Aerospace Insurance Apprentice Review

My role involves supporting account handlers and brokers on a day-to-day basis, assisting them with various tasks. These tasks aid them in multiple stages of an insurance policy, ie before renewal, for a new win, during the policy etc. My role also involves training those who need it in regards to the fundamentals of our BU.

I have learnt many new skills when it comes to the job role itself and can now perform many tasks that I obviously would not have been able to do before joining the apprenticeship. I have also been able to develop soft skills significantly such as building networks and relationships, discipline, patience etc.

I enjoy it a fair amount, the work itself can be interesting at times and learning new skills can be enjoyable. I enjoy the social aspect as this programme has given me the opportunity to meet a lot of great people. As with any job the work can get repetitive after a while but no more than I would expect and things are always changing so it never stays stale for too long.

My programme is extremely well structured. The split between the job itself and the apprenticeship is very good and we have dedicated people that we meet with that specifically focus on the apprenticeship itself with whom we can discuss progress, any concerns, exam help etc. The timeline is clear although you can deviate from it if needed.

I recieve plenty of support from my employer, they make it very clear that if I have any concerns or issues, not just from an appprecnticeship persepctive, that I am free to voice them and get the help I need. Thankfully I haven't had to use these resources very extensivley but its nice to know they're available.

As mentioned previously there is a great deal of support from the training provider. For each exam there are at least 10 workshops were every chapter is discussed as well as other tips and tricks. We each have a dedicated 'skills devlopment tutor' who we meet with monthly. In these meetings we will be set work needed for the apprenticeship and have a general discussion about how things are going and how to progress.

The qualification does give me a lot of background knowledge when it comes to the insurance principles especially. Since I am not currently in a client facing role (although I plan to be in one at some point) the scope of the usefullness of the information is somewhat limited as the tasks I perform are very company specific and could be understood without much knowledge of insurance in general.

There is fair amount of opportunity to get involved in activities at work. For example last year I took part in a scheme called 'Miles in May' in which everyone who signed up had to walk/run 100 miles in May in order to raise money for charity. This was a great thing to do as it helped networking as everyone was part of a team and it was also a physical challenge which was fun to overcome.

Yes

I have been treated very well at Willis especially within my specific team. From what I have heard from other's in different companies Willis seems to be much more relaxed but also provides a greater deal of support. There are great opportunities within the company for progression and the people are great.

Make sure to look at our values and if you are planning interview questions try and at least touch upon these values in your answers and think of examples in your life where you've displayed these qualities. in my experience the interviews were not too intimidating and the interviewers were very nice so try to relax and just have a conversation with them.