Business Support Specialist − Retirement − Actuarial Review

The role involves supporting the team with client work including individual retirement calculations for members of UK defined benefit pension schemes as well as undergoing technical training. It also involved other admin tasks and preparing slide decks for other team members and clients. There is also a group research project and presentation and several training sessions on actuarial calculations including pre and post coursework and online material. There is also some software training.

Yes, I have learnt the skills required for performing actuarial calculations for pensions and have a better understanding of the terminology involved. My technical skills have also increased in other ways, such as stronger Excel skills. I have also improved my time management and organisation skills as there is a lot of work to do and prioritise and client work and training must be balanced; and teamwork and presentation skills thanks to the research project.

It's our responsibility to ensure we prioritise and organise our work and time to ensure that all deadlines were set and that we let the team know when we can accept more work. Actual work done is always checked by someone more senior but mistakes should be avoided to prevent time wasted repeating tasks. The research project leaves us to source our own information for our group's topic.

There is an immense amount of training material provided to ensure we have a solid technical understanding of the work. The team also makes an effort to demonstrate how we should perform the work given to us before we try it ourselves to make sure we fully understand what to do. If we make mistakes, they explain how things need to be changed. Everyone is always patient and happy to answer questions and provide support.

Everyone is very friendly and always happy to help out and answer questions. It's a very supportive and welcoming environment. Everyone is professional but approachable. There are also socials organised often for a stronger community feel, even during lockdown and whilst easing out of it, but no pressure to attend these. The socials are also varied to meet lots of peoples' different interests. A fun virtual social for interns across offices was also organised.

I found the internship experience very enjoyable and enriching. I have developed a wealth of actuarial knowledge, built up my network greatly and was really welcomed into my team. We are given actual work to do and it is also quite varied. Whilst the work was occasionally challenging and confusing, I liked that I was made to comfortable approaching anyone with a question and developed many soft skills too.

Yes

Be aware that the work is challenging and the training programme is very intense, but also very rewarding. Make sure that you understand the company values and that they align with your own. Build a good baseline understanding of pensions and what WTW does and demonstrate your enthusiasm during your interviews. Have competency based examples ready as well as showing you have the technical capabilities. Most importantly, feel confident and be inquisitive.