Insurance Apprentice Review

I work within Aon Benfield's Global ReSpecialty claims team. My daily tasks include processing my clients collection/advice notes as well as answering any queries that reinsurers may have. I also regularly take out my clients in order to maintain a good relationship. Networking is a big part of my job.

As a part of my apprenticeship scheme I get to complete my Certificate of Insurance qualification. As well as this I have the opportunity to attend various courses, such as the Fast Track Reinsurance course. In my short time at AON I have quickly developed good business etiquette, as well as improving my confidence when communicating with Clients and Peers greatly.

I really enjoy the Aon Apprenticeship programme, at first my work load was quite small and 7 months in has only just started to pick up. Sometimes having nothing really to do for a day. However, my workload has increased and am finding myself busier. I am really greatful for how welcoming my team were and still are, I feel that I have fit in very well which was one of my biggest worries when starting work in London.

Within my team I feel very valued, when I joined I had no insurance experience to which they were very patient with and helped me build up my knowledge from the very bottom step-by-step. I sit next to my mentor everyday who is very encouranging in helping me learn. I feel that I am respected well even though I am new and am praised well when I complete daily tasks to a high standard.

I don't believe that the apprenticeship scheme structure necessarily met my expectations. For such a large company I have felt that it is a little unorganised when it comes to our qualifications. We didn't take our first exam for the Cert until April, 6 months after we had joined. I was expecting to have completed this before Christmas. As we have to all take our exams around the same time I feel that I am being held back slighly as I would like to achieve my Certificate at a quicker rate.

I feel that we are very supported by our training provider, The Skills Company arranged for us to have 4 full-day workshops before our first exam, Laura went through the whole specification with us in great detail as well as providing us with a large amount of worksheets to aid us in our exam preperation.

From my employer I feel that the support is good. If we ever need claificiation of anything or any help in general about the scheme or our job the HR team are always there to offer advice. When I joined, AON gave me a mentor, who I sit next to everyday to support me in my job role, as well as this they gave me a Buddy. Alissa is only a few years older than me and is someone I felt comfortable speaking to right away, she is always happy to offer advice and helped me settle in to the new work environment.

Due to my travel costs being considerably high this obviously has a huge impact on my net salary, however, if AON want to encourage people from all over the South East to work in their London offices I believe that offering travel support would allow so many more young people to commute to london, especially from southern Kent.

AON host many Networking events for apprentices allowing us to network with not only other AON apprentices from years before us, but also apprentices from other brokers/insurance companies. This really aids in expanding our working network,which could prove an advantage to us throughout our careers.

Yes

I believe that AON a great apprenticeship scheme which enables young people like myself to get their foot in the door and make a real impact early on in their career without having to go to university. However, I would only offer the apprenticeship scheme to those within an easy commute from London. Travelling from southern kent is still quite quick but the cost is extremely challenging on an apprentices salary, instead I would recommend a trainee role within insurance.

The main piece of advice that I would give to somebody applying for AON is not to expect the interviewer to want you to know everything about the insurance industry. The whole point of an apprenticeship is to train you into the job role and not for you to already be fully competent. Make sure that you show that you are willing to learn and are ambitious about having a successful insurance career and you will impress.