Bonding with investment - an intern's experience

With an upcoming Master’s degree in Geophysics, my areas of expertise include earthquakes and volcanoes, dinosaur bones, and arguing with Flat-Earth conspiracy theorists. Whilst the world of investment consulting might not seem the most obvious choice of career path based on my qualifications, it was something I suspected I had the skills for, and knew I wanted to explore before my graduation. If interning with a sector I knew nothing about wasn’t daunting enough, the Covid-19 pandemic meant that I’d be completing my 8-week crash course from my sofa.

My first impressions of Hymans Robertson were very positive; I was reassured at every step of the application process that my background wasn’t a disadvantage, and could potentially be the opposite! While Covid brought a lot of uncertainty to internship programmes across all sectors, Hymans kept us up to date with changes to the plan and organised countless virtual social opportunities to make us feel welcome.

The onboarding experience comprised two weeks of virtual training sessions covering a huge amount of content, with time in between to get to know our client teams. Whilst these first few weeks were out of my comfort zone, my assigned buddies were always available to go over new terminology and reaffirm my understanding of new concepts. Towards the end of this intense two weeks I had an exciting “Light Bulb Moment”, where everything seemed to come together and my confidence increased. This helped me during the rest of my internship as I tried to complete a wide range of tasks, from drafting client documents to data analysis, as well as pushing on with my independent project, making enhancements to the client reporting template. As the weeks progressed I felt increasingly comfortable reaching out to members of the team to offer support on tasks and to request help. By the time my final presentation arrived I could speak about my work and my experience confidently, and answer technical questions that would have baffled me in my first week!

Based on my experience with Hymans I’m glad I didn’t let my background stop me from applying, and I’d urge others in my position to do the same. I was able to utilise and hone a wide range of skills I’d picked up by completing a numerate degree whilst the training sessions filled in any sector-specific gaps in my knowledge. Most importantly, if I hadn’t explored this sector I wouldn’t be in the position I am now, knowing what I want to do and beginning to look into next steps.