Summer Student Review

I have enjoyed working at Barnett Waddingham very much. I have truly felt like part of the team, and the atmosphere in the Cheltenham office is open and friendly

I have felt extremely valued by my colleagues, especially due to the amount of work I have been assigned, and when I get asked for my input on new models that are being developed.

Any questions that I needed to ask were answered without hesitation, and people in management/upper management were happy to answer questions even when they were busy.

I was never strapped for work, if I felt like I had more time to do more work, all I had to do was ask and someone would usually have something that they could pass on.

I was given a lot more responsibility than I was expecting, especially helping with the development of a new model. I was also given the opportunity to draft reports and conduct calculations for pension schemes.

-The calculation of Transfer Values and the knowledge of Pension Schemes that I now have will definitely assist me with a module I have in my degree next year called "Pensions and Investment" -Furthermore, throughout this internship I have learned about how the market has fluctuated after the recent vote to leave the EU and how it has affected investment. Given that half of my degree is in Finance, this is extremely helpful for any of my Financial Market modules.

Extremely Friendly! The atmosphere in the office was probably the main highlight of the programme! People at all levels of the business (partners, managers, associates, trainees etc.) were always interacting, there were no clear levels of divide between people at different levels of the business; this made the atmosphere of the office extremely open and friendly. The office was also extremely social in terms of: work nights out, lunches, and talking throughout the day.

The internship seemed very well organised from the start, especially with the start being 2 days of training in Liverpool. In terms of the work we were pre assigned, we were assigned 3 different presentations to do and a variety of exercises we would have to complete throughout the internship. Although the internship was very well organised, it seemed as though the work that was assigned to you depended on the workloads of individuals in the office rather than pre thought up workloads; but this method made me feel even more welcome into the office.

There were plenty of training sessions given to me on the main areas of Trustee Consulting, and whenever I asked questions about certain parts of processes they were answered fully, even if answering took time. I felt like the company really tried to in still knowledge about this career path whilst I was working here.

I would love to work for Barnett Waddingham when I have completed my degree. The atmosphere in the office and the way that you so easily feel incorporated into the environment is one of my main reasons for wanting to work here more permanently. Furthermore, I have really enjoyed all the work I have been assigned, and I can really see my self doing it as my future career. I have mostly enjoyed the Investment work and my work with a new Risk Tolerance Model, but this is probably because this work is more associated with my degree and therefore more familiar to me, because I found the Trustee Consulting work more challenging; but I still enjoyed it.

There are socials with the Trustee Consulting team once a month, and the Investment Team, as well as various outings that were more spontaneous.

The cost of living in Cheltenham was more than I was used to, but that may be because I am used to paying rent in a Student Area, so rent was rather expensive. The cost of socialising was perfectly reasonable, the same as living in any other town.

Very good. It should probably be advertised more when recruiting graduates that Cheltenham has a very good nightlife, as that isn't the impression that you get when you think of Cheltenham.

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