Corporate Risk and Broking Summer Internship at Willis Towers Watson Review

I really enjoyed the internship and felt it was really well organised. My team were ready for me and had lots of jobs for me to get involved with. I also really liked the opportunity to meet with senior colleagues and get to know them on a personal basis, something I know is less common at other companies.

I was given important work to give input on from day one, and was never treated like an intern doing runt work. I was called up to speak in meetings internally and when my manager was unable to come into the office on one day, I was the port of call for any inquiries to our team.

My manager was incredibly supportive and we built a fantastic rapport over the 8 weeks. Both my manager and manager's manager were very patient when explaining areas of the business to me and never treated me in a way where I felt stupid. I felt I've made a friend and we've exchanged numbers to keep in contact in the future.

My work was slow to start and meant that originally I was less busy, however this was just to ensure I learnt about the business and found my place in the company and by the end I was very busy and having to juggle a few projects, something I was very keen to learn and try.

I was responsible for my main project and throughout my 8 weeks was the recommended contact person for other colleagues when discussing the project, however my work and the work done by my team is only really for internal colleagues and so I felt as if the work I was doing wasn't being used to a very important level i.e. for clients.

I feel like I will use the skilled I have gained on the internship throughout my career/uni life. The most useful ones I can think of include sending professional emails to senior colleagues, conducting myself in a meeting with senior management and lots of Excel skills, something I will also find very useful at university.

Everybody is incredibly friendly and no one seemed annoyed they had to come into work. It sounds weird but it seems like everybody in the office really loves their job, apart from the odd person. Everybody was really welcoming of the interns as well, and nobody treated us as if we were lesser or less experienced people.

The internship was extremely organised. I never found that I didn't know where I was going or what I was doing and that there was somewhere there to support me the whole time, from my manager and her boss to the graduate programme team. This was one of the features of the internship I really appreciated and made the whole experience much more enjoyable.

There was training for situations like our group projects, where we were given presentation training for a whole day and individual feedback on our skill level of presenting. I did feel like I would've appreciated training like the grads received, that is a bit more specific to the industry but I can understand that this is less necessary for interns.

I would be interested in joining the organisation based on a few factors such as ability to move around divisions and team, the chance to work from home and prioritize work-life balance and also the atmosphere and culture of the company. However there are certain aspects that I feel I would prefer elsewhere, mainly the nature of the work where I would enjoy something a bit more technical and fast-paced.

The social scene was great, especially within the interns. We went out for Friday night drinks after work most weeks and have created a good group of friends between us all. Colleagues were also very friendly and there were lots of opportunities to meet other people in the company at social events.

It's the centre of London so it's never going to be cheap. The pubs nearby are all quite expensive but that's also to be expected. There was no additional incentive for interns to live in London, like a London signing bonus, but this isn't something that's common amongst internship programmes.

The pubs and clubs near work are fun and there are other things like Swingers mini-golf that are really fun. They are expensive though, something that you can expect anywhere in London in particular near the office. Some places do student discounts, including restaurants, but these aren't nightclubs or bars.

There were lots of opportunities to join sports clubs like Netball or 5-a-side football teams, but I didn't take advantage of these just doing things in my own time. I would consider joining the teams if I joined the company full time. I know lots of people who enjoyed these opportunities though.