Summer Intern Review

The internship was a very positive experience, and one I thoroughly enjoyed. I got out of it exactly what I wanted to: gaining a greater understanding of the industry, and of what working life would be like as a graduate in an actuarial role. Everyone was extremely friendly which made it really easy to fit in to the company and role quickly.

As mentioned above, everyone was very friendly and welcoming. Those who gave me work, always went to the effort to show their appreciation for helping them out or doing a good job of something.

You get a buddy, and a people manager. Your buddy is a first year graduate. Mine was really lovely and helpful. I felt like I could always ask for help or guidance, even on questions that I thought sounded stupid. You fill out learning logs during the eight weeks to keep track of the work you're involved in. My people manager met with me once a week, and made sure I was doing okay with the learning logs, asked me if I had any worries/questions and how I felt everything was going, and also collected some feedback from individuals I'd worked with to talk through with me. They were very helpful and friendly, and definitely supportive and approachable.

For the first few weeks I was naturally less busy, but with the intern project, learning logs, industry news etc, there was always something to be doing or reading. Afterwards, I got a lot busier and always had work to do. When someone asks you to do some work they always ask you if you have the scope, so you can make sure you're not overloaded. As interns I think we were all keen to get as much experience and learn as much as possible, so mostly took on the work.

All work has a do, check, review process, and as a newbie I was just involved in the 'doing', but I definitely felt that I was given the right amount of responsibility with this. After working for the same individuals a few times, they made it clear that they valued my judgement and help. I got to send emails and letters and make phone calls to clients also. The intern project is also something you get to make completely yours in how you approach it, carry it out and present it.

The experience I gained, and the feedback I received during my time will be invaluable as a graduate in my first job. I think that an internship improves confidence a lot along with learning the more technical skills etc, which will be really important going forward.

A really friendly atmosphere. Everyone chats to each other in free moments. There's no individual offices, and everyone is seated together, so I was able to easily approach whoever I wanted or needed to talk to including up to partner level. Each bank offers each other food and drink from the kitchen whenever they want something themselves.

We had different inductions in the first few weeks which were useful to get settled in, and a few other things later on that were set up for us. This was all set out and sent to us by email and given to us on paper on the first day. A few of the things scheduled were changed multiple times, but it didn't really matter. My people manager, buddy and team leader were really helpful if I needed to get any extra information. IT were also easy to get in contact with and get help from.

My people manager always checked with me if I was getting to do enough of a variety of work, and when asking others for feedback, spoke to them about different work they could get me involved in which was useful. Others that I worked with clearly made a conscious effort to give me work and feedback that would help me to develop.

They put themselves across as a very friendly and professional company to work for within my eight weeks, which makes them appealing to work for. All the interns seemed to be appreciated in the firm. We finished the placement almost 3 weeks ago, and do not yet know who will be offered graduate roles but should hear before the end of September.

I attended several socials during my eight weeks which were always fun, and seemed to have good turn outs. The interns were all friendly with each other and organised to eat lunch etc together most days.

Depends what you're used to, and what you decide to do. Travelling and drinking in London is always going go be expensive. You can choose to bring packed lunch and make it cheaper, or buy lunch every day which again is always going to be more expensive.

The office is really near to St Pauls, so central London and easy to get to fun places.

Yes definitely. There were lots of different socials whilst I was there, including an away day. There's also a few sports clubs, which I think could be made more obvious to new people, but I did hear about.