Reinsurance, Insurance & Risk Management Intern Review

by Aon

This review was submitted over 4 years ago, so some of the information it contains may no longer be relevant.

Rating

1.8/5
  • The Role
    1.7
  • The Company
    1.9
  • The Culture
    1.9

    The Role

  • 1. To what extent did you enjoy your work placement or internship?
  • I did not find this internship particularly stimulating. I found myself keeping busy and giving myself work such as improving my excel skills on a daily. The only work I was given was very simple and I did not ever feel like I was really contributing. I feel like this is all attributed to the lack of structure of the internship program as a whole. It would have been a lot better if there had been projects or rotations that were planned before my arrival. Much of the work I did just seemed to be work that the employees didn't want to do themselves and deemed easy enough for me to do.

    1/5

  • 2. To what extent did you feel valued by your colleagues?
  • There were only a few members who I really felt valued by. Although, in the grand scheme of things I did not get to interact with many as it almost felt like a hostile environment and many of them did not even seem to make an effort with me from day one. This can be very draining especially if you are there for a prolonged period.

    2/5

  • 3. To what extent were you given support and guidance by management/your supervisor(s)?
  • I was given support when I asked for it. Most of the colleagues that did delegate me work were always happy for me to ask questions and guide me. this was really helpful in completing my tasks to a high level. This was perhaps one of the few good things about having interned here.

    3/5

  • 4. How busy were you on a daily basis?
  • I was not busy at all. I would walk into the office in tink to myself: How am I going to keep myself busy for the next 8 hours? Other interns in different teams to myself had the polar opposite experience to myself. The stream I found myself in (Reinsurance, Insurance & Risk Management) is not well suited for an internship in my opinion as a young intern cannot really contribute as much of the work surrounds contracts worth millions of insured assets as well as with complicated law jargon which is hard to understand.

    1/5

  • 5. How much responsibility were you given during your placement?
  • I was given very little responsibility from my team. However, the internship program had organized for all interns to work with charities and aid them in any given way. Therefore, throughout my internship I found myself focusing a lot on that task. My team was given the task to come up with a marketing strategy for the charity. All in all, this was quite a fulfilling experience.

    2/5

  • 6. To what extent did/will the skills you developed, and training you received, assist you in your degree studies and beyond?
  • I do not think I developed many skills that will aid me in my studies. The only skills that I have developed, due to my own initiative, were my excel skills as well as developing a professional identity in the workplace and creating formal professional emails on a daily basis as well as networking with older individuals. This is probably the only skill that I'll be taking away from this whole experience. It is really sad to see that there are such high barriers to entry only for the intern to find themselves bored and not being integrated into the team and feeling almost worthless throughout their time with the corporation.

    2/5

    The Company

  • 7. What was the general atmosphere in your office?
  • The atmosphere was a normal office environment. One of the more surpising things I realised early on was that there was a lot of swearing going on, which surpised me and did not come across as professional at all. This may have just been the department I was in, nonetheless surprising.

    3/5

  • 8. How well organised was the overall work placement or internship set up?
  • As aforementioned, the internship program lacked structure and I found myself trying to find work and attempting to keep myself busy on a daily basis. This can become a very tiring process. Aon has to improve on this for sure as many of the other interns within my stream felt the same way. I do not feel like I got a proper insight into the broking aspect, which as an insurance broker, Aon should be pushing more. I was only really taken out to Lloyds in my first week and in retrospect, this may have been done solely just so I saw it. After that, there were at least 5 weeks before I entered the building again.

    1/5

  • 9. In terms of personal training and development, to what extent did the company or firm invest in you?
  • Throughout my induction in the first week, there was ample opportunity for self-development such as workshops on identifying your own strengths, presentation skills and things alike. Aon did this well, but soon after it just all went downhill.

    2/5

  • 10. What were the perks on your work placement?
  • 3/5

  • 11. How appealing are future employment prospects within the organisation?
  • Future employment contracts do not seem that attractive as many of the employees did not seem to have gone into insurance out of their own interest but much rather "just fell into it". I was given this response every time I asked why insurance. Many of the employees also joked about how insurance will be both the start of your career but the end as it is rather boring. Broking seems like a lot of fun until one realizes all the admin work that surrounds it, i.e. drafting of a contract which basically means copying-pasting pages upon pages which can be a really dull job - one that I was given numerous times.

    3/5

    The Culture

  • 12. Was there a good social scene amongst any fellow placement students/colleagues?
  • There were only two social events, one at the beginning and one at the end. Many of us interns felt that perhaps Aon should have put more effort into utilizing social events for us interns at the beginning so we all really got to know one another well. As there was only one social event at the beginning (a dinner) it meant that once we started working many of us didn't know each other and we all segregated into groups and tended to stick to them.

    2/5

  • 13. What was the cost of living and socialising in the area you worked in?
  • Rather costly as my internship was in the city of London. So a pint would cost at least £5. However, in terms of socializing generally, it's great.

    3/5

  • 14. What was the Nightlife like in the area you worked?
  • Again, as I was in London the nightlife was good. Although I never found myself going out with other interns much rather with friends of my own.

    3/5

  • 15. Were there many opportunities to get involved in activities outside of work?
  • No, not at all. As mentioned in the beginning I never felt integrated into the team and when they had plans I was never asked to come along.

    1/5

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Details

Internship (1 Month+)

London

August 2019


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