Commercial Student Actuary Review

I was involved in a wide range of work. As a commercial actuarial student, I was involved in reserving, planning, risk capital modelling and some pricing. Allianz is great at giving students as much exposure to the work as well as the business. My time at Allianz has been very enjoyable. I've gained more than I expected and the internship really allows you to get a feel of what actuarial work is, how it affects the business and how other departments link in with the department.

My colleagues were very warm and welcoming. I felt extremely valued and appreciated. I was taught and guided through each piece of work, of which it is reviewed and feedback was given. This allows you to improve and build on your personal skills for the next job.

I was given a lot of support during my time at Allianz. Managers were always there to support and guide me through work. They would spend the time to teach and explain the purpose of the work and even arranged meetings with many other people in the business from different departments to broaden my understanding of the business. It's not just interns that receive a lot of support, everybody no matter what position always has the support and guidance of the people around the office.

I was fairly busy on most days. I'm very proactive, so I asked many people for work to get more exposure into actuarial.

Actuarial is a very technical role. Even as a student actuary who has not done any training, I was trusted to make my own decisions and assumptions on the work i've done. However, the work is always reviewed and checked. So i was given moderate amounts of responsibility, but ultimately i understood why I couldn't take on much responsibility as hoped.

I have gained and developed my softer skills as well as computer skills. Learning to use new and existing programs such as ResQ, Igloo, Towergate and excel. The internship has helped increase my fluency in using these programs.

The office had a real family feel. The department is not huge, so everyone gets the chance to talk to each other and get to know one another really well. It is not noisy, but it is quiet enough to get your work done.

Some work was organised, and some work was allocated depending on your personal interest. Allianz gives interns the time to explore other departments, visit different offices and explore the business as a whole. The internship works two ways, its a chance for you to gain and learn as much as you want, but Allianz is prepared to help you achieve and organise what you would like to gain from them.

There is a huge investment on training and development. There are many Lunch & Learn sessions, computer based training which are either an online course or course or in a class room and managers are always willing to set up meetings to explain and teach particular topics or work.

Allianz is a huge company. Future prospects of employment are great as Allianz likes to retain talent, so they like moving people around the office to different departments or entities to gain new knowledge or skills.

Allianz organises regular socials within departments. Its important for the department to allow workers to get to know each other out of work.

I lived at home, but working in London is not cheap, travel costed £60 a week and lunch came to roughly £35-£40. This doesnt include the amount spent socialising at bars etc.

I didn't go out much at night, but after socials we would always continue drinking and socialising at bars, go out for dinner at 11pm after drinking etc.

Allianz have many benefits employees can use. Some include sports, gyms and other social activities. Different offices have different activities which are offered depending on location.