Another summer is coming to an end and it’s time to bid farewell and good luck to this year’s interns. They worked on a range of tasks and projects such as scoping out new products, developing insurance pricing emulators (an algorithm that provides premium prices based on data), assisting underwriters with insurance renewals and helping to improve online customer experiences. In addition to the day jobs, they were also given a special project to develop a proposal for a new service-based product which they presented back to the business to great feedback.
Before they went, we caught up with some of them to ask them what they thought of their time at Hiscox in the hope they might inspire the interns of tomorrow. Here’s what they had to say:
The secret to happiness is freedom….
Vaish Maganti, Acquisition Marketing Intern: “The amount of freedom and responsibility I was given was absolutely wonderful. I worked on a project where I communicated regularly with an external agency with minimal supervision from my manager and now the project is live…before I leave!”
Ben Gibson, Personal Lines Intern: “I really enjoyed developing one of the ideas we had for the intern project. Having the freedom to take it in any direction we wanted was fantastic and allowed me to learn a lot about myself and how I work."
….And the secret to freedom is courage.
Ben: “It’s a great experience, through which you’ll learn a lot about yourself, and even if you don’t see a career in insurance, it’s a great opportunity to broaden your horizons and try something different.”
George Lord, Direct Commercial Intern: “I’ve learnt to ask challenging questions when considering tasks and projects; it makes for useful discussion and ultimately results in great quality work.”
Tom Ledson, Pricing Intern: “When I joined Hiscox, I had no previous experience with IT languages or script writing. Since, I have written script after script of SQL code – something I’d never imagined myself doing! This itself showed me something I didn’t know about myself – that I am able to work well in environments where I step completely out of my comfort zone. A lot of my experience at Hiscox has been about having this mentality and drive to try new things.”
Useful new skills
George Lord: “The internship has really increased my confidence in this kind of business environment as well as helping me develop the ability to present to peers.”
Vaish: “I’ve learnt that before we finalise anything, it’s good to test it from a user’s perspective”.
Tom: “I’d say the most useful thing I have learned to do is use Excel effectively. This sounds like a rather boring achievement, but once I got to grips with it, I realised how useful it proves to be for many tasks and how having this skill would help me be more efficient in my project work.”
A welcoming culture
George Lord: “(The thing that surprised me most about Hiscox is) how apparent the human values are on a day-to-day basis. It’s made me feel like one of the team and not ‘just the intern’."
Tom: “From the second I walked through the doors of the Great St Helen’s office, I was welcomed by reception staff warmly, which helped massively to ease the nerves any new employee has when starting a job.”
George Sims, Pricing Intern: “I’ve been amazed by the culture at Hiscox more than any other aspect of the business – there seems to be a family-like atmosphere across the company. More than anything the company has a very human feel to it, both towards employees and customers.”
Good work that makes a difference
Tom: “The firm is the perfect balance of a buzzing social environment and hard work ethic, and that requires a lot of trust between managers and employees – this is something I particularly admire about the way Hiscox is run.”
George Sims: “You’ll gain some great experience of working, doing tasks which will be meaningful long after you leave”.
And for those considering an internship at Hiscox in the future?
Tom: “If you don’t know what you want to do for a career, the internship at Hiscox is ideal, given that you’ll not only experience working in one of the World’s largest industries, but you’ll also get a taste of a great office environment and culture.”
George Lord: “Go for it and don’t hold back. When it comes to the end of the internship you’ll reflect and realise how rewarding it has been.”
Vaish: “I would say – this is one of the best places to work and you will have the most productive summer. The question is: why wouldn’t you apply?”
