Summer Intern Review

Working at Allianz UK was definitely an enjoyable experience. I was exposed to many areas of the business, across two locations, and constantly encouraged to explore new challenges and responsibilities. I had a lot of control and independence over my role, and I was lucky enough to work in a great atmosphere with a really friendly, encouraging team.

I felt incredibly valued by my colleagues, in particular my superiors. I was always encouraged to keep up the work I was doing, I received positive feedback on a regular basis, and I was invited to showcase my work to "higher-ups" from outside my department. The importance and expected impact of my projects was always clear to me, and being trusted to manage these projects by myself gave me a great sense of value at Allianz.

The support chain above me - three people, primarily - managed to strike an excellent balance between guiding and helping me where necessary, and letting me carry on with things alone where I was able to. There was always someone available to ask for help when it was needed, and I never felt like there was a question I couldn't ask, or like I shouldn't stop someone to ask for help.

My workload varied from day-to-day, although my line manager always ensured I had something to do. If I found myself with free time, I always had either "ongoing" projects I could work on, or I could ask her for something to work on. When I was assigned tasks, in meetings or ad hoc, I was always free to push back if I was too busy, or rearrange my schedule as necessary.

I was attached to half a dozen projects, two of which I was fully responsible for. This was excellent for me, as I could balance working underneath someone and learning from them with running my own projects and getting experience of managing upwards. I was able to request the resources I needed, schedule time with the people I needed and dedicate my own time to work on the projects, without having to check every step with someone else.

The most valuable benefits I received in the internship were experience in managing upwards, and exposure and experience to large-scale project meetings. Over the 9 weeks at Allianz I gradually became comfortable with presenting my work at meetings and giving instructions to other staff, some of whom were superior to me.

The office was a very friendly environment, despite being very busy and hectic at times! Being surrounded by so many busy, hard-working people in an atmosphere that was relaxed and inviting was the perfect combination to foster good work and productivity for me. Efforts were continually made to make employees comfortable: fresh fruit, a "chill out" break room, ice cream on hot days, etc.

Organisation was good, but could be improved. We were given all of the information we needed, although some of it could have been sent a lot sooner, especially in the run-up to the placement. Once the placement began, however, organisation was no problem: my role was well defined and everything was waiting for me when I got to the office, and the placement coordinators were always within easy reach.

I was able to explore any area of the business that interested me, sit in on any meeting or gathering that I felt could be relevant, and ask questions to anyone who I felt could help me. I was encouraged to set up meetings with people in other areas of the business, in order to talk to them and learn about their role. However, there was no formal training or development aspect to the placement.

The future prospects are very appealing, to the right kind of person. However, my personal interests at the moment to not align well with future careers in Allianz, so I will not be pursuing further employment with Allianz.

To the best of my knowledge, all placement students who were at the same office location often met and worked or relaxed together. As the company is spread across the UK, there was not a lot of cross-office social scene, outside of the organised placement events.

I stayed at my term-time home for the placement, in North London, so living costs were "normal" for me, but higher than average around the UK. The office was in Brentford, so commuting meant a 40-60 minute train/tube (costing around £6/day), or a cycle ride of a similar length. Very little socialising happened outside the office, so I'm not well-equipped to comment on that.

I stayed at my term-time home and worked a second job during the evenings, so nightlife was no different for me than it was outside the placement.

Very few activities were organised outside of work, besides a half-way and closing meet-up of all placement students. There was a company party to celebrate 125 years of Allianz, which very few placement students were able to attend.