Week one of my internship is officially complete.  I am so happy with the placement that I have been given.  I work at a recruitment agency called Grafton Recruitment.  Grafton has been in business for thirty years and has grown substantially since it first started up on Grafton Street in Dublin, Ireland.  Today, Grafton is present in six countries across Europe, and is one of the largest in its sector.  Its organization, from my perspective in the Prague office, is highly structured and organized with a little bit of a lax feel.

I work as a Team Assistant for the Business Services department.  Our main job in this department is to process candidates for positions that our clients have open within their own companies.  My job has given me exposure to so many different things each day.  Just this week, I have rewritten/edited templates for pre-screens, rejection emails, candidate information presentations and so much more.  I even had the chance to call candidates to conduct pre-screenings over the phone once I learned the procedure.

Grafton cares a lot for their candidates and clients, and they highly focus on quality in their work.  They work hard to ensure that their candidates are placed in a job that will allow them to flourish, and as for their clients, they work hard to ensure that the clients will receive top-quality employees that are ready to dedicate themselves to the companies.  It is a great system and is well-developed.

The office in Prague is very open and collaborative.  Everyone is friendly with one another, and all are helpful to whoever needs it.  To me, the company is a mix of highly formal and mechanical with open and collaborative.  The Prague office has about four departments, all of which collaborate as “teams”.  In my department, Business Services, we have been working on creating ideas to improve the systems that they have been using for the pre-screening process.  It was cool that I was able to pitch my ideas and have some of them be used already.  As I mentioned though, there are systems that are implemented that are very mechanical and structured when it comes to the work process.  Nonetheless, the company seems willing to be able to hear and collaborate on new ideas while still maintaing a strong structure.

The work culture is unique.  None that I have ever experienced before.  Though the company is a big corporation that made me think it would be a highly formal organization, it is in fact just the opposite.  The organization’s culture is light and fun.  Even the business casual dress code represents this culture.  Everyone is always laughing and making jokes, while still maintaining a great output of work.  I truly enjoy going into the office because I know that I will always be surrounded by others who are also happy to be there.
Though, I have not had the chance yet, the company does a lot of teambuilding for the departments in Prague.  My co-workers have told me that it is a lot of fun and the activities will be starting up soon.  I noticed how close each department is and to me that must represent those fun activities, such as teambuilding, and the light environment.  The employees are thriving there, and the company seems to thrive itself because of that.