I can’t believe that it’s the 5th week into my internship. Time has just flown by and I am treasuring my time with this lovely firm and its employees. The internship turned out to be much more fun than what I expected and full of good surprises from all aspects.

From the interview process to starting my first day, I feel and connect with the friendliness and supportiveness of the company’s culture. Everyone is nice and welcoming, and they make sure that you feel supported on the work you do, on settling into the firm’s environment and on socialising with everyone. I also love the range of client teams. Within a team, people range from new graduates to partners of the firm. I was very surprised that I have talked with a partner of the firm and gained insight into the managerial decisions of the firm. I also had the honour to witness the release of the iDeal, a document that sets out Hymans' commitment to every employee in the firm and what they expect in return.

The work here has been challenging and different from what I was expecting, and I was glad to dig out my graphical calculator from high school and put it to good use after a long time. Being in the Actuarial and Benefits (A&B) practice definitely gave me a great insight into the industry and the career path of an actuary. I am taking on real responsibilities and have been given work like a new graduate; the variety of work ranges from transfer values to gathering and inputting data for funding updates. When I wanted to find out more about the RMC and Investment practices, I was able to connect and chat with relevant people and did an intern shadowing afternoon with the Investment practice. The interns were each given an individual project to work on which I am loving because it is very practical and I can foresee it adding value to the firm and client teams. I also had the chance to gain exposure to a variety of people while doing my project. This makes me truly feel like a consultant as I am managing my time and workload between my project and client work.

Finally, getting on to my favourite part – the social activities at Hymans. I have to say that since I joined, I was lucky to experience a wide range of socialising events at Hymans. The Thursday of my first week was the actuarial exams results day and two of my colleagues had qualified as actuaries. The next day, people started celebrating with champagne in the kitchen at lunchtime and moved onto bars from afternoon till evening where the drinks were on the tabs of the newly qualified actuaries – a great experience. I also enjoyed a good night out with drinks for a lovely colleague taking a two-month sabbatical trip to the USA. Other highlights were the SIAS boat party and an A&B social night of board games and food after work.

To sum up, I am very much enjoying the work and the culture at Hymans. The excitement of getting to work and spending time with lovely colleagues are what wakes me up in the morning – this shows how much I truly love my internship!