Investment Consultant Intern Review

The internship provided a very good broad overview of the company and the industry. Learning from a technical perspective allowed me to work on variety of projects which gives me a better idea of what kind of career I want to go into in the future. Additionally, if I am able to join full time, I have a much better idea of the different specialist roles an analyst can take.

Treated as part of the team. Coworkers were very keen to explain the theory behind the processes which was key towards improving my learning of this industry. They were also very patient when I struggled with some aspects which was to be expected with the steep learning curve.

The internship runs a buddy scheme where you are assigned a buddy who is normally a new graduate who has joined full time. Mine was very helpful towards finding work although the timing of the internship unfortunately coincided with a prebooked holiday of his. This proved not to be a problem however as my manager and team around were very helpful.

Started off lightly but became much more busy towards the end of the internship. However I would not describe myself as being truly stressed at any point. Hours did extend beyond 17:15 on a number of occasions so anyone looking to join should be wary of this.

Joining in a technical role meant the first couple weeks was mainly learning and not so much applying. Responsibility grew over time as I became more comfortable with the work and coworkers seemed happy to pass on client work to me.

Definitely built up a number of soft skills such as team working and effective communication. Due to the complexity of the work, I also developed the skill to quickly absorb new information and apply it under tight deadlines. Will definitely help when applying for other jobs.

The general atmosphere was very relaxed given the type of work the team does. Despite being a large team, everyone was very approachable and I did not encounter any problems fitting in. When under tight deadlines which was expected at the end of the quarter, the team worked hard but still maintained the calm environment.

There was no big, overriding project that I could work on from day one. The internship is very loosely structured with a strong emphasis on being proactive and finding work yourself. While initially concerning, this ended up being a good thing because I got involved in a wide variety of work through interacting with different members of the team.

Training was limited to a one day technical training event which covered very basic details of the pensions industry. It was quite disappointing and I found myself learning so much more when I actually joined the office. A more structured training beforehand would have been useful.

Internship is easily the best route towards joining full time so I would definitely recommend this path. However, at this time, the department is going through restructuring and therefore it was not clear whether a full time role is available.

The social scene was mainly organised by fellow placement students. Enjoyed good nights out. Quite disappointed that Aon did not organise a single intern event. Had to pay for events with colleagues too.

London is perfect for socialising but also a very expensive area - I was lucky enough to already have accommodation set. This was also not helped by the relatively low salary offered on this internship. Once again, a lack of company socials was disappointing. Then again, the team always insists on paying for drinks which was nice.

London has good nightlife but was not really my scene.

A charity project is run alongside the internship whereby a group of students from different departments join together as a team to assist an allocated charity. It was quite fun, team was easygoing and enjoyed the fundraising activities. It did, however, become an unwelcome use of time especially when workload was building up. Apart from that, not a lot of other opportunities.