Corporate Partner and Broker Marketing Intern Review

I throughly enjoyed my internship with Allianz. I am returning again this summer in a different role, but would more than happily return to my old team. Everyone was so welcoming, patient, and really wanted the interns to succeed. You hit the ground running, but that's not to say they expect you to know everything from day one. There are numerous opportunities to learn more about the business as a whole, and gain insight to other departments if you so wish.

I felt very valued by colleagues; I was treated like the other colleagues in the sense that I was given proper work to do, but I was also treated like an intern in the sense that people were patient with you. Different people in the office would ask if I could help with a variety of tasks if I got the chance, allowing me to stretch my legs and get stuck in with many different tasks.

I was given plenty of support by management. My supervisor met with me on a weekly basis to chat about my work, how it was fitting in to the larger picture, and to check that everything was okay. I had a four week review with valuable feedback that I was able to then act on. I was also offfered support from a huge number of people in the office. On many occasion I would ask different members of the team if I did not understand something, or if I was merely curious about the insurance industry, and everyone would happily spare half an hour to sit with me and talk it through. At Allianz, everyone is keen to make sure you do well, and if you put yourself out there and get to know everyone in the office, it's not long before people are offering to help you, or meet you for lunch to discuss what you're working on.

At the beginning of the internship there are a few welcoming days, workshops, and administrative tasks that you have to go through, so the first week was not really a full working week. However, this is not necessarily a bad thing as it allows you to settle in easily and find your bearings. After that my work increased significantly. I would not say that I was overloaded by any means, I could happily leave my desk at the end of the day knowing that all my work was done for the day and there were no deadlines that I was not going to meet. But there is enough work to get on with, and there was usually a meeting or two a day. If I was ever short on work I could ask for more, but usually when workload was low my line manager would find me more work, possibly in a different team. I could have dealt with more work, but the amount of work given was adequate and it allowed me to go to different offices and doing other activities such as call listening and shadowing.

At Allianz you are given work that is essentially other people's work. It was work that either someone was struggling to get done in time, or had been pushing back for a while, or something they felt another bare of hands might help with. So the work was not simple admin everyday, or basic research, it was the work that Allianz employees worked on everyday. This meant the work I was set was important, and had to be done to a high standard. I was given one main project that I worked on throughout the placement, and then also a number of different tasks that I was assigned each week which had to be completed as soon as possible. Your line manager also gauges how you are coping, and sets more or less working depending on how you are finding the workload.

Allianz gave me a taster or what its like to work in a large corporate environment, which will definitely put me in a good position after I finish university. I have learnt a great deal about the insurance industry, and feel fully prepared to enter the working world once I finish my studies.

There was a very good atmosphere in the office. Everyone was friendly and very sociable, but it was most certainly a place of work. People generally arrived (in my office anyway) around 8:30, and would leave between 5 and 5:20. Apparently the London office stayed later, so I guess it depends where you are placed. I was at the head office in Guildford. The office had the nice combination of being a place where everyone worked hard, but also had time to stop and say hello if they walked passed your desk.

The internship programme is set up very well. It acts as a direct feeder into the graduate scheme, and as a result there are numerous opportunities to learn more about the different areas of the business and grad schemes available. There are a number of welcoming days before you begin allowing you to meet other interns and grads, which includes a treasure hunt around Guildford. There is a welcome day at the London office as well. I had to desk hop whilst I was there, but I always had somewhere to sit. Most interns got a desk for themselves, and all of us either got a desktop or a laptop. There is a buddy system, where you have a grad as a buddy, which is really helpful.

Allianz provide you with a valuable base knowledge of the company, and take you to different offices, allowing you to call listen and shadow other departments to allow you to gain insight to different areas of the business.

Very appealing. There are a number of different graduate schemes, which you can get fast tracked onto if you do well on the internship. On one of the graduate schemes there is the potential to work out in India as well as a team leader.

There was a good social scene. The team went for a meal and other social events. All the interns also went out of numerous occasions on nights out and evening events. The intern social scene will depend on where you are placed, as some offices have very few interns, where as the head office in Guildford had loads.

I lived at home, but drove 90 minutes each way, so around 75 pounds in petrol a week. Guildford is not exactly cheap, but it is most certainly cheaper than London. It was nice to have the head office environment without having to take the tube.

Guildford has a pretty mild nightlife. There are a few clubs, lots of nice bars, but it is not amazing for students.

There was a cricket team that some of the interns joined, and many people took the discounted gym offer. There were also many team building days that involved sports day and sociable events etc.