Summer Student Review

I very much enjoyed my internship: Everyone at the office was friendly and made an effort to make you feel included. There were many fun socials, from a boat party to a table football competition, and these were a great way to get to know your team members outside of work. I was also surprised by how much I enjoyed the work. The tasks were varied and interesting. We had several research projects to complete, in which we were allowed to research into whatever specific topic we found most interesting, which were a highlight for me.

On several occasions my colleagues told me how much they appreciated my input and told me in what way it was helping them, and would tell me how much they would miss my help once I was gone. One day I was even taken out to steak lunch by one of my colleagues to thank me for completing a project for him. None of the tasks we did seemed trivial; whenever we were assigned a task the first thing we would be told was the final output and the purpose of it.

From the first day I was impressed by how much effort had gone into the support system. I quickly realised that the internship would be centred around giving us training, skills and experience, rather than just using us as means to an end. We were given a huge folder full of information and tips, and each week we were given a specific training exercise that gave us key skills and provided feedback. We were encouraged to ask questions whenever we could, and my mentor was always happy to help.

I believe I was given the perfect level of workload. I never had a day when I was sitting doing nothing, but I was also never in a position where I felt stressed by deadlines. Whenever someone assigned us a task, they asked us about our workload to ensure that it was balanced. Some days felt busy than other because I had multiple deadlines due that day, but never too busy, and on the other days I had long term projects that I could be working on.

One of the thing I was pleased by is that we were given the chance to do real client work during the internship. It was interesting to see and be a part of the final output, and it certainly did feel like we had been given responsibility. I was also given responsibility for the direction of research tasks, and even organising socials, which certainly contributed to making me feel a valued member of the team.

I have learnt a wide variety of skills from the internship. One of the first things I noticed improving was my use of excel: before I started the internship I thought I knew quite a bit about excel, but over the internship I have learnt so much more about it and become a lot more proficient. I have gained actuarial specific skills, such as the methods behind pricing and reserving, and also knowledge of the general setting of the industry. I have also developed broader skills that will be useful in my degree and further work life, such as time management and giving presentations.

The atmosphere of the office was a very friendly and relaxed one, whilst still maintaining a positive hard working undertone. If I wanted too stop and chat to someone about anything I felt very comfortable to do so, but at the same time the office remained relatively quiet, so it was still easy to concentrate on your work if you needed to do someone. Everyone seemed very approachable, even if you hadn't already been introduced to them.

At the beginning of the internship we were given a folder that included both an overview and a detailed breakdown of how the 8 weeks of the internship would play out. Training would last for the first 5 weeks, and we were told from the beginning what training exercise would be in each specific week and how long we should expect to complete each one. All of these timeframes were kept to, so it was easy to organise yourself.

For half the internship we were given specific training sessions each week, but we also had exercises that taught us key skills every week, and both those and the normal work was great in giving us new experience and development. We were even given a tour of LLoyds which was great, and the internship still felt centred on giving us training and personal development even to the final week.

I think the company would be a great place to work at once I have finished my degree, and I could see myself staying here for a long time, as they a continued personal development programmes and support for taking the actuarial exams. I have not been specifically offered a job yet, but I was told to treat the internship as an 8 week long interview, and it was heavily implied that they like to hire students from the summer programme.

There was a great social scene. We organised social within the company, such as the boat party, treasure hunt and table football competition. But also outside of work hours there was a great social scene: we would go out together for drinks on a Friday night, and one day someone even had a fantastic barbeque at their house, to which they invited the whole team. Everyone seemed to genuinely get on well with each other.

As the internship was in the centre of London, naturally the prices of living and socially would be expensive. Instead of renting a place in London, I commuted from my home town Colchester, but the train tickets were expensive. Any time we went out for activities you did have to expect for it to be relatively expensive compared to what it might be in other cities, but on the other side of the coin the places we attended were of a very premium standard, so you get what you pay for. It is worth noting that we did have cheaper social activities, such as the barbecue at one of my colleague's flat.

Again as the office was in the centre of London, there was an abundance of both pubs and clubs to go to. Our office was 20 minutes walk from Shoreditch, which is where the best nightlife I experienced was, but there were also many great pubs close to the office.

There were the many social activities that were outside of work, but also more intellectual events such as presentations, for which we were always told about in advance, and at least one member of the team usually attended each presentation.