"I always wanted to do something with maths and was looking at things like banking or accountancy, then I heard about actuaries and saw this as a small, elite and prestigious profession where I could fully apply the skills from my degree. I decided to do a summer internship with Mercer, and have been working there for almost three years now.

My week generally breaks down into office-based consultancy work, a day of study and sometimes a day with a client. Having said that, there's no such thing as a typical week. I've been given a lot of autonomy and the freedom to manage my own workload. It's also an open professional environment at Mercer, with lots of debate over methods and assumptions and what is right for any particular clients.

There is also hard work to be done on your study days in order to prepare for the exams. You need to be committed to get through them. You'll have 15 exams and it usually takes three to six years to qualify. However, I have a study mentor at Mercer so I'm well supported throughout the process - I get a lot of training and development internally.

I was really surprised about how approachable my senior colleagues are. They ask me for my opinions on things and they respect them. It's definitely an exciting profession to work in - you could quite easily find yourself working for a company's HR Director, Finance Director or the Chairman of the Board on a project."