Summer Intern Review

Overall, I enjoyed the summer internship. It was important to gain valuable work experience and learn about the insurance industry. I worked on a number of projects throughout my time which added some value and felt as if I was doing something productive. Plus, working in London during the summer was fun and I was made to feel welcome in the team I was put in.

I did feel welcomed by my colleagues and the buddy/mentor system worked well. Of course this depends largely on who is assigned your buddy and some interns got better than others. As an intern, you are a novice therefore I was not given much responsiblity because you simply don't know enough at this early stage. Whenever I asked, people made an effort to explain things to me or helped me out.

I was always given support and guidance by my manager whenever I asked for it and it was nice to know that there was a support system in place if ever I needed it. I had weekly meetings and could arrange to speak with my manager whenever I needed. However, I think it was important for you, as an intern, to work things out for yourself at times as this is what is expected of you.

There were times when I really had not much to do but I expected this before the internship started. The summer is extremely quiet and a lot of the team were away on summer holidays. It was important to remain proactive and ask your manager for tasks to do, meet teams you were interested in. Plus, if there was literally nothing, you could always work on your CSR project.

I was not given a huge amount of responsbility on my internship. This was expected and was in line with my expectations because I didn't know enough to be put on urgent business projects.

We recieved 3 days training at the start of the intership which gave us a general overview of what was expected from us. However, you really start learning when you're in the actual office and it is important to try and take as much in as possible and to ask questions if you don't understand. It will take a few weeks for you to have a real idea of what your team do and how it all works. The experience will be useful once I leave.

It was summer so it was relatively quiet and relaxed which made it a good time to start.

It was well organised but once again this was dependent on your team. Most the interns did not know what their team was until the morning we arrived in the office which did make preparing difficult and this could be improved. However, once the internship started, it was well strcutured with weekly lunch & learn's as well as the CSR project.

The firm has an interest to help and develop you because they want to know if you would be the right candidate for the graduate scheme. For this reason, they do make a strong effort to help you fit in and to offer you personal training.

Future employement prospects are good - there is a high conversion rate between interns and graduates

There seemed to be a good social scene in some teams and amongst groups of interns.

It is central London so obviously it was expensive to socialise (£5 drinks minimum). The cost of living was also very expensive if you cant commute from home. I would suggest finding accomadation as soon as you are offered the job. Sub-letting/ relying on family friends.

Nightlife in London is good. In the area I worked there were a number of nice (but expensive) bars therefore you need to go elsewhere to find cheaper/better places.

I attended a few corporate events which was a bonus. In the summer there were plenty of activities going on particularly for permanent employees.