Broker Support Review

My job title is Broker Support in the Kidnap & Ransom team. When I first started I had a basic role which involved doing background research into potential clients by running the company name and their directors through our software, and clearing the matches that were brought back. Now I have more responsibility I have contact with clients by sending renewal invites and I have started looking into the billing process and learning how to create an invoice and send it to the client.

I have attended a lot of in-house training courses to develop skills such as using Powerpoint, Word and Excel as well as going to specific presentations relating to my job such as Sanctions, Anti-Money Laundering and Errors & Omissions. As well as this, I have had on-the-job training specific to my role such as how to use the software the rest of my team use and attended team presentations relevant to Kidnap & Ransom. I am also undertaking the ACII qualification, which means on top of my personal revision I have attended revision sessions specific to the exams I am taking which is a great help.

I thoroughly enjoy working, my team have been extremely welcoming and have eased me into my job role. Willis seems to be a really positive place to work and I enjoy the social side of working as well. I really enjoy being on the school leaver programme because there are 15 others all employed at the same time in Ipswich and London so it's good to have other people in the same boat as we all go to revision sessions together and attend presentations as well as spend time together socially. I love the fact that we have the opportunity to gain our CII qualification through this as well which means Willis provides us with everything we need to undertake the exams and coursework associated with this qualification, my career will benefit greatly by achieving this so this is perfect on top of my own career.

I do feel valued by Willis as being on a specific programme with relevant training and doing our ACII qualification gives us a structured route to take for the first 5 years of our careers and makes me feel like we are highly valued as Willis will want to keep us employed after training us on this programme. My manager is fantastic and we regularly talk about how I'm getting on and I know that if I have a query about my job or want the chance to have extra training, she would be very accepting of how I want to further my career. She has also told me about specific training relating to Kidnap & Ransom held within Willis which would be useful for me to attend as well as giving me more responsibility the longer I have been working in the team by introducing me to the billing aspect of policies as well as the first stages of a contract. Getting the chance to fundraise for the East Anglian Children's Hospice Charity gives the school leavers a chance to get recognition throughout Willis as we can promote our efforts using an email service in order to raise more money and advertise which events we are holding next.

As mentioned above, I do think the school leaver's programme is well organised as we know what is expected of us during the beginning of our careers. Our induction week was very exciting and we had an itinerary which was stuck to and introduced us to the different teams in Willis as well as having presentations about insurance to make sure we had at least a basic understanding of the insurance industry before we started our jobs. We also had a chance to meet our line managers through a social event. There are regularly new presentations and workshops that we get signed up for which will benefit our knowledge and understanding of Willis and our specific jobs which is very useful.

All of the school leavers have been assigned to an ACII coordinator at Willis who helps us with any queries we have and books our exams for us, and mine has been very useful. The best part about doing the ACII is the specific revision sessions we are able to attend which gives us so much detail in the exam past anything we could learn from the book, as the external trainer that comes into Willis knows the exam inside out. I believe that my grade is a lot higher because of these sessions, so I'm very thankful that Willis pays for these.

My team have been very supportive and it helps me to keep on top of my work and studying because there are other members on my team who are also undertaking the ACII qualification. My manager asks how I'm doing with my studies and supports my decisions relating to my exams such as taking days off to revise. Most of the HR team have been very useful with regards to queries and providing revision sessions for us

The salary does meet my costs as my living costs are currently relatively low and the location of the office is easy to get to.

There are many social events being held by Willis which can be attended. Because of us raising money for the East Anglian Children's Hospice, we are able to provide more activities and events for people at Willis to attend, such as a game night of Pop Bingo and a Ball which we hope to hold later in the year. Being on the school leaver project, I am also able to help out the HR team by going to my old sixth form to deliver presentations to the year below myself about Willis to promote next year's School Leaver Programme which gives me more recognition in Willis as well as being something I enjoy doing.

Yes

Because joining a hugely successful company like Willis on a school leaver programme is a brilliant way to get into the company and ease into working life before deciding what you want your career to develop into, such as gaining more responsibility or changing departments if you feel like you would be more suited to something else. There's so many future opportunities within Willis, and it is a very credible company to be working for. Because Willis is so focused on training and development, you're able to easily benefit your career by taking up schemes such as the ACII qualification, which is fully paid for by Willis as per these school leaver/apprentice/graduate programs. This means that I'm able to continue studying as well as begin my career at Willis, which is a perfect combination for me.

My main advice would be to spend a lot of time on your CV as this is what your interviewer will be looking at when they talk to you. Think about what questions could be asked and prepare answers. One thing that I did on my CV was to make a list of skills that I thought were relevant to the position and next to each one gave an example of where I have showed that skill in the past. Make sure these examples are different such as School, Work Experience, Saturday Job and Volunteering so that you can show you're an all-rounder and have done more than just attended school. If anyone from Willis comes to your school to deliver a presentation about working there, think about an intelligent question to ask at the end as this means you will be remembered. Talking to the presenter at the end and introducing yourself shows your interest in the company and you will be able to talk about this fact in your interview.