- Contract: 12-13months FTC
- Start dates are usually in June/July
- Hybrid working: We want you to get the best out of your placement, so we operate a hybrid policy where undergraduates work in the office 3 days per week. There may be times where you will need to be in more frequently depending on the needs of the business.
To apply for our undergraduate placement scheme, you must be studying for an undergraduate degree that requires a placement year. Master’s students are not eligible for this placement.
Please consider before applying if you live more than 60 minutes away from post code MK15 8HG, that you would need to relocate to either Milton Keynes or be a commutable distance (within 60 minutes).
We’re looking for an undergraduate to join our HR Resourcing team as an HR Recruitment Undergraduate. This is a brilliant opportunity to gain hands-on experience in the world of recruitment, supporting activity across early careers, temporary, contractor and permanent hiring. You’ll help coordinate recruitment processes, work with candidates and hiring managers, support assessment activity and contribute to employer brand content with our Communications team. If you’re organised, curious about people, confident communicating with different stakeholders and keen to build your HR/recruitment experience, we want to hear from you!
What will you be doing?
- Support the coordination of recruitment activity across temporary, contractor and permanent hiring, including arranging interviews and helping ensure pre-assessment work is completed on time.
- Play a key role managing undergraduate recruitment, including briefing calls, advert writing, shortlisting, video interview review, assessment centre coordination and candidate communication.
- Help coordinate temporary and contractor recruitment activity, including extensions, new contractor requests and temporary offers.
- Work closely with hiring managers, candidates and external partners to provide a professional, responsive service and a positive candidate experience.
- Support employer brand activity by working with the Communications team on early careers content, such as social media posts, promotional videos and attraction materials.
- Manage general queries in the Resourcing inbox, escalate more complex queries where needed and support accurate candidate records in line with data protection requirements.
- Prepare and support key reporting activity, including monthly MI reporting linked to permanent, temporary and contractor hires.
- Get involved in process improvements and team projects, with opportunities to bring fresh ideas to our attraction and selection methods.
What are we looking for?
- Currently studying an undergraduate degree that requires a placement year, ideally with an interest in HR, recruitment, business, people or workplace behaviour.
- Strong organisation skills with the ability to manage a variety of tasks, priorities and deadlines at once.
- Excellent attention to detail and accuracy, especially when working with candidate information, communications and reports.
- Clear and confident written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to build relationships with candidates, hiring managers, suppliers and internal stakeholders.
- Good problem-solving skills, initiative and the confidence to ask questions, seek support and follow through on actions.
- Intermediate/beginner Excel skills with an interest in using data and reporting to support decisions.
- A proactive, flexible and resilient approach, with the ability to adapt to changing priorities in a fast-paced team.
- Strong teamwork, customer service skills and the confidence to take ownership of key tasks.
- Previous experience in a recruitment, HR, customer service, office or part-time work environment would be beneficial but is not essential.
Why apply for an undergraduate placement with VWFS?
Here at VWFS you'll be able to kick start your professional experience in the workplace. We take on 49 undergraduates each year which we find really helps our undergraduates as you all go through the programme, building your knowledge and networks together.
You’ll also benefit from
- A focus on personal development with access to LinkedIn Learning via our ‘Degreed’ platform and a bespoke development programme throughout your placement year delivering personal management, technical and soft skills including building successful relationships, presentation skills, IT skills and data literacy.
- A supportive environment and network of colleagues to help you get your best out of the year – in a recent survey, 100% of our undergraduates said they felt valued and supported.
- The opportunity to work on real life business projects and deliver impact around topics like sustainability.
- Subsidised onsite canteen and coffee shop
- Subsidised onsite restaurant with a range of hot and cold breakfast and lunches.
- Employee Resource Groups supporting an inclusive workplace
- Social gatherings and team events & volunteering opportunities.
- Physical and mental health support with our Onsite Wellbeing Centre
Discretionary benefits include
- Bonus: Discretionary bonus based on both personal and Group company performance (pro-rated)
- Car schemes*: The opportunity to join our popular car scheme plus car insurance cover.
- Pension: Employer pension contribution of 9% (based on employee contribution of 3%). VWFS will pay 6% if employee chooses a 2% employee contribution. From day 1 we provide income protection, life assurance (4x salary), will writing, retail discount vouchers, access to Care Concierge (a service to support carers of adults). Private medical insurance is available following successful completion of probation.
What our recruitment process looks like
- Apply and upload your CV, covering letter and answer a few application questions.
- You’ll be invited to complete a Situational Judgement Test. This is a short multiple-choice question set to help us understand how you may approach situations.
- If you pass this stage, you will be invited to complete an online video interview where you will have the opportunity to tell us more about yourself.
- If successful, your last step in the journey is to attend an in-person Assessment Centre at our Milton Keynes office. You’ll also meet some of our managers and our current undergraduates to find out more about a placement year with us.
Please note: Our undergraduate placement roles do not meet the UKVI’s criteria for the skilled worker sponsorship route, therefore we are unable to accept candidates requiring sponsorship for this role.
*More information about car schemes
Our current car schemes are under review following changes in legislation from HMRC and so whilst we don’t have full details of our car scheme to share with you now, we will let you know what this looks like as soon as we are able.
Please do not apply for more than one placement role with us. This will ensure that you are considered for the placement that you are most interested in, and your skills are aligned to.
