lot which would help me to relate better to my candidates. For example: I totally understand when they say they don’t know how an interview went and understand why they are constantly looking for updates regarding the roles they have been sent for. 

 

I am now almost 2 months into my placement and I am absolutely loving it! During my first few days everyone was so welcoming and it was so nice that I could ask anyone a question and they would be happy to help. The pace that I was taught at was perfect for me and I am so relieved that it is going well. I feel like I have learnt so much in my short time at SOLOS and I’m sure I will learn so much more. Even now I can look back at what I was like at the start of placement and see how far I have come. The only problem is, I’m not going to want to leave to go back to university!

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