Trainee Actuary Review

I thoroughly enjoyed my time at Mercer. I was given a lot of important client work on a daily basis by the end of my internship which was challenging and also rewarding. I felt I was contributing by completing worthwhile work, especially by the end as I understood the entire process of what I was doing!

The people at Mercer were the best thing about working there. Everybody was genuinely so friendly and were encouraging me the entire time. The atmosphere really was so relaxed and friendly - it was a complete surprise as I was expecting a very busy/stressed atmosphere!

The support I received from my team at Mercer was incredible. I unfortunately had some personal issues during the internship, but received excellent support and was given time off to spend with my family. Additionally, the HR team were exceptional.

I was generally busy every day completing client work, especially after the initial 2 weeks. There were various ongoing tasks, such as updating databases and researching potential companies which Mercer could benefit, which we could fall back on when it got quieter.

The work I was completing was genuine client work, where it was vital I didn't make any errors. Although all work is peer reviewed several times before it is sent out, it gave me the opportunity to show I could do the work successfully first time. Overall, I had a good level of responsibility as can be expected from an internship.

I gained a wealth of knowledge from this internship which is going to be incredibly useful for me in the future. Studying Physics, I had never studied economics, accounting, finance or banking etc before this internship, so was worried about my severe lack of commecial awareness. However, I learnt so much about the industry and this internship really allowed me to determine what working as an actuary would be like. I also learnt specific skills which will be very beneficial if I decide to pursue actuary.

The atmosphere in the office was great! The work/life balance is perfect at Mercer. You were never stressed out but always had important work to complete with a high level of responsibility. Everyone valued you enough to manage your own workload and trusted your ability to get it done. There was also a lot of friendly banter between teams, and lots of sporting/social events organised almost every week.

The internship as a whole was organised very well. The HR team were excellent with their communication throughout the process, especially at the assessment centre. They were not forgotten once the job had started either, as made a real effort to keep us interns in the loop and offered a wealth of help and support. In contrast, I felt that when I fist joined my team, there was not a great deal of introductory work prepared and there was not a lot of work available for the first week or so. I feel if there was more structed training within specific teams and perhaps some introductory work prepared with the aim of getting us into the swing of things quicker, it would be beneficial.

I feel that Mercer invested heavily in each individual they took on for their internship. There were lots of training sessions to get us up to speed and we were given a high level of responsibility with our work. There were various social events where even the most senior members of the firm were present and buying us drinks! There were so many opportunities to network and ask any questions you wanted, and get answers from people who were in our shoes several years ago.

As a potential future employer, Mercer are definitely top drawer. I have had four of five previous fulltime jobs and this one has been by far the best, and with the most responsibility. If I decide to go into this field, I have no doubt I will be applying to come back to Mercer!

The socials with the other interns was one of the highlights. We organised weekly socials every Friday from week 1 and it was great to be able to spend time with other people who are exactly in your shoes. There was also sporting events including football, cricket and rounders which were really fun! I would consider several of the people I met at this internship good friends now and will definitely stay in touch regardless of whether we all eventually work at Mercer.

Working in London was expensive - there's no getting out of that. I commuted into London and my jouney took 90 minutes each way, costing about £300-£350 per month on travel. However this is cheaper compared to the cost of housing in London. Socialising could also be expensive, however there are plenty of Happy Hours to save spending too much early on in the nights!

London nightlife is awesome! I had several (drunken!) nights out which were extremely fun and not ridiculously expensive.

There were opportunites almost every week including social trips to the local pub, sporting events ranging from a competitive netball league to a purely social game of cricket and rounders.