Actuarial - Pensions Vacation Programme Student Review

In the Pensions department, the work is always interesting and exciting. Due to the amount of technical knowledge required to carry out the meatier parts of the work, interns do not really get a chance to entirely perform any of the actuarial calculations but there are opportunities to partially help with them. Having said that, the team is incredibly supportive and will take the time to explain the background of the work, even if it is not required for the simple task they assign, to make sure that the interns get a more complete picture, helping us make the most out of the Vacation Programme.

The best thing about the Actuarial - Pensions Vacation Programme at KPMG has to be the team and colleagues. They go out of their way to ensure that interns can easily settle in and do not hesitate to ask questions about anything. I felt like I was treated as a colleague rather than an intern, from client work to socials.

The managers and supervisors in the team are very friendly and helpful. No matter how busy they may be, I have always been able to ask them for help when I needed to. Sometimes, it is difficult to differentiate between managers/supervisors and other colleagues. This is because they are always around to help with work or even just have a friendly, informal chat,

Due to the nature of actuarial work, there was a limited amount of work that could be assigned to the interns. Having said that, the team does take the time to train interns to carry out basic actuarial calculations and reviews. This allows interns to be able to take on slightly more technical work to get some practical experience of the actuarial work. I found that the work flow had a very good balance, apart from a couple of days where there was hardly any work to do,

As mentioned above, there is a limit to the amount of work that interns can do in this department. Nonetheless, I felt as though I was given enough responsibility to get a taste of the actuarial work. The range of projects vary from assisting a colleague with report writing to independently updating client data. I would say that the programme does very well in trying to provide the closest experience to a complete one.

Depending on your degree, I wouldn't say that the technical skills developed will necessarily be very helpful in further studies. However, for those interns that are looking to pursue a career in Actuarial Science, I am sure that these skills will be very helpful and will give a head start in your career. You will also have the opportunity to develop a bunch of non-technical skills which will not only stay with through you university and work life but also help you in your personal and social life.

The general atmosphere in the office is very relaxed and friendly.

In terms of training, the programme was very well organised and structured, A casual and informal setting for most of the training sessions allowed interns to confidently ask any questions that we may have and allowed us to completely understand the information before moving on. In terms of the work, it is understandably very hard to organise work in advance, The team, however, does an amazing job at assigning a wide range of work to make sure we get maximum exposure.

I felt that, during my time at KPMG, the team was completely invested in the interns and genuinely wanted us to have an accurate taste of the work life, In terms of personal training and development, there have been a number of colleagues that have gone out of there way to set up training sessions (outside the organised ones) to explain concepts that they fell are useful for an actuarial intern.

Having worked through the 4 weeks, I believe that the future employment prospects are looking to be on the more optimistic side. The actuarial team is always looking for a helping hand and, if you are ready to commit yourself to Actuarial Science, your prospects with this firm is very bright,

On my second day in office, I had 3 socials marked on my calendar for the first two weeks, On top of that, there were a few socials organised by colleagues in the team. Furthermore, KPMG organised a boat party for all the London Vacation Programme students during the third week, Lastly, the actuarial interns were also invited to the SIAS boat party.

Personally, I did not face any costs of living as I live in London and had to commute using TfL. In terms of socialising cost, London is expected to be expensive. However, there are places around the office where you could socialise on a budget.

Working in London allows easy access to the exciting nightlife in Central London. I am not able to comment on the nightlife around Canary Wharf, in particular because I was always able to leave the office by 5:30pm (6pm latest).

As mentioned above, there have been a number of social drinks and events organised by KPMG and colleagues in respective teams. Apart from the social aspect, KPMG organised a CSR event where the interns (from all departments) helped a charity improve their brand image and increase their social presence.