Actuarial Summer Student Review

I really enjoyed the 8 week summer placement that I spent at Barnett Waddingham. The first 4 weeks were mainly spent in the Trustee Consulting side of the business, and the second half in the Investment Consulting side. It was good to get a taste of both sides in order to understand the business as a whole. I would recommend this placement to anyone who comes from a strong mathematical background.

I felt very valued by my colleagues. After every piece of work that I completed, I received feedback and was able to see the changes that were made. This was really good to see a full report sent out to a client that was 95% my work, with minor changes to grammar and formatting. The office had a nice vibe, with everyone laughing and joking at certain points, but still getting everything done.

For every team that I worked in, I was clearly assigned a mentor and supervisor. These people were there if I was stuck on any work, however the whole team was friendly, and I felt as if I could go to anyone with any piece of work. It was also good to have a half way meeting to discuss my progress, as well as an end of programme review.

On a daily basis I was busy, but not too busy. Every Monday morning, each team had a workload meeting to find out who would be busy, and who had scope to help out others. This was really useful because it meant that work was equally shared amongst the whole team at the start of the week.

I was surprised at how much responsibility I was actually given! From day one I was working on live client work, and this was really interesting. My work was checked once it was completed, however the majority of my work was sent out directly to clients. This made my placement make me feel like an actual Actuary, as opposed to a spare part who was just doing minor jobs.

This placement has been the best possible training that I could have received at the current stage in my career. I have one year left of my master's degree, and I haven't worked in an office before. This experience really enhanced my professional skills, and showed me the importance of working in a team.

The office was very relaxed, and the atmosphere was very nice. I hadn't worked in an office before, and I expected it to be very strict. However, people were able to chat all the time, and it was a very sociable office. I did still work hard, but it was nice to be surrounded by sociable people.

The work placement was very structured and organised. All competencies and objectives were clearly set out at the start, and my mentor had clearly put a lot of thought and planning into our experience. We had 20+ training sessions over the 8 weeks, and these were all scheduled and put onto our calendars at the start of the placement.

The company clearly invests a lot of time and effort into its Summer Students. The fact that I have been able to sit down and talk to Associates and Partners throughout the placement shows that they care. The vast amount of time spent on training showed that they were investing for the future.

Future employment prospects look very good at Barnett Waddingham. The firm is massively expanding, and even in 8 weeks at the company I saw several new starters in the business. I am hoping to get a job at Barnett Waddingham for after my master's degree, but we'll find out soon!!

The social scene was good amongst the three of us that were on the internship, as well as with the rest of the scene. As part of the internship we had to organise a social event, and we went to play laser tag! At what other company could you shoot your boss?!

I lived at home for the placement.

I lived at home.

Every year, Barnett Waddingham hosts Football and Netball tournaments, where people travel from all the different offices to take part in. This was a great opportunity to meet people from different offices, and in an informal situation. We all went to the pub afterwards and this was great fun with the team!