Insurance Apprentice Review

I work within a team that underwrites policies on behalf of insurers and takes a small percentage of the premium. On a typical day I will put policies and endorsements (changes to existing policies) onto our online system. I check that data being shown to insurers matches with our records and fix any issues found during this process. My day to day tasks vary depending on what needs to be done at the time and my responsibilities have been increasing as I move through the apprenticeship.

Throughout the apprenticeship I am working towards gaining my first CII qualification, and after this, I have the opportunity to go on to gain further qualifications. I get to manage my own time to focus on my studies for a few hours in the week. It's definitely really useful to gain this knowledge of insurance to help me better understand my job. I have also been trained on the systems that my team use so I can efficiently carry out my role.

I really enjoy the programme, I have found that the people I work with are really friendly and funny, they have treated me like an equal even though I am much younger than some of them. The work is obviously not super exciting but I like how I can do different tasks throughout the day to mix it up. Overall, I was not really looking forward to working after leaving sixth form and having a long summer off but I have actually ended up enjoying working here so it has exceeded my expectations.

Our induction was very organised as we had a residential to learn a bit about the company and insurance before we started working in our offices. Since then it has been organised in that we have a meeting with our training coach every month who makes sure that we are keeping on track with our studies but we have quite a bit of freedom over when we study and choosing when we want to take our exams. Some apprentices in my office are supposed to rotate to work in different teams which is the only thing I would say is not that clear/organised.

My manager gives me time and support whenever I am learning something new or need help, and encourages me to ask questions if I am not sure. Other people within the bigger team that I work on will also give me their time to help me if they are experienced in something I am new at. When I joined as an apprentice, I was also given a "buddy/mentor", she is really friendly and I know I can also ask her any questions not directly related to my work tasks.

I have a meeting every month with my learning coach who is really nice and always happy to help. He asks about how I am finding both work and my studies and books my exams for me, I know that if any of the apprentices in my office had any problems they would feel comfortable going to him for advice as someone that isn't an Aon employee. He has also made it clear that if we have anything in our studies that we need help on he is happy to answer our emails or calls.

The qualification helps me to better understand what my job is all about, it is quite general so there's still quite a bit about my specific job that I don't fully understand but it means that you gain a good knowledge of different business areas. It has definitely helped me learn more about insurance as I started off knowing very little.

There is always people fundraising for charity in the office so there are sometimes charity events which double as social events, for example I recently went to a charity bowling event. There are also other things to get involved with like a running club after work once a week. A lot of teams also like to go for drinks at local pubs one or more lunchtimes every week. I think there could be more company events really as most events are organised by colleagues for charity.

Yes

There are lot of advantages of working for a big company like Aon, lots of opportunities and benefits. The people that work here are really great to be around and there's a lot of support available. Aon pays for you to do your CII qualifications so that you can advance in your career and continue to learn. he atmosphere in the office is great and I always feel positive about coming to work.

I think if you would like to apply for an apprenticeship here it would really help if you had work experience in the industry, even if it's just a week. The application process from start to finish is pretty long but just be yourself because they want to see that you will fit in well and will be willing to work hard and learn.