Business Support Senior Assistant | FINEX PI Review

The overall nature of my work currently consists of adapting the premade policy slip, inputting the current premium that has been agreed on, as well as any other data which is needed for the client. Once the slip is checked by someone senior, I upload the slip onto PPL; a platform which allows underwriters to sign and bind the policy we have agreed on. While all the documents are being signed, I upload the emails full of interactions as well as other necessary documents onto DMS, another filing platform which holds current but also previous years documents and emails regarding the client and update FINMAR. Additionally, I am emersed into the client side of the role, interacting face on with clients as well as underwriters and sitting in the meetings with them, also answering any questions they may have through emails and phone calls. My team is the Professional Indemnity team, which consists of branches such as MEDMAL, construction and other professional practices. I believe I am part of the Client Services team. PI sits in the FINEX team. PI allows professionals who provide advice to be covered in the event that their client suffers a loss from the professional’s guidance, putting them back in the place prior to the loss.

I have gained confidence in presenting to others, through power point presentations as well as through research I have conducted for projects. I have learned how to use different systems for communication with underwriters and clients, and how to fix issues with the systems when they arise. I have found efficient ways to complete tasks to ensure quick turn around for clients and underwriters and know who to reach out to when in need of extra training to constantly better myself in the job.

I believe that this is a great apprenticeship, however my experience may be slightly worse than others due to certain events occurring during my time on the programme, in my personal life as well as in the work place. I believe that I would enjoy the programme even more if I was in a different team to my current one, since the work to study balance is not always respected by others, due to my opportunities and exposure to many lines of business in my daily job, I am always busy learning new things and seeing how different clients and lines of business operate and what they require. this is great for gaining knowledge and being busy, however this then affects study time, constantly having to skip study half days to manage client and account handler expectations. though the study time is encouraged, people ignoring do not disturb and claiming everything needs to be done now so drop anything else is hard to juggle everything, while other team are only extremely busy 3 months of the year then have more time to invest into their apprenticeship, hence why this review is slightly biased. others in my team may disagree however as they cope better with the overload. Additionally the way people cope with exams and coursework is not always addressed. I do enjoy also the other parts of the programme, like the committees and "extra-curricular" activities like seminars and conferences, being part of 2 committees myself. I do enjoy my day to day job and the people I work with, I still learn new things even after being here for 3 years, no day is the same with what I do, whether it is amending slips or uploading them to get signed by underwriters or producing client emails or endorsements

I believe there have been some complaints from the 2020/2021/2022 cohorts on how the apprenticeship is organised, some areas lacking support from the apprenticeship team and when there was a call to discuss the concerns or questions, the feedback wasn't very well received by some of the team. As previously mentioned, not everyone is accommodating to the fact that different people cope with exams and coursework differently, and the mention of personal life struggles is hardly addressed, even though it is affecting the apprenticeship and the progression through it. Some courses have no calls with a tutor to go through the material, compared to a lot of other apprenticeships which are less independent, where the teacher goes through material as often as every week. it would have been nice to know how independent the apprenticeship was before joining, as the jump from sixth form/university of constant involvement from teachers to the sudden drop of "here is your book you might have 4 calls all together and some courses have an online video help but other than that off you o sit a 2 hour exam with hardly any guidance" may shock a lot of people. Also there is a lack of planning for people who are not keeping up with the recommended timeline, due to overload of work in their team or personal reasons.

There is some support, however it felt like a lot of work to receive support before anything was done. when mental health issues were finally addressed, it felt more of a punishment to make work more manageable rather than actually helpful, losing big projects and accounts at work to be able to cope with work and studying, not actually addressing the main issue. It took an extremely long time for an exam in the apprenticeship to be replaced with ACII coursework, and the lack of availability for other exams to be replaced. My knowledge and effort were being questioned more than actually focusing on the real reason the exams were being failed, and it was very obvious how the apprenticeship team felt with my delay in progress through the exams, there was no thought that it was personal issues or anxiety to exams and it was not looked into how I failed the level 3 exam on 6 occasions by 2 marks each time but passed ACII coursework on my first try, if the opportunity of doing that came a lot earlier then i would not be as behind on my deadline of completing the apprenticeship and the anxiety and pressure of it all would have not affected me the way it did. sadly it feels like if i could either just do the studying side of the apprenticeship alone or just the work side by itself then i would be able to leave 10/10 reviews, however my struggle persists still however i understand that i signed up to the apprenticeship knowing it is work and study, so i cannot complain

please see above as it is the same multiple colleagues and myself were told that if we didn't keep up with OTJ logs then our funding would be pulled (this has been fed back to the training provider and we were told this is not true)

i dont believe that the qualification has really helped with my role, i have learned a lot through self teaching as well as colleague help on how to work the systems we use and how to follow protocols to ensure regulations are followed. some of the information in the qualification is interesting however it hasnt made me perform better, id argue that it is actually the other way round, that my day to day work has helped me understand the study material some what better

yes, i am part of 2 I&D committees and early career committees, there are sports teams and a lot of socials

Yes

Although my above reviews may seem quite negative, is only due to the specific problems i have faced, however i still enjoy the daily work i do for WTW. They are a great company that offers good opportunities and a lot of people do have a problem-free experience. regardless of the issues i have faced i work my hardest for the client i do work for and enjoy putting my effort to exceed WTW values and expectations I have recommended some of my friends to apply to WTW over the past 3 years, highlighting the great values and I&D efforts WTW make and they will enjoy working here

research the company before the interview and be open-minded to different teams as some people when applying weren't with the team they initially applied for