Group Finance Intern Review

It was great working within the finance team at Hiscox. Everyone was very friendly and took an interest with my future career, offering tips for the future and helping me learn new skills which will be invaluable for the future. Having other interns to work with and compare experiences was also great as we could help each other with tasks we were too nervous to ask other employees.

Coming in to the team, everyone welcomed me and offered help when needed. I was also given work that would be of use to the team and got involved with other work from different team members. Due to the time constraints of the teams work it was difficult at points to interact with the team and get feedback/more work.

When I asked for help it was given and they helped a lot. However, due to the team being so busy the chances to ask for help we’re limited and I would often have to ask other people or research things myself when people were away and couldn’t offer advice.

After finishing a few of the set tasks it was difficult to stay busy as the rest of the team were too busy to take time out to explain new work for me. Due to the short time frame of most of the tasks I was busy for short periods at a time and didn’t have extra work to fill the down time.

I was given a project at the start of the internship to complete which would be used by senior members which took priority in my work but apart from that a lot of my work consisted of doing bits of work for people to help meet deadlines. I wasn’t given a lot of responsibility apart from taking ownership over the project I was given.

I gained a lot of valuable work skills including working within a team, time management for short deadlines and interacting with members of the business from different areas. I also gained an insight into other areas of the business through shadowing therefore have more if an idea as to what I would like to do in the future

Due to the deadlines of the finance team, a lot of the time the office was quiet with everyone being focused on their own work. However the atmosphere was still friendly and there’s be a few conversations going on to make time go quicker. The exec team made sure the team were rewarded when deadlines had been met.

The internship program was well organised by Hiscox as we had set training days and had a support system in place. The work during the internship wasn’t as well organised as only one project had been explained at the start and the rest of the work was from asking around if anyone needed help.

We had a few different training sessions on both personal skills but also different areas within the insurance business which were very helpful and I gained a lot of skill from them. They also invested in the interns getting to know one another to gain valuable contacts for the future.

We received positive feedback and have been given a greater chance through the graduate program application process. However this has not fully been explained as to what will be different between us and other candidates. The graduate program has been explained to us which is helpful as we have a more in-depth understanding of what is on offer.

Within my department there was another intern as well as several other interns within other departments. We all got on well with each other. We were also given the opportunity to have a meal with each other to get to know everyone better and hear about their experiences during the intership

I commuted into the office as it worked out a lot cheaper but meant I had little time to socialise after work. During work there were a few places to meet up with people at lunch which weren’t too expensive.

We were based in central London near Liverpool Street therefore the transport links to different pubs and bars were great. The pubs nearby were reasonably priced for the area and were almost always full with a lot of other professionals in the area. It had quite a nice atmosphere as it was busy during the end of the week