Summer Student – Actuarial & Investment Review
at Barnett Waddingham LLP
Internship (1 Month+)
Actuary
London
Review Submitted: August 2024
Overall Rating
4.8 /5
The Overall Rating is the average of all the ratings given in each category. We take those individual ratings and combine them into one final score!
4/5
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Overview of Role
4.8/5
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Skills Development
5/5
-
Support and Guidance
5/5
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Company Culture
5/5
-
Overall Experience
4/5
-
Future Career Prospects
Overview of Role
Please give an overview of your role and what this involves on a day-to-day basis.
The day-to-day varies massively depending on which particular team needs things done. Generally, things are done on a series of Excel sheets but sometimes goes beyond this to include some research and presentations. Some of my highlights in terms of tasks that I have done are:
- Writing a research piece on investing into water as an asset class, with the long-term view of it being published on the website as a blog.
- Filling out two quarterly Investment Monitoring Reports, which are sent to clients and give them details on how their investments are doing and if anything notable has happened with their fund managers
- Calculating transfer values for various schemes, and making a transfer value calculator spreadsheet template for a particular client
- Writing a research piece on investing into water as an asset class, with the long-term view of it being published on the website as a blog.
- Filling out two quarterly Investment Monitoring Reports, which are sent to clients and give them details on how their investments are doing and if anything notable has happened with their fund managers
- Calculating transfer values for various schemes, and making a transfer value calculator spreadsheet template for a particular client
Were you given much responsibility during your placement / internship?
A decent amount. Due to the nature of pension schemes, the majority of work is done around the start of the year, end of tax year, etc. and therefore there was not so much to go around in July-August, which has left a lot more routine tasks rather than ones you can claim ownership of. Regardless though, I can feel that the team has tried to include the interns and have given some tasks that we are responsible for and are not just routine.
Please rate how meaningful the work you were doing was
4/5
Skills Development
Have you learnt any new skills, or developed your existing skills?
General industry knowledge is a big one. I came into the internship having very little knowledge of the actuarial and especially the pensions world, but I have built up a lot of knowhow and feel comfortable discussing those topics now. In terms of skills, I have learnt a lot in Excel in way of new functions, but also just becoming more efficient with what I already know.
How would you rate the training provided during your experience?
5/5
How would you rate your development of industry-specific skills during the experience?
5/5
How would you rate your development of personal / soft skills during the experience?
4/5
Please rate how these skills have helped you in your career development
5/5
Support and Guidance
How much support and guidance did you receive during your placement / internship?
I did not need a lot of support/guidance, but when I did ask, I had a mentor for the actuarial and investment side, so I had people to rely on. In general though, people in the team are very happy to help even if the work you are doing is unrelated to them.
How would you rate the support and guidance from your line manager?
5/5
How would you rate the support and guidance from the wider team?
5/5
Company Culture
What was the company culture and general atmosphere like?
Very friendly and chatty. A lot of team events and people in general are happy to have a chat and get to know you, and it has been a great environment to be in.
How would you rate the inclusiveness of the culture?
5/5
How would you rate the social opportunities?
5/5
How would you rate the diversity initiatives?
5/5
How would you rate the charity, sustainability and corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives?
5/5
Overall Experience
To what extent did you enjoy your placement / internship?
It's been great
Please rate your level of enjoyment on your placement / internship
5/5
Please rate how your experience met your expectations
5/5
Future Career Prospects
Please rate the future employment prospects at Barnett Waddingham LLP
4/5
Recommendations & Advice
Would you recommend Barnett Waddingham LLP to a friend?
Yes
What advice would you give to others applying to Barnett Waddingham LLP
Be authentic and personable, show that you are willing to learn. They're happy to help people learn, you just have to show that you are willing and able to.
