Retirement Intern Review

I really enjoyed my internship at Willis Towers Watson, it was a challenge at times, but the work was engaging and I felt like I learnt a lot during my time here. My internship helped to develop a variety of skills including presenting, researching and aptitude with Microsoft Office. I became better informed on the intricacies of different pension schemes and the work required for them. The scope of the work I completed ranged from large current projects to the day to day calculations and this really helped with my understanding of the industry.

I felt very valued and welcome during the 8 weeks, as often people asked for my assistance on projects that were important to the company. This made me feel like my abilities were trusted and that people genuinely wanted me to get the most exposure and experience during my time there.

The support system in place at WTW was really effective, I had a 'buddy' during my time here to specifically support me during the first few weeks which was really helpful. I also found that generally anyone in the office was ready and happy to answer any questions I had or to make sure I understood my tasks without making me feel like a burden.

I had a good, constant flow of work during the 8 weeks. Some weeks were busier (when there were deadlines to meet), but overall I found I had appropriate amounts of work to keep me engaged during the week, without having to resort to menial tasks. On top of the daily tasks I was given, there were also presentations and group tasks for personal development which filled in the gaps when my business unit had less work.

I'd say I was given a decent level of responsibility as an intern, I felt valued and like the work I did had an effect, without the stress of feeling like I was in over my head. One of the tasks I had, was to plan social events as part of a group for both my business unit and for the whole office. I felt like this was a really good delegation of responsibility as it was both fun, but showed that our supervisors trusted our judgement.

My actuarial placement will greatly help me when I return to university, as the training I received will directly correlate to my modules for next year and help my understanding of the topics. Also, the general skills I developed with Excel and my professionalism will definitely help me in the future.

The general office atmosphere was really friendly and relaxed. I always felt comfortable to approach anyone and ask for help, or to have a general chat during lunch. The social events during my time there were also great ice breakers and I found it really helped everyone to get to know each other and feel comfortable.

I felt like it was really well organised, we had a lot of deadlines for our personal development tasks and they were all spaces really well during the 8 weeks. I never felt like I needed to rush anything, as we were always given plenty of notice and could see our deadlines from the outset of our internship and plan accordingly.

WTW really invested a lot of time into my development and training. The whole first week was dedicated purely to training and I was never never made to feel like my own personal development was less important than the work that was set to me. I was given a lot of flexibility when it came to finishing my development tasks and in some cases pushing back the actual work set to me for these.

At this stage, I haven't received any indication of whether I have a spot on the graduate program or not. However, the company itself made sure not to put any pressure on us during the internship to perform exceptionally constantly, but they did talk us through measures we could take in order to help our chances of returning.

They was a great social environment between the interns and also with some of the more recent years of graduates. Everyone was super friendly and I was constantly fielding offers to go to the pub or out to the local town for lunch. There was also a lot of diversity at some of the socials and I got the opportunity to network with people from all different levels of the company.

Since my office wasn't in London, we were able to get reasonable drinks in quite a few different places. But it was really convenient, because it was only a 40 minute train ride into London, so there was the flexibility to head into London for a slightly more expensive but varied night out.

There were a lot of different bars and pubs that were a short walk from the office and conveniently placed right behind the train station. There was also a small club nearby, but the option to get the train into London or Croydon quickly opened up the options for a night out.

There were constant opportunities during the 8 weeks, both with charity work and also with loads of different sports like football and badminton after work and squash during lunchtime. There was even the opportunity to attend corporate games one weekend and take part in a variety of sports like hockey and netball in tournaments against other companies.