Bulk Annuities, Bulk Annuities & Long Term Inv Strategy Pricing Analyst Review

I have thoroughly enjoyed my placement by being able to do some initial background work and then being able to work on current work. It has been a great insight into the Insurance industry and also allowed me to see where some areas of my degree are used in the real business world. The variety of activities and opportunities I was afforded was amazing and I wouldn't hesitate to recommend this placement to others. I can't give this a score of 10 as even though this is the best job I've had thus far, this is my first real job.

I felt extremely valued by my colleagues as they involved me in everything from the very first day I arrived, such as the whole group meeting on day 1 of the first week. They even went to the extent of organising a team day out to Escape Rooms with drinks afterwards in order to integrate me into the team in a more informal setting. I was being given tasks by many members of the team and this showed the trust they placed in me to carry out the task and really made me feel truly valuable to the team. Moreover, they were really kind throughout my placement despite my long list of questions and they never once waited to answer them. Therefore, they really helped me on my placement and made it very enjoyable with trips outside of work to the Edinburgh Fringe and even just as small as informal chats during the work day about our interests!

I had a daily catch up with my manager to make sure I had work to do and whenever I didn't, my manager would ask around the team and assign me some interesting work. My Line Manager also had weekly meetings with me to see how I was feeling and what sort of work I would like to do for the following week and he would try his upmost to do so and most of the time he did just that. He also answered a lot of my questions and guided me through the internship.

I had on going projects whilst also being given current work so I was kept busy enough without being swamped with work. Moreover, the work I was given was given to me with my internship objectives in mind which I agreed with my Line Manager in the first week of my placement. Therefore, the work was relevant to what I wanted to achieve but it was also helping my team for the future, so therefore this gave me a sense of adding value to the company and giving me a sense of pride in my work.

I was given more and more responsibility the further into my internship I got, so to start with I spent time getting used to the language and terminology and then I was given a project to do throughout in order to help make the entire team's processes more efficient. I was also given live deals experience whereby I was doing work I would be doing as a permanent member of the team in order to cross check and validate another member of the teams answers.

The colleagues in my team really helped me to gain some of the most important skills, such as using various functions on Excel, which are transferrable skills to any potential job I will do. As I set out in my objectives, I also wanted to use VBA and try and get slightly more accustomed to this form of coding which I know is used in the financial industry such a lot. I've also experienced work which permanent members of the team do on a day-to-day basis, and this will be a key skill I will take away from this and may potentially help me in my degree and has certainly helped me to grasp key actuarial concepts. Finally, through shadowing other areas of the business, I have been able to experience many different kind of roles which has given me a greater insight into the path I want to go down once I have graduated.

The atmosphere in my office was a quiet, but a friendly, welcoming one whereby we could all do our work in a peaceful environment. However, this is not to say it wasn't collaborative and it even allowed for the occasional informal chat. This helped not only me but other colleagues get through the day without thinking you were necessarily at work. We even had a little celebratory drinks session in the office one Friday afternoon after 2 of my team had become fully qualified actuaries, and this goes to show the friendly atmosphere and one where you didn't hesitate to ask for help.

The placement was very well organised as all of our Line Managers had a clear schedule for tasks which each intern had to undertake and then from there my manager would regularly assign me tasks and ask me for which parts in the process I haven't yet experienced. Then my manager would get me involved in these parts to give me a full process experience. Moreover, the regular catch ups to see how I was getting on really helped to add structure to the internship and also allowed me to shape my own internship with my line manager's help. This would be a 10 but for an IT hitch in the very first week but this was not my teams, nor my manager's fault.

They gave all interns an induction day with challenges designed to get us into thinking about what choices Lloyds have to make and the consequences of these. Then they get the intern to fill out their Balanced Scorecard which allows us to set out objectives which we want to achieve and so this helps us to develop areas which are of most need or ones we feel we can improve on the most. Lloyds also ran colleague workshops which I was able to go along to and participate in, whilst also holding educational sessions which were specific to my area of study and role.

After only half of my internship, I feel like I would really look forward to furthering my employment within this organisation. As a result of my midway appraisal, I feel that I am on track to secure a place on the Graduate Scheme, by what my line manager was saying. Despite this, I enjoy the work so much that I actually stay behind longer than when I get paid to. Also with the shadowing sessions, and with Lloyds being such a varied group, the choice of opportunities is vast and this makes the future prospects with them so much more appealing.

There was a brilliant atmosphere between me and my colleagues as we had regular activities set out to meet up outside of work, such as going to see a comedy show at the Edinburgh Fringe and also completing an Escape Room challenge. Also, the social life with other interns and scholars was also excellent as Lloyds specifically housed us all in the same place despite many interns working at different offices. We have to partake in a Charity Challenge and for this, my team organised a ceilidh for all interns to go to and everyone had so much fun. Other teams of interns have also run other social events such as pub quizzes which were also enjoyable. We also went out for meals together and went to the cinema as well.

The cost of living was relatively modest as Lloyds paid for our accommodation so we only had general living expenses to pay for. Socialising costs weren't the cheapest but I suppose that is more down to the premium you pay for being in the centre of a capital city. In comparison to London, where I got to university, living costs were a lot cheaper but socialising costs were very similar. Despite this, the social life was worth the cost.

There was nightlife very close to where we stayed as interns and all around the office we worked at. This helped to settle everyone in and get to know each other. All the way up the road we stayed on there was countless pubs and eateries to enjoy a good pub crawl and then nightclubs were within 30 minutes walking distance or around 5 to 10 minutes in a taxi. Due to my office being in central Edinburgh, there were many pubs in the vicinity of the office and so our Graduate Mentor for the charity challenge took us all to a local pub after work.

As a result of an organised drinks session to celebrate a couple members of my team fully qualifying as actuaries, I was speaking to my senior manager and he put me in touch with a colleague who runs weekly 5-a-side football games which I was able to participate in. Moreover, there was also a gym on sight at my office which had summer deals and I also did extra-curricular activities through the Charity Challenge and organised to go and play pool after work with a fellow intern after work. My team also organised a trip to the Edinburgh Fringe and so there was no end to the opportunities to get involved with.