Underwriting Intern Review

The internship was enjoyable and very rewarding. The work that I was tasked with doing was interesting and it gave me a grounded insight into insurance, allowing me to understand and comprehend the fundamentals of underwriting. The tasks I completed were varied; I rotated around all the different teams in the branch and everyone always gave up their time to train me, which was really valuable seeing the different parts of the company, and how the different business lines strategize. Everyone in the office was sociable and welcoming but also supportive, and all of this cumulated into a great internship at Allianz.

I was given a lot of responsibility across all functionalities of the business. So, as well as understanding the fundamentals of underwriting, I got involved in projects that ranged from operations to performance analysis to HR. These projects were well received by my colleagues and I was consequently asked to do more, and the outcomes/documents of these projects will be used post-internship. I was also given a lot of responsibility with respect to underwriting, again demonstrating that I was valued by my colleagues.

I was given support and guidance from all levels of management. My team leader was extremely supportive throughout the internship, she was always making sure I had something to do, always had time for any questions, organised in terms of organising a timetable for me before arriving. The same applies to my line manager, but also all the other account managers and team leaders gave up their time and constantly asked me how I was getting on; some even got involved in my schedule and I ended up working in different teams for some weeks.

I was kept busy on regular basis, with interesting and diversified work. However, there were sometimes that I had finished my work quicker than expected and consequently was left twiddling my thumbs, although it must be stressed that this was far from a regular basis. As previously mentioned, the work I was doing was varied, which meant I was learning something new every day, again keeping me busy.

I was empowered to make a lot of decisions for myself over the 9 weeks. After being taught some of the processes of underwriting, I was left to perform the tasks and deal with clients myself. However, people were always willing to answer any questions I had, meaning that although I was given responsibility, I was not left in the dark, which helped with my development. Managers and supervisors trusted me to work on big projects by myself, and all the information and support was in place for these projects, so again, I didn’t feel overwhelmed.

From day one of my internship I was able to use and apply the knowledge from my business degree in the work place. I was able to understand a lot of the terminology and theory behind the business practices at Allianz. This works both ways as the skills that I have learnt over the internship, I will take with me into my degree but also my personal life. I have learnt a lot more regarding how to implement theory into the workplace and I have a grounded understanding of business and economics. I have also developed a lot of personal skills, such as becoming more confident, personable and ambitious as I can see myself working in Allianz and consequently want to ensure I fulfil my potential at university. These skills will help me in life outside work and university as well, which is extremely valuable.

The atmosphere in the office was great! There was a real community feel to the office, everyone was always friendly and welcoming and everyone got on really well. There was no “office politics”, and also the office was really forward thinking and innovative, again making an excellent office atmosphere. There were a lot of organised socials both drinking and non-drinking meaning that the office was really inclusive.

My manager was really organised in terms of organising a schedule and time table for my internship. This was all completed before my first day and she also made contact with me prior to starting so I knew what to expect and what I had to do on the first day. However, something that was out of her control was the organisation of IT access. It took me 5 weeks to get all the access I needed to complete my work, which slowed down my progress and also inconvenienced others as I used their accounts/computers. My manager tried to organise and set up IT access before I started plenty in advance, however it was only fully sorted weeks into my internship.

A lot of monetary investment as well as time was invested into the interns over the 9 weeks. A lot of people took time out their day to help me with my development, but also Allianz organised events that focused on areas such as team building, but in innovative ways. They created an environment in which I felt comfortable with raising queries or any concerns (not that I had any!!), and the scheme owners checked up on us regularly to check how we were getting on. There was also a lot of support and guidance with regards to the final presentation at the end of the internship.

There are many different graduate schemes at Allianz, which range from finance to a more managerial focus. These graduate schemes are highly regarded and provide you with great training and opportunities, and have many great success stories. There is then the possibility to go far within Allianz due to the size of the company. Consequently I have applied to the AMT graduate scheme at Allianz which exposes you to the core areas of the Allianz company, as well as giving you the chance to live in different areas of the country.

There were always socials after work, in which many people attended from the office and this was a great opportunity to meet people from the office that are outside your team. There were also socials organised by the company, including the summer party and a pub quiz. As well as this there were many sports events such as football and climbing. Allianz encourage these social events and this support from the management is reflected in the relaxed relationships between colleagues both in and out of the office.

For a big and busy city, Birmingham was relatively cheap.

Birmingham has a rightfully earned reputation for being the second city of the UK. There are lots of bars and restaurants, as well as clubs, but also non-drinking nightlife such as dancing.

Yes, as Birmingham is a big city there is always something going on. I, for example got involved in dancing, but there was also a lot socials organised by work that were different and relaxed and did not feel like your typical and forced 'team building evening'. We went climbing, played football, went to the cinema and many more.