Life Actuary Review

It was a really enjoyable 6 weeks with so much variety and hands-on experience. Each day was completely different which meant there was always something fun and new to do. Many of the interns felt the same way about the work they were doing too so general enjoyment levels were pretty high amongst us all.

My colleagues were really lovely people and did all that they could to include me in their team, whether this was socially (for example a night out or just a trip to get lunch) or for work. Although the work I was doing was probably not the most important tasks it was still easy for me to see how they valued what I was doing.

I had weekly meetings with my councillor who made sure that I was getting the guidance I needed in all aspects of my work. I also had a buddy who was similar to my age and had also done the internship a few years back so he could offer support too.

This varied a lot. Some days I was very busy (not too busy but the day was very packed), there were other times when I had perhaps didn't have enough work to do but as soon as I voiced this to a member of my team they offered me some work to help out on.

Most of the work I helped out with was internal so I had responsibility over this but it wasn't that important and there wasn't too much pressure to get it right. However, I did get involved in a few client engagements but the responsibility here was obviously reduced to some extent.

I learnt so much about programming and code which will be so useful both at university and in future life. I also had so many informative talks about various aspects of the job and regulations which will definitely help me if I do end up in this career and undoubtedly will help me in other related industries.

The office had a great atmosphere, it was really relaxed and a nice place to be - especially on Fridays when we had the opportunity to dress down. Although, as is the nature of the work, most of the team would be out on client site but this wasn't always the same people so I got the opportunity to meet everyone and get involved in different parts of the team.

The internship was really well organised and you could tell a lot of thought had been put into the programme. We were also sent an experience map to help guide us when we were asking for work or looking for projects to get involved in. The SIP team also contacted us regularly informing us about events and things we had to do.

As previously mentioned, each member of the team took time to talk with me one-on-one and teach me about different aspects of work. For example, I had talks on R, robotics, regulation, exams and so much more. this meant I developed loads as an individual throughout my 6 weeks at ey.

We had a really good social scene, we had a group chat and made sure that we went out together at least once a week. The initial training days in London allowed us to create a strong friendship group and made the first few days in the office less daunting (as well as giving us someone to eat lunch with!)

It was a relatively expensive place to go out and eat/drink or just general socialising. However, it was possible to walk to pretty much all the places we went so this saved us a lot of money and helped make it more accessible to join in on the social events.

There were lots of opportunities available to us to get involved in activities outside of work. We had multiple sports teams that all employees, including interns, could join - such as football and netball. There were also opportunities to do some charity work and get involved in charity events and these were all emailed to us over the 6 weeks.