Claims Intern Review

I spent 9 weeks as an Intern at the Allianz UK head office in Guildford and thoroughly enjoyed the experience. Everyone at the company did their utmost to make me feel welcome and it is definitely a company I would want to work for in future.

During my placement I worked alongside 2 other interns in a team of around 10 people. Everyone did their best to make us feel like part of the team right from the word go - we went to lunch together, out for drinks after work etc. With regard to the work we were tasked with, we were made to feel as if we had a real role to play in the progression of the business and by the end of the placement I was able to see a number of the projects I had worked on in use.

Each intern is assigned to a 'line manager' who oversees their placement from start to finish - this will be a member of the team they are working in. Throughout the internship we had weekly 1 to 1 catch up meetings, alongside an official midway and end of placement review. These followed the same framework as a full time employee's performance review and allowed us to see areas we had excelled in and areas we needed to improve.

During my placement I worked as part of an operations based team and as such the work environment is by nature very reactive - on some days we would be at full speed and on others it was more relaxed. The workload probably peaked during the middle of the placement where we had numerous projects on the go at once, each with their own deadlines.

After an initial bedding in period where we were given some low-priority, admin style tasks that allowed us to learn about Allianz and the insurance industry as a whole, many of the tasks we were given required us to take real ownership of the work. By the end of the placement, we had opportunities to manage projects from scratch through to implementation and although this was challenging, it definitely made you feel more like an employee than an intern.

The business world demands efficiency, which is also reflected in the way you write and learning how to communicate more clearly and concisely will definitely prove to be an important skill for essays at university that are constrained by strict word limits.

The atmosphere in the office was very relaxed and sociable - management seemed happy for people to chat to one another whilst they worked and you were very much left to work at your own pace. The dress code was business casual and each team has its own staff kitchen with a free coffee machine and fruit - a godsend in the mornings!

The internship process was well organized from the application stage through to arriving for your first day. Throughout our placement a number of days were spent at Allianz' corporate training suite at Horsley Park, Surrey which was a great chance to meet up with interns based at the other offices around the UK. We were kept well informed about admin stuff such as pay/holiday and the assessment and review processes were thoroughly explained.

In order for me to gain an insight into the business as a whole, I spent 3 days out of the office visiting their other sites in Milton Keynes and Birmingham with all expenses covered by the company. Our line manager also scheduled 1 to 1 meetings with managers from each business area in order for them to explain what their role, share past experiences/advice and give a platform to ask any questions.

Allianz has a well renowned graduate scheme that covers a number of different career paths including finance, claims, actuarial, IT, management and underwriting. As interns you are encouraged to apply if you are thinking of a future career in insurance and I hope to be offered the chance to return to Allianz after finishing my degree.

Yes. We had 10 interns based at head office and had lunch together most days. We went for drinks after work around once a week and had 2 nights out in Guildford. Within our team, we got involved in 5 aside football during one lunch time each week and had a monthly night out on Fridays after work.

As it is in Surrey and quite close to London, Guildford is quite an expensive place to live. Rents for a room in a shared house are around £500-600 a month and during the summer Surrey University rent out their student halls for about £200 a week. In terms of socialising, it really depends on where you go, although there a tonnes of restaurants/bars/pubs to choose from -expect to pay around £4 a pint.

As a student town for most of the year Guildford has its far share of places to go out. There are plenty of pubs to choose from also and it is always busy on Thursdays and Fridays.

As we were only at the company for a short time, there wasn't massive scope to get involved in a lot of activities outside work. We did however play 5 aside football with some of the guys in our team against other departments on Wednesday lunch times which was good fun.