Summer Student Review

Be a member of both the Actuarial and Investment Consulting teams. Assisting other team members with calculations, preparing documents to send out to clients, some other administrative tasks. Work in a team and communicate to balance workload between the two practice areas. Work involved in includes, but not limited to: transfer out calculations, investment monitoring reports, actuarial valuations, actuarial reports, sustainability reports. Attending internal and external meetings, whilst being able to get involved in niche areas if possible.

Learnt a variety of calculations and techniques to develop my existing excel knowledge to make working more efficient. Developed organisation skills - especially when balancing workloads between the two practice areas. Bettered communication through conversing, verbal and written, with those in higher positions, clients and through working in a team on a day to day basis. Learnt a lot of technical skills, especially about actuarial work which was largely unknown to me prior to the internship.

Was given responsibility similar to a graduate, in terms of quantity of work but also what pieces of work. So would say the responsibility was as expected. Managed to get some exposure to external meetings with associates, principals and partners - which other graduates were not in attendance so was good to get see what potential future work may look like in the future. Overall would say responsibility was as expected, not too much considering lack of knowledge in comparison to others.

Lots of team members always on hand to answer any questions. Had mentors in both business areas alongside line managers in both - however support not limited to these people and others frequently offer support and feedback to help develop across the course of the internship. Received training videos on the basic background information and then also instructions used for past graduate training on how to conduct calculations. Overall would say the support was very good.

Everyone you work with in the whole firm, not specifically the Leeds office, is really nice and chilled out. No culture of having to be the last one in the office or competing between each other. Really social as well, with frequent work drinks and lunches going throughout the internship. If there is a specific area which you are more interested in then people will be able to get you in contact with the right people which is really helpful.

Really enjoyed the internship overall. Think the concept of rotating between two business areas should try be accommodated into more internships moving forward. Especially within pensions, having knowledge of actuarial work definitely benefits the investment work and vice versa. The workload was never too heavy that I felt I needed to stay extra hours to complete it, and it was fully encouraged to go home once all work and hours completed. Would definitely recommend the internship.

Yes

Having a good thorough knowledge of pensions and what work an actuary/investment analyst do will place you in a strong starting position, however would not say it is completely necessary as it is able to be picked up relatively quickly. Making sure to do research of exams and potential areas to specialise in will help, EG for investment consulting which research area is of interest or if you prefer CFA or IoFA exams and what they entail.