Pensions Actuarial Intern Review

I thoroughly enjoyed my internship at KPMG. The work I was assigned was interesting and challenging whilst striking a good balance between being engaging and complex but not too time consuming allowing me to do a variety of different tasks. My colleagues were a joy to be around both at work and I was invited to many fun social events.

I was involved in client work right from the start of my internship so straight away I felt like I was doing meaningful work. Since many parts of client work are fairly short it meant I could follow projects for the majority of their time frame and be involved in the communication aspect of the job. My colleagues were keen to set me up with any work they had available that might be beneficial to me and were very appreciative once I had completed it.

My manager was sat just across from me so would always spare a few minutes for a chat from time to time both casual and work related and was enthusiastic with setting me up with different pieces of work or talks with various people around the office. My mentor was who I mainly did work with and he was always happy to give me help whenever I needed it, the same can be said for anyone else I did worked with in my department.

I was kept very busy during my internship, and if there were any times I was free I could ask around and my colleagues would always have something I could do. Generally at the start of the week I knew what longer projects I would be working on and then smaller projects or simple tasks occurred each day. There was as much work to do as I could get through. For the most part the deadlines weren't immediate so I never had to stay late and could just pick up where I left off the day before if work did not get finished.

Since much of the client work I was performing was calculations I did feel some responsibility. However everything was briefly double and triple checked by multiple people before it could be given to clients, so I never felt under pressure from it. My emails with clients also had to be checked my colleagues before being sent. I was responsible for managing my work load and deciding when I could or when I couldn't take on another task.

Working in an office environment was a good experience and the exposure to communicating with clients through email or by phone will be very useful in my working life. Developing my ability to manage time effectively and prioritize work will certainly assist with the rest of my degree and my future career. Since most of the work I performed was technical, the skill will only likely assist me possible in my degree and the specialist work in my future career.

Everybody was very friendly in my department and there were always conversations going on about absolutely anything. Maybe this is because it was during the Summer but it was a relaxed atmosphere on the whole where colleagues were happy to help each other and help me.

The internship was very well set up. All of the interns had an induction day in the London office on the first day before being sent to our respective offices, we learnt about the company and the technical basics we would need for our internship. On my first day in the office I was given a laptop and a desk to do all my work and given a further brief overview of what my department did by my mentor. Then I was treated like one of the team and helped with whatever work came up. In the last week there was also a conference call set up among the interns and a senior person at KPMG where we could ask further questions.

There was a day long induction in London on the first day and then throughout my internship I had lots of different talks and tutorials for the task I was about to try. I was also encouraged to ask lots of questions to make sure I really understood parts of tasks rather than just following procedures. Furthermore there were some online sessions I could participate in.

I definitely felt like it was a good fit at the company and the department and I enjoyed my internship. Whilst there I could see there was a clear progression graduates follow and it looked very exciting. Towards the end of my internship my manager asked if how I found it and if I would like to try for the graduate position and then he set me up with a partner interview. Following the partner interview about a week later I got an offer for the graduate position.

I was the only intern in my department but there were a few in other departments in the office. I met them at a social in the first week and spoke with them at lunch a few times but didn't socialise with them outside of work again.

I was living with my family so I can't comment too much on living costs but socialising is probably on the more expensive side since the office is right in the centre and that is where most of the socials take place.

Although I didn't visit see much of the Nightlife during my internship other than a bar or two, Bristol has a very good Nightlife. Most places are near the centre as is the office so if you were also living in the centre, it would have everything you would need!

During my internship despite being a relatively small office and department there were many events and socials I was able to get involved in. From going to a bar and getting free drinks after work to working in the Reading office for a day and playing football in the afternoon to going to Cheltenham race course one Friday evening.