Employee Benefits Broking & Consultant Review

The internship was overall an enjoyable experience - the other staff were friendly and welcoming, and generally I was given a range of work to do. Whilst it was not always the most thrilling work, it was normally varied and challenging enough to keep it interesting.

The teams which I worked in were all friendly and welcoming, and made me feel valued whilst I was working there. People were always keen to ask how I was doing and to check that everything was going alright with regards to my internship, which was nice as it showed that the people genuoinely cared.

My manager arranged to have fortnightly catch-up sessions with me to ensure that I was on track to complete the objectives for my internship and to offer advice on how to ensure that I got the most out of the internship. Outside of these catch-up sessions, my manger was always willing to answer and problems/queries I might have and solved issues quickly. Finally, I had a longer formal feedback session at the end of my internship during which I was given feedback on how I had performed throughout the duration of the internship and advie on how to keep improving in the future.

At the start of my internship, I was not particularly busy - I often found myself having to ask multiple times for work to complete throughout the day, as the work that I was given did not take much time. However, as the internship progressed, I I gradually became more busy as the amount of work I was given increased. The workload was never too onerous.

I was given a medium amount of responsibility during my placement. Again, the level of responsibility I was given increased gradually throughout my internship. Any work that I did for clients was always checked before it went out, but I was giving a greater level of responsibility when it came to dealing with insurers, and I engaged with them directly during my work.

The skills I developed and training I received will not assist me a great deal in my degree studies (History and Employee Benefits are not particularly linked). However, they will assist me in any future career I go into - I developed my professional interpersonal skills, have gained experience in communicating in a professional environment and learnt to manage several deadlines.

The atmosphere in the office was a friendly, welcoming one - on my first day I was taken out for lunch by my team in order to welcome me. People were always polite and courteous and, when I ran a charity fundraising event, they were welcoming and happy to get involved.

The internship was well organised - at the beginning of the internship, all interns were given general training together, for which we were provided with accommodation and travel expenses, which was well-organised and ran smoothly. During this training we were set a group charity project to complete during the duration of our internship and then also given various presentations/workshops on business skills. My manager then ensured that I knew exactly which teams I would be working with and when, although retained a certain flexibility so that it was adaptable according to the work.

There was general business training given to all interns at the start of the placement, which was useful in giving an overview of business skills.We were then given a day of training specific to our streams. Then throughout the internship there were weekly 'Lunch and Learn' sessions, which were used to give all interns an insight into the other parts of the business that they weren't working in so that we were given a broader knowledge of the company as a whole. These training.learning sessions were useful, but would have been more so if there had been more aof an opportunity for active engagement with them rather than being presented to.

If the internship goes well, there is the potnetial to be offered a place on the company's graduate scheme. This is appealing as the graduate scheme offers the chance to work in a wider range of areas for a greater period of time, so it is an attractive prospect. More generally, as a global business, Aon offers the opprtunities to move into a wide range of business areas at a wide range of locations, which suggests it is an attractive company to work for.

There were a couple of all-intern events, which were good to get involved in - a quiz night at the start of the internship and a drinks reception at the end of the internship, which were enjoyable events and nice of the company to put on. However, there were only 3 interns in the office I worked in, there was relatvely little socialising there. In the office, I was treated to a welcome lunch and a leaving lunch, but other than that, there was not much of a social scene.

I was able to live at home with my parents, which meant that the living costs were kept down for me - I had to pay for the train to work every day, but this was only 2 stops so was also quite cheap. Costs of socialising were reasonable for the south-east - expensive, but not especially so.

The nightlife in the small town that I worked was rather lacking - there are a few pubs around, but not many nightclubs. People coming from uni should not expect to be able to enjoy as vibrant a nightlife as they do at uni/

There was an office indoor football session that was possible for people to go to (although I was unable to go to this as I was already playing football that evening). Other than this, there was a few one-off events that you could get involved in e.g. one insurer offered 'Softball in the Park' with drinks and food available.