Actuarial Vacation Intern - Pensions Review

I thoroughly enjoyed me short period at KPMG and even thought I was only there briefly, the company ensured that I was made to feel like an actual employee and this enabled me to fit in well within my team. My team were really good at including me within all aspects, both work based and social.

Almost from day one, I was working with a colleague to produce actual work for the company. This was ideal as it gave me responsibility in my work and also enabled me to quickly gain an insight into what the working day of a new graduate may be like and aided me with time management.

I was provided with a buddy which was very useful initially as it meant I could ask all the questions that I had and again enabled me to very quickly pick up on some of the new terminology and techniques used. At times, I did feel a little more guidance could have been given especially as I had not received the full induction into my roll.

I found it was more the other way around, the actuarial module that I had completed at University came into great effect. It also meant that at times where I felt originally I would have been lost, I was able to keep up due to previous knowledge. The skills I really developed were time management in terms of organising and prioritising my workload which will be very useful at University.

I think the initial induction was quite useful but it would have been beneficial to have received a more specialist induction to my department or maybe even some prior reading to commencing my Vacation Scheme. I did find that a lot of the time I was assumed to have a knowledge base far greater than I actually did. I did enjoy the fact that a celebration event was arranged and also that we were able to take part in a CR day.

I enjoyed how the team were able to work highly effetely with one another but also able to have social events and a friendly manner while in the office. I think at times it was quite overwhelming getting used to the office environment but I did find that the company had made effort to ensure that the best possible atmosphere was maintained.

I feel that there could have been more of a structured training process laid down before I actually began the vacation scheme. The majority of my learning came from meetings with colleagues which was really useful but initially I found I was a little overwhelmed as I had no real initial knowledge or overview of the department.

I think being paired with a graduate who was in their first year at the company was really useful. Also, within my teams there were quite a few graduates who were in their first few years at the company which gave me ample opportunity to ask questions regarding what the last years have been like with them especially with regard to the topic of exams.

I did gain a really good feel for what the study and work balance would be like in the first few years and I liked the idea of it being almost a hallway route from University to full time work. I really enjoyed the variety of work that I was able to take part in and think it would definitely be a career that I would be interested in.

On the first day, we had lots of networking opportunities with the other vacation students at this office and also a local one. As well as this, at the end of the day we had networking drinks which was really useful as it enabled me to meet members of my team before my first proper day in the office.