Summer Student Review

The internship was highly structured with weekly exercises. The department had a work plan for the summer students to complete which was great as work was not just given on an ad-hoc basis. Company socials are always something to look forward to, especially since the internship is basically 2 months of precious summer. It's a great chance to meet the rest of the office whom I never really got a chance to meet through work.

About half the work I did was directly related to client work, which was highly valued by my colleagues who needed the work done. My work was appreciated and my colleagues would regularly give feedback and ways to improve. There were times when my colleagues would depend on my piece of work before they could go forward with theirs.

Each intern is also assigned a mentor at the start which is a good as you immediately have someone to go to when you need help. There are mid-term and final reviews that provide a great platform for my mentor and supervisor to provide feedback and support. Every piece of work that I was given was also prefaced by a short discussion to give me context and explanations. While I was left to my own interpretation sometimes, I can always count on feedback and direction by my supervisors.

While I was not busy with client work, I had to do weekly assigned exercises ranging from letter writing to excel exercises. These pre-set exercises helped to fill time in and kept me busy when the team was quiet. The beginning and end of the internship were definitely quieter for obvious reasons. Overall, it was a good balance. I never had to stay late, and my time in the office was not spent surfing the (limited) web.

I had to take responsibility for a few tasks. It's not as much as expected especially since we're just starting out. Interns have to plan socials, which was about as much responsibility that we would get. Otherwise, you don't get to plan how work gets done.

They assume you know nothing at the start. On day 1, they immediately provided excel and outlook training which would help in future tasks. Other than hard skills, the whole internship required my to plan my time and work properly. Working is definitely different from university, and it requires you to be on your toes and all times. These are great skills to have in general.

Everyone is friendly and very open to conversation, be it casual or work related. In fact, you were encouraged to make conversation! There are times when it is quiet, especially since it's summer and everyone goes on holiday, but the general atmosphere was more casual than you would expect.

It was very structured. There are regular team meetings and regular training sessions that are set up for the interns that everyone had to attend. Even though you don't get to use most of the training, it provided a great overview to what the business was about and what you would be doing in the future.

There are around 4-6 hours of training every week in the first few weeks where someone from the relevant department would spend an hour or 2 talking about their area of business. There is definitely significant investment into training for the new interns.

They look good, the firm is growing over the past years and it doesn't look to be slowing. They have a great actuarial study program too. Summer students are a definite route into the organisation and the future past that depends on your performance on the job.

Yes, there are plenty of after work drinks and activities that the office has planned. Some socials are among your own department, while others are with the whole office. Friday after work drinks are a definite must to attend! It's always buzzing.

London is expensive, period. However, at socials, people don't mind buying the summer students rounds.

It's London, there's always nightlife. Central London especially is always buzzing. You won't get bored with the city.

There were cricket, football and golf events this summer. There are plenty of activities to get involved in. We even went to a beer festival together!