Pensions (Actuarial) Intern Review

I really enjoyed the internship. From my first day in the office I was able to get involved in client work and help out. The internship made me understand what working at KPMG would be like as a graduate as I was doing the same work that they would do.

I felt really valued by my colleagues. Everyone I worked with always had time to answer any of my questions, and they made sure that I could get involved with lots of actuarial work. My colleagues trusted me to complete client work and gave good feedback, which made me feel like part of the team.

I had regular meetings with my manager where we talked about the work I was doing and if I needed more/ less work. My manager also made sure that I got involved in meetings and varied actuarial work. When I was given work by someone, they would always set aside time to explain the work, and afterwards they always welcomed any questions.

As soon as I started I was given client work to complete on excel which kept me busy. I always had work or training to complete so I was never bored. We had meetings to make sure that everyone didn't have too much/ not enough work. Whenever I felt my work was running out I could always ask my colleagues who would have work for me to do.

I was working with actuarial graduate trainees and I was given the same work and responsibility as them. As I was completing client work from day one, I felt like I had lots of responsibility, but I also knew that all work would be checked and reviewed, and so there wasn't too much pressure when completing tasks.

I increased my excel skills during the internship as I used it for lots of client work. This will help me after university when I get a graduate job. I learned lots about actuarial work as I completed calculations, which again will be useful in an actuarial graduate role. My time-management and organisational skills have been improved which will help at university.

The atmosphere in the office was really good. People were really friendly and always had the time to talk to each other and help out when needed. Flexible working hours and a relaxed atmosphere made it a really nice place to be. But people were also focussed and worked hard when they had lots of work to do.

I attended a training day on my first day which was really well planned, and involved all northern office interns. On my first day in the office I was given client work to complete on excel and I had a meeting where the work was explained clearly. As my internship progressed I was given harder actuarial work which allowed me to understand more about what an actuary does.

KPMG has lots of online training modules that you can complete online. All of my colleagues I worked with always set aside time to explain the work they gave me and why the work was being done. Whenever I didn't know how to complete a task there was always someone who would spend time explaining things to me.

Future prospects are really good after completing the internship. You are given a set of objectives to try to complete throughout your internship, and after completing these and performing well you have a good chance of getting an offer - I know lots of people who joined the firm after their internship here.

The social scene amongst my colleagues was really good. Lots of my colleagues were fun to be around and were really interesting people. It was also nice going out at night with some of them because I got to know them more. Everyone I met seemed really friendly in the office and were nice to be around.

Manchester is not too expensive (especially when comparing it to London). I didn't live in Manchester while I was on the internship - I commuted from home. But I found that when I did spend money it wasn't too expensive - there were always cheaper/ more expensive options, depending on what you wanted.

The nightlife in Manchester is really good. There are lots of bars and clubs to go to and they can be really busy. It also helped that the KPMG office is in the centre of the city, and so it was convenient when going out with colleagues after work together.

I didn't get involved in activities after work, but I know that there are lots of KPMG groups (like societies) that you can join and these can have activities that take place outside of work. I felt that my commute was long enough so that I didn't want to go to activities after work.