Summer Student Review

My time was mostly spent working on a range of jobs for various clients and internal work, from editing and summarising information, to working on investment calculations. In Actuarial Consulting and Investment Consulting, some of the work included editing funding statements, research on pension funds and writing a market summary. In Insurance and Longevity, I was able to work on technical projects using R and use Excel to summarise scheme data for clients.

I think I have improved on my technical and critical thinking, being exposed to lots of new tasks with technical information. I also think I have developed my communication skills, as there are lots of opportunities to work closely with employees on on-going projects, as well as have more informal chats if you have any general questions.

Yes, there are lots of opportunities to offer yourself up to work on any projects you are interested in, in addition to the work you may be given already. Also, there's plenty of chances to give presentations, discuss project work with supervisors or mentors and employees. Even though you are expected to take responsibility for your work, no one expects you to know everything and all understand that you are there to learn!

Everyone was very helpful and easy to talk to and I felt very supported by my mentors and supervisors! Even employees who I may not have been directly involved with, always still offered to help if I was stuck and gave up their time to answer any questions I may have had.

BW has a fantastic company culture! Everyone was (and still are) so welcoming and sincere, which made me feel comfortable to ask for help and generally get to know the people in the firm.

I thoroughly enjoyed my internship here and would definitely recommend it to anyone who is interested in an actuarial career, or would just like to know more!

Yes

Don't try to sound technical or 'actuarial' - be yourself! They really want to get to know who you are, not just what you know. Also don't be afraid to ask questions about anything you have read/ seen, or what the daily work looks like (there's a wide range, so it makes sense to ask) during the interview/ application stages.