Actuarial Summer Student Review

I thoroughly enjoyed my 8 weeks with Barnett Waddingham and as a result of this internship I am absolutely convinced that actuarial work is the career for me. Not only did I enjoy the work but also the atmosphere in the office which was always friendly and relaxed. I would recommend this experience to anyone to use as a means of testing whether or not they would enjoy a particular career!

On my very first day I was surprised to find that absolutely everyone in the office already knew my name! I suspect that this was mainly due to my mentor who had informed everyone when I was starting but even so I was pleasantly surprised at the effort everyone made to make me feel welcome. Everyone was so friendly and patient (with my endless questions) which made it really easy to ask for help. The people who sat near me in the office were especially helpful and would always drop what they were doing to come and explain something to me - even if they had nothing to do with the particular client/job I was working on!

I was assigned an actuarial student mentor and also a qualified actuary as a supervisor. My desk was situated near to my mentor and meant that I always had someone to turn to with questions even if they weren't related to actuarial work! She also kept me informed and involved in any social events outside of work including playing netball and going out for afternoon/evening drinks. It is also worth mentioning that my mentor was only a few years older than me so she could quite easily put herself in my position when explaining things. The only thing that I could fault about this system was that my mentor had one day off a week for studying. However everyone else in the office was extremely helpful and friendly and so I always had someone to direct my questions at!

Most of the time I found myself with a sufficient amount of work to keep me busy but not over-stretched. I spent the majority of my time working in trustee consulting but also had the opportunity to do some work for the investment and corporate teams. All kinds of people (including those in the most senior positions) would come and find me with jobs they wanted doing which was really encouraging. However, I sometimes found it hard to turn down work and then ended up with loads of jobs that all needed to be finished on the same day! This was something I adjusted to during my 8 weeks and learnt to prioritise certain jobs in order to get everything done efficiently. I was also given an individual project to work on "in the background" whilst trying to get involved in as much real actuarial work as possible - the point is I never found myself sitting around with nothing to do!

From my very first week I was surprised at the extent to which I could get involved with real client work. I had expected that at some point I might end up filing paperwork or making cups of tea to fill the time but this was not the case at all! I had the opportunity to work not only with senior actuaries but with partners as well and 90% of the time my work would be checked over once and sent out directly to the client. This certainly made me feel like I was contributing towards the work being done by the firm and there's not one point where I felt that I was getting in the way or wasn't needed.

In terms of my degree, the analytical and problem solving skills that I have developed are certainly transferable. However, as a physics student, I will be going to back to studying a lot of unrelated material during my final year of university. Nevertheless, after my 8 week internship at Barnett Waddingham, I fully intend to pursue a career as an actuary and so the skills and training that I have received here will go a long way in helping me reach that goal. I feel that I will have quite a significant advantage over other graduates who haven't had a similar experience.

As mentioned in a previous question the atmosphere in the office was always friendly and relaxed. When I first arrived at Barnett Waddingham everyone was so welcoming and continued to be really approachable and helpful throughout my entire 8 weeks. There was never a day where I felt that there was a bad atmosphere in the office as everyone seemed to get on so well with each other.

The first 2 days of my internship were structured 'induction days' with all of the summer students in one office (this worked out well for me as the induction days were held in the office I was working in). Having a pre determined schedule was ideal for the first couple of days as this gave us a chance to settle into the role without being too concerned about what to do and where to go etc. After these first 2 days each student returned to their own offices, we were shown to our desks and introduced to everyone properly. For me the next week or so then consisted of a lot of training sessions which then made me feel ready to get on with some real actuarial and client work in the weeks following. For the remainder of the 8 weeks the only other organised appointments were a mid-programme review and a final review (with my mentor and supervisor). I personally liked the fact that my first week was very structured and then less so in the following weeks as I think this allowed a gentle introduction into the role.

As mentioned above I was given plenty of training sessions in my first few weeks that enabled me to get heavily involved in client work in the following weeks. Many of the training sessions in my first week were one-on-one sessions which made me feel like the firm were really making an effort to help me learn as much as possible during my 8 weeks with them.

I could definitely see myself working for a firm like Barnett Waddingham in the future. My internship experience has been entirely positive and has certainly confirmed my interest in actuarial work.

I was the only summer student employed at my office so after my first 2 induction days I didn't really get a chance to see the others. However, there was some form of social event going on almost every week with the actuarial students at my office. These events included sports competitions, celebration drinks, nights out etc.

I was lucky to get an internship in an office situated only a 15 minute drive away from where I live (outskirts of Birmingham). This meant that I didn't have to work out any special accommodation or travel arrangements and the "cost" of socialising was nothing new!

The office I worked in was situated out of the city centre. People tend to have different opinions on this but I personally enjoyed the nice, green view from the window and also not getting stuck in traffic for hours in the city! Unfortunately this location meant that the nearest town was quite small and you would have to travel into the city centre for the nightlife (approx. half an hour drive)

There were several inter-office sports competitions held during my 8 weeks at Barnett Waddingham (netball, football, croquet...). I got involved with the netball which was really fun and because it was held near the beginning of my internship it presented a really good opportunity for me to get to know everyone. Furthermore, it wasn't just students getting involved in these sports competitions but actuaries and partners as well! In addition, there were plenty of celebration events (drinks, meals, nights out) for those who passed their actuarial exams over the summer - this again was a good opportunity for me to get to know everyone in a more informal setting.