Actuarial Intern Review

I worked mainly on the impact of the new financial regulations on existing methodologies and investigating whether specific pieces of the methodology were going to be useful in the future. I also worked on transactions, which involve communications with either another team within the UK business or the American branch of the business to investigate the impact of mortality on pension schemes. I communicated with the 20 other members of my team primarily, as well as other team members both in the UK and USA.

Yes, I was given a lot more responsibility than I thought I would be. Being the 'doer' on transactions meant that I was responsible for calculating life expectancies, annuity values and mortality adjustments myself, before it moved along to the check/review stage. I wasn't treated any differently than any of the other doers so I was expected to complete these myself, obviously with the ability to ask questions if I needed to ask them.

I've learnt how to use Excel to manipulate data in a much more efficient way than I was able to before, I didn't really know anything about the software and now I'm much more confident. I have also developed my team-working skills, and understanding of the importance of working as a team with your superiors in order to make deadlines. I have also developed my ability to communicate information within presentations in the most concise way to make presentations most effective.

Lots, I had weekly one to one meetings with my line manager, in which we spoke about my work, how the workload was and had midpoint and endpoint feedback. In addition to this each intern was provided with a mentor, who we met in the first week, and in the middle of the internship and was available at any point we needed them. Additionally, if I had any questions I was supported by my team with a positive attitude, it really felt like no question was too small.

Brilliant. The company places large importance on a good culture, and hiring people who a like-minded and want to work well as a team. The office itself has a friendly and collaborative atmosphere and there are always people working together. Additionally, the workplace is a lot more chilled out and relaxed when you're there than I thought it would be, which allows me personally to work better as you don't feel judged or out of place at any point. They also have 'societies' for people to join including LGBTQ+, social mobility, womens health etc so you can join groups of people from work who are like you whihc makes things feel much better.

I really enjoyed it. At the start I was a little bit intimidated because it is my first work placement and the vast majority (maybe like 80+%) on the other interns were Southern and I'm from the North, which made me feel quite intimidated and overwhelmed but after settling into my team I haven't felt like this and have really enjoyed the work, which was a lot more challenging and meaningful than I expected.

Yes