Summer Student Review

I have really enjoyed my time at Barnett Waddingham. The opportunities I have been presented with, I feel, I have been invaluable in preparing me for working life and being a professional. I have been given real reasonability working for actual clients and have found myself to be very included in the team. The work I have been given has been challenging, yet help is always available and as a employee of Barnett Waddingham I have felt looked after.

Every single colleague I have encountered has made me feel exceptionally welcome. I haven't been scared to ask a lot of questions and have found that everyone is very pleased to help you. I have also had interaction with senior members of the firm, who I have found to be very approachable. I have found that my colleagues value the work that I do, and that constructive feedback has been given, allowing me improve upon the work that I am doing.

Not only was I given a lot of support from my mentor and supervisor, I was also provided with a lot of support from my colleagues. I never felt as though my queries where an inconvenience for anyone and all questions where answered to the best of their ability. Due to the fact that most of my work was being passed from other members of the team, I had a lot more contact and support from these members, however I always felt that should I have a problem, my mentor and supervisor where available to me.

There were barely any times when I didn't have work to do, and when this occurred I found the time useful for researching different topics which would help me in my work. On a daily basis I found that my work was very varied and that I could switch between different tasks if wanted. I found that if I was quiet I could contact other employees of Barnett Waddingham who worked in different areas and they could either give me work or give me an insight into what they do on a day to day basis, which was very valuable when learning about the firm.

I was surprised with the amount of responsibility I was given during my placement. Straight from my first day at Barnett Waddingham I was given client work to do, and was given the opportunity to present at team meetings. Being given client work to do really made my internship contributions valid and also gave me different professional skills that I can take away with me. During my internship, I also had contact with clients, which I felt was a big responsibility.

The skills I have gained, I think, are invaluable. Being a student of Mathematics at University, I had not have a lot of exposure to professional tasks like presenting to an audience or to formal letter writing . The internship provided me the opportunity to partake in tasks like these. Additionally, I have gained the ability to use my initiative. With the day to day tasks I was given being quite difficult, I have found that I have used my initiative a lot, when deciding how to tackle the task at hand.

I really enjoyed the general atmosphere in the office. The office is open plan with even the partners being sat with everyone else, meaning that even as an intern I felt as important as everyone as. The open plan office meant that everyone was approachable to speak to and that general conversations could be held easily. It also meant that the office wasn't silent, which I enjoyed. It was really helpful to be able to speak to other members of the team easily.

The work placement was very well set up. An induction couple of days where set up at the start which gave me a chance to meet the other interns which were working at the other offices. This was a great opportunity as it then allowed me to have other interns to speak to during my 8 weeks at Barnett Waddingham. We also had quite a lot of assessed tasks to do during the internship, including presenting at a team meeting and writing a formal letter and also doing some work the an investment team which was fun and interactive. I couldn't fault the organisation of the internship.

The social scene at Barnett Waddingham has been great. On my first week I was invited to the pub and felt really welcome to attend. Most weeks there is some kind of social event going on, including football and netball tournaments with the other offices, wine tasting, ping pong and trips out for lunch. As part of my internship I had to organise a social event which I really enjoyed doing. I definitely think that the social events were a key part of my enjoying my internship so much.

My internship was placed in the centre of Leeds. I found this great because I was surrounded my shops, bars, eating places and various activities to partake in. Leeds is a fairly cheap place to live and socialise in. Like most places, there are the expensive places to drink and eat but most places are very reasonable. Being a very social city, there is always something to do in Leeds, and I found that as it is a student city, it is very easy to live on a budget here.