Huge congratulations to Mikey who secured an internship with WTW this summer. We caught up with him to chat about his internship and his experience of the Bright Network FESTIVAL.
Why did you apply to WTW?
Having spoken to a lot of my older mates I decided that I really didn’t want to work in investment banking. Instead I wanted to work in risk management. I got some emails from Bright Network advertising roles at WTW so I decided to research the company a bit online. I saw they were involved with corporate risk and that a lot of their company values really resonated with me. That made the decision for me and so I went back to the emails from Bright Network and applied for an internship with WTW.
What was the application process like?
It started with a CV submission and an online application form. After this we had to complete an online video interview, non-verbal and verbal reasoning tests and a numerical test. The final stage was an assessment centre consisting of four different competency interviews and a group project. None of the interviewers had actually seen our CV’s meaning they were judging you completely on what you said and did during the interview. For the group project we were split into groups of four and given 40 minutes to discuss a problem for which we had to choose a solution from a selection of four or five. After this we then had to deliver a 15-minute presentation to our 3 assessors explaining why we had made the decision that we had.
What work did you do on your internship?
I was placed on the business management team for my internship so a lot of my work was spent managing client relationships. However, I spoke to my line manager about doing some more analytical work (which is what I really wanted to do) and she set me up with a bunch of different things to do. It meant that even working in the business management team I still got to do a lot of the work I really wanted to do. This ability to branch out and pursue work that you were interested in was something I really liked. Often, we would get speakers coming in to give talks to us interns to give us a better understanding of the different graduate schemes available to us at WTW after we had finished our internship. These talks taught me a lot about what careers I did and did not want to pursue.
Did you find the Bright Network FESTIVAL useful?
Yeah, I found it really useful and I’m actually coming back this year with a bunch of my mates. Last year I got to speak to so many different people and firms and get a real feel for what people actually do. Doing this I got to understand pretty quickly what I didn’t want to do and also what I did. I went into the Festival looking at doing accounting but after speaking to people it became pretty clear that I’d much rather move into consultancy or insurance and risk management.
What tips would you give to your fellow Bright Network members?
- Apply to 2 or 3 companies that are similar to the company you really want to get into. You can then use these applications as practice.
- Use any contacts you have in industries to help you gain an understanding of the role before you apply. Look on LinkedIn if you have to!
- Go online for help around how to write and structure your CV and prepare yourself for interviews. Bright Network has a bunch of advice on this as well as a bunch of different websites run by graduates who are happy to help students get into jobs.
- Never get too comfortable in an interview, it’s good for the process to feel very much like a conversation but you should still remain professional.
What was the hardest interview question you faced?
Name a time when it was hard for you to remain ethical.
