UK Pensions Intern Review

The internship at Aon was quite enjoyable. All of the other employees were welcoming, and a broad variety of work was provided for me to complete. Working virtually provided an interesting challenge, but the company were very accomodating in making sure that we had all the neccessary equipment required to work from home. All the work was enjoyable, and gave me a good education on what different work is available at Aon and what different sectors can be worked within.

I felt very valued by my colleagues. They were always willing to give me work to do and make me feel welcome. They were also always happy to answer questions when I was not sure how to do something, and always available for a chat to give me feedback. Aon also provide you a with a buddy to give you an easy point of reference and someone to ask for work and help when you need it.

My manager gave me lots of support during my time at Aon. He was very active in trying to find work for me to do, and provided me with opportunities to socialise with other people in the office through a variety of methods. He invited me to team socials, and gave me constructive feedback that he had recieved from people that I had completed work for throughout the course of the internship. Also set me up with a work list to use to make sure I kept track of all the work I was doing.

At the beginning of the internship there was not much to do in the way of client work, but there were plenty of tasks on the Aon Learning portal to stay occupied. Aon had put together a learning path for me, and it provided a good amount of things to do. As the internship progressed, I began to get more involved in client work. There were some days where I worked overtime, but these were infrequent.

A lot of the work was quite routine. It was mainly calculations that were then passed up the chain to be checked, then handed over to clients. I was also able to get involved in giving presentations to clients. I was also given more independent work in the form of a project with some of the other interns. It was a team based project with support from a project mentor already employed by Aon. Work was self motivated and I had to ensure I met all the deadlines.

The skills I have developed will help me in future work I do. I have learnt valueable excel skills during my time here and will hopefully be able to use these when I am next in employment. The time management skills will also be useful when I am doing work this year for my dissertation and my degree studies. Asking for and recieving feedback is also a skill that I developed during my time at Aon.

The general atmosphere in my (virtual) office was very good. People would message from time to time to check in, and also ask about whether I had work to be getting on with. They also sent me a message to say hi and introduce themselves when I first joined which was a nice introduction. There was a social event every 2 weeks or so, and that was a nice way to meet people and socialise with them.

Considering the circumstances due to the pandemic, the internship was set up very well. Despite changing the internship from an in person/office experince to a virtual experience, things like the induction went smoothly and there were very few technical issues. The induction was regimented and provided us with a good base of knowledge with which to start working in the company. The time got less controlled as the internship went on, which meant I had to decide for myself what to prioritise.

It felt like the firm invested a lot in both the personal training and the development of the whole intern cohort. We began with a 4 day induction, half of which was a general introduction to the company and half of which was a technical induction. Throughout the course of the internship there were regular training sessions led by consultants which gave insight on more specific aspects of the role. Individual employees also gave detailed and helpful instruction when giving me work which was very helpful.

I think that future employment prospects within the organisation are very good. It was good to be able to work with a variety of levels of employee's, from recent graduate intake to senior partners. They all took an interest in my development, and would provide me with help when I needed it. They also provided me with interesting and unique working opportunities that I would not be able to get a smaller company. The size of Aon meant that there are so many employment opportunites available should I be employed there.

Yes given the circumstances. Virtual socials occured every 2 weeks or so.

n/a working from home

n/a lockdown

n/a lockdown