Summer Internship - Actuarial & Investment Consulting Review

Very independent. I would log on daily, check my emails, read the news and then complete any work assigned to me. My work ranged from drafting initial documents for clients, using template documents to working with a combination of pre-made excel spreadsheets and my own to calculate different figures for clients. I'd also often sit in a couple of meetings a day, some would be informal catch ups, others would be training sessions.

I have definitely become better at excel, as I used it daily, and if ever there was something I wanted to do on excel I could always ask anyone around me to help. I think I have also improved my time management skills and I am now better organised as an individual. Being my first office job, I struggled with the professionalism aspect, but now I feel a lot more comfortable writing emails etc

I was doing work that was directly for clients, which was peer-reviewed at least twice before a client saw it. However, I still understood the importance of a good first draft and that a first draft was needed to be done to be checked. I had a lot of responsibility in meeting the deadlines, as there was no oversight who knew all the work I was doing, so the responsibility laid entirely with me.

I would say I was given a lot of support and guidance throughout the internship. A lot of work I was doing I didn't understand fully even after doing similar work before. Whenever I needed help, I could ask anyone on the team and they were always willing to help. Towards the end, I began to feel a little overwhelmed, but as soon as I mentioned this, my supervisor stepped in and helped me.

Very good company culture and general atmosphere. The team really felt like a team, and they embraced me into the group immediately. Every month they would host coffee mornings to raise awareness for certain issues, and there were often social activities as well. Also, there were no private offices, everyone sat at the same desk, from intern to partner

I really enjoyed my internship over the summer. I enjoyed the independence I had in my day and I look forwarded to going to work everyday. The days went quickly, but I never felt pressured to stay late and finish work, nor did I ever leave work feeling stressed or that I hadn't done enough. It allowed me to have a very healthy work-life balance.

Yes

Definitely try to understand the work Barnett Waddingham do and the work an actuary does. Also, demonstrate your free and independent thinking, as this is heavily encouraged at the firm. Most importantly, be friendly and willing to learn!