Client Manager Review

I assist the Client Executives preparing slips and endorsements for them, liaising with other departments, creating reports and attending meetings. Every Monday I create a report for the whole of Norwich and London Aviation and I follow up throughout the week allowing me to interact and build a rapport with my colleagues. I have a shared inbox where we get requests from many different departments within Marsh to support the Client Executive's accounts. Requests could come from the Client Executives themselves, Fiduciary, the Placement Services team or from external sources. The requests will vary day to day and some days I can be working on 1 or 2 very hard requests and other days I could be working on a lot of starightforward tasks so my days are never the same.

My communication skills have definitely improved. I cannot do my job without interacting with other people not just via email but through Teams, in virtual meetings and face to face. I can adapt the way in which I interact depending on who the person is and how I am communicating e.g. email, zoom meeting etc. In addition, I am studying for my Senior Financial Services Customer Service Advisor level 3 apprenticeship and my Cert CII which consists of 3 exams in total. This has helped improve my organisational and time management skills so I block out off the job time to ensure I get enough revision in each week.

I really enjoy the programme. My team are fantastic, they all very friendly and willing to help. They are understanding of everyone's different needs and abilities and are always on hand if I need help. I have so many opportunities to learn new things and continue progressing whether that be through asking a colleague for help, doing a free online course through Marsh's intranet, shadowing another colleague or department, or taking a secondment.

I get 20% off the job time where I have agreed with my manager to do a Friday each week. If I ahve an exam coming up, my manager and I will organise more off the job time to help give me mroe revision time. Once a month I have a 1-2-1 with my team leader to discuss my on the job performance and then another, shorter 1-2-1 with my manager to discuss everything apprentice and off the job related. This means I can discuss with her any work I have coming up and what can be done to support me. We have a timeline of when it is expected of me to take each exam with leeway in case I need more time or need to resit any. In terms of the apprenticeship, initially the organisation from DLS felt very loose. None of the apprentices were entirely sure what they were supposed to be doing apprenticeship wise or how the apprenticeship really worked. As Marsh are using a new provider, our managers were unable to advise also. Now 6+ months in, it is definitely a lot clearer and although there are still questions as to how the case studies will work, I know month to month what is expected of me. I have regular meetings with my DLS mentor and I can email her whenever I need to if I am ever confused or need support.

My employer provides me with a lot of support. I take Fridays to focus on off the job and revision, my manager has a 1-2-1 with me once a month to discuss how I am getting on with my apprenticeship and my exams and if I need further support. In addition, my team leader does a monthly 1-2-1 with me to discuss what is going well and what I can improve on in my day to day work. Each month we set a target and I focus on a particular area in which I want to improve on or learn. Furthermore, when I initially started my manager created a training plan for me to follow the first few weeks. It included training and shadowing other colleagues, time to do onboarding tasks and meetings with people in other departments whom I will work closely with to give me an overview of what they do and how we work together. This meant I always had something to do or be working on so I could get trained up as soon as possible and to prevent me being bored or unproductive. We have regular team training meetings if we are introducing or updating a procedure and my manager often organises shadow or training meetings for small groups to learn new things or get a deeper understanding of different job roles. It is very important to my manager that we are on track to progress in our career path whether that be staying in our current team, looking for a promotion or moving to another department.

My training provider will always reply to emails however, in busy periods that can take a few days to over a week. I have found communication to be lacking with the training provider compared to my employer. I have quarterly progress reviews with my mentor where we discuss what is going well, any areas I need to improve on and any questions I have. My manager also has the opportunity to join these. In addition, I have a workshop every few months where we do a revision session for our upcoming exam which is incredibly helpful. The man who runs these workshops is always available via email if you need help or support with anything. Furthermore, we have Connect and Learn sessions every few months which are small grouped interactive sessions which each focus on the different part of the syllabus. I find these helpful too especially as they're grouped and interactive as I find it easier to learn this way. Support from DLS was definitely lacking at the beginning but it has improved over the last 6+ months.

In terms of my apprenticship, we are given a handful of tasks to complete each month. Sometimes these are helpful as it helps to buid context or understand insurance knowledge better but there are other tasks that I am unsure how they are meant to support us. Completing my Cert CII for my apprenticeship has been very useful. Although I am taught how insurance works in my job, the Cert CII adds so much more context and goes into so much more detail. I can put the theory I learn into practice and I can understand the wider scope of the process not just what my job specifically entails. Doing the apprenticeship and qualification does help me in my time management and organisation skills. There are times I am tempted to take all of my off the job time with revision or finish off on the job work from earlier in the week however, everything needs to be done and everything has a deadline. This forces me to organise how my days will work, especially my off the job day. I have apprenticeship tasks and revision to complete so I need to organise my off the job day accordingly. Furthermore, if I have an exam coming up, do I need to take time outside of work to revise, should I block quieter periods during the week to complete revision. These organisation and time management skills help me day to day also. It is common practice for me to organise my week blocking out time for important and/or time sensitive tasks whether off or on the job.

At Marsh, we have an extra day's holiday to use as a volunteer day. In aviation we have a committee that I am a part of. Recently, the committee organised for aviation to help build a fence at a park in the Broads as well as doing a Christmas and Easter food bank collection. There are multiple clubs to be a part of where members can get and offer support and join in on certain events and webinars such as Young Professionals, Pride or Mental Health. In addition, there is Norwich Sports and Social Club which advertises events at a discounted price. Some of these are organised by Marsh, others might be discounted prices on theatre tickets for example.

Yes

I get a lot of support from Marsh, my team and my manager for my day to day work as well as for career progression. I have a lot of support for my learning, when I finish my apprenticeship I can continue my learning and undertake my Diploma CII. Furthermore, they are very supportive when it comes to things like mental health, austism or other SpLDs. Every team has at least one mental health first aider to provide support to employees. Marsh are partnered with Ambitious About Autism improving their understanding of ASD and how they can support a neurodivergent workforce. I have never felt discriminated against or like my autism has been a weakness. I really like the culture at Marsh, I do not feel pressured to socialise at lunchtimes or outside of work however, there are opportunities to do so. I feel respected by my peers and the offices are open plan, managers do not sit in their own room away from the rest of us. Although still professional, it is a very relaxed atmosphere. We are currently preparing to move offices and we have got to have our say of what is happening and how our new office will be every step of the way. In addition, it is flexible working, we do not have to be in the office every day if we do not want to. Benefits are also really good. Marsh have a really good pension scheme, they pay for health and life insurance with no cost to employees and there are further benefits that you can opt into as well as discounts on countless items and services.

Marsh want to know about a person's personality, how they approach things and what skills they can bring to the team more so than experience. Most people on the apprenticeship come straight from school with zero experience. I studied Film Production Technology at university yet could adapt skills I learnt on my university course for this job. It was that way of thinking that helped me get the job. It is also important to Marsh that you are a team player. I realised after the assessment centre that although you need to dress smart and be professional on the day, it is also very relaxed and they are not trying to catch you out at all.