Summer Intern Review

I thoroughly enjoyed my internship at Aon over the Summer. I worked within Aon Benfield (the reinsurance side of the business), primarily shadowing the brokers and dealing with spreadsheets containing information which would assist them in securing the best deal for the client. I worked within a team whose work was quite broad in scope, which enabled me to gain an in depth insight into different parts of the business over the 9 weeks.

I did not meet one person at Aon who did not make an effort to make me feel welcome and my team were really friendly, inviting me to meetings, Lloyd's, away days and socials whenever possible. I felt lucky to be working in the London office where there were many other interns to socialise with after work and hope we will stay in contact in the future.

Whilst the work was not always the most interesting (as this is a quiet time of year for reinsurance), I really enjoyed the experience. I felt comfortable asking members of my team for help whenever I was stuck with a piece of work and they were always very willing to sit down and explain things to me. Members of my team kindly also arranged for me to sit with colleagues from different teams, so that I was able to learn more about different branches of the business and where my interests may develop in the future.

As this is a quiet time of year for reinsurance, towards the end of the internship I often found myself twiddling my thumbs a bit. However, this was not too much of a problem, as all interns have a CSR project to coordinate and present at the end of the 9 weeks, so I would fill my time doing extra work for this when necessary.

I was given similar work to the graduates, so I felt part of a team who were relying on me to get the work completed. My colleagues would often set me work and then sit down with me afterwards to go through it, which I found particularly helpful.

I study Geography at university, so I am not entirely sure how my internship in Insurance will directly assist me in the final year of my degree. However, I think the skills I picked up on the internship, both technical and personal, will be of great help to me if I am fortunate enough to secure a place on the graduate scheme at Aon.

There was a positive atmosphere within the office. The office was rarely silent - you could always hear laughter or chatter wherever you walked. There is a general feeling when talking to employees that they really enjoy working for Aon and care a great deal about the future of the business. I also found that people were very polite, often holding open doors and allowing others to enter the lift first, which was really nice to see.

It is clear that Aon invests a great deal of time and effort into it's new starters. We were often contacted by the Early Careers Team, inviting us to lunch & learns on different topics, encouraging us to get involved in 'empower results day' and to complete the various courses available to us on Aon University.

We began the internship with a 2 day residential at the Chelmsford office, where Aon had arranged for different speakers give presentations on different parts of the business. There were also opportunities to get involved in workshops on presenting and public speaking which were fun but also a good ice breaker. Aon had also arranged a social in the evening where the interns were able to get to know one another better over dinner. The Early Careers Team divided us into small groups for the CSR project which took place from weeks 1-8, where we had to liase with interns in different offices to achieve a certain outcome for the client assigned to us. This was particularly good for developing our teamwork and communication skills, as well as our organisation, as Aon set a number of weekly deadlines we had to meet.

I would really like to return to Aon next year on the graduate scheme.

There was a good social scene in the office and my team would often organise drinks or lunches. The interns would often go to local bars on a Friday night. I would say I have made some friends for life during my internship.

I commuted to London during my internship so luckily I only had to pay a train fare. I would say that whilst it's true that London is very expensive to live and socialise in, it's worth it !

Very good - many bars and restaurants within 5 minutes of the office.

We were encouraged to take part in 'empower results day' for communities during our first week in the office, which was really good fun as we got to spend the day gardening and meeting new people from different teams. As mentioned above, there were a variety of socials to get involved in. I know that some of the interns in other teams took part in a sponsored run and swim during their placement.