The following wiki pages are about graduate actuarial and insurance jobs.
For more information, see - graduate jobs in insurance.
for more information, see - graduate actuarial jobs.
For more information about graduate actuarial jobs or jobs in insurance, have a look at this list of insurance and actuarial firms or visit the WikiJob forums!
As an actuarial trainee, you will be working and studying for the actuarial professional examinations under the Faculty or Institute of Actuaries.
Actuarial graduate schemes normally include a competitive study package to support you for your examinations till you qualify as an actuary. A typical study package include:
(1) Study Days
Up to 40 days per year. The number of study days allowed for each exam will differ. A common practice is to allocate a certain number of days for each first sitting, with an additional allowance that was half the original if a resit was required. An approximate average for such an arrangement might see initial credits of nine days for a CT (Core Technical), 26 for CA1 (Core Applications 1), 13 for an ST (Specialist Technical), and 18 for an SA (Specialist Applications).
(2) Exam Fees
For each paper, companies normally pay for your first sitting. If you fail the exam and are doing a resit, some companies will pay for the resit, some will refund a successful resit while others do not pay for resits.
(3) Study Material
In terms of the allowance for study materials, a CMP (Combined Materials Pack) and ASET (Actuarial Solutions with Exam Technique) are generally provided. Many employers also cover both tutorials and marking.
In terms of rewards for each successful sitting, generally companies offer salary increases of around £500 for a CT pass, £1,500 to £2,000 for CA1, £1100 for a ST pass, and perhaps £1500 for the SA. However, a sizeable proportion of companies are considerably more generous – usually offering double these amounts, often with additional bonuses for a first-time pass or completing a series.
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Below is a list of Insurance and Actuarial firms and similar firms that employ graduates.
The areas firms employ graduates for is written after the firm's name for insurance companies (who often offer several different types of graduate scheme apart from actuarial).
Insurance Firms
Actuarial Firms and Accountancy Firms (who offer actuarial services).
Other Firms
For more information on actuarial or insurance jobs and employers see the WikiJob forums!
You'll need to identify with required behaviours, which are:
AXA Graduate Programme starts in September 2009 for a period of two years. A typical two year programme will include three eight month placements in some of the following areas:
Financial Services:
You will work in areas such as Finance, Audit, Risk or Compliance, understanding and experiencing the financial services market and regulatory environment.
Strategy:
You will work on projects that are future focussed analysing market data and making recommendations on the future direction of the business.
People Management:
You will work in areas such as Customer Services and Claims allowing you to develop your delegation skills, influencing skills and your ability to deliver results through others.
Products:
You will work in areas such as marketing and product development enabling you to get close to our customers and their needs.
The following is information from Punter Southalls website.
Punter Southall is a successful professional services company, having grown from nine staff in 1988 to over 700 staff in 2010. We offer you a challenging career, interesting work, a can-do attitute and a friendly, sociable environment.
We have had Investor in People standard accreditation since September 1997. Our achievement of this standard recognises our commitment to training and development of our staff, which helps us to achieve our aims, goals, vision and strategy. This benefits both our company and our people and ensures that all staff are motivated and offered progressive career paths.
We offer a full range of actuarial, employee benefit consultancy and pension administration services across the UK. Our clients are pension scheme trustees and employers from a broad spectrum of businesses, charities, unions and institutions.
Punter Southall is a friendly and exciting place to work, offering wide-ranging and rewarding career opportunities.
Opportunities to contribute to our continued success include offering careers in: pensions administration, actuarial and business development as well as our supporting functions enabling us to deliver our core business such as IT, marketing, finance, HR and secretarial.
We have a can-do approach to business, being solution-focused and innovative; going that extra mile for our clients.
We are committed to excellence in the professional services we provide and believe that we will continue to be successful as long as we keep attracting and retaining talented people who feel motivated and enthusiastic.
We offer competitive salaries, excellent benefit packages and are committed to helping our staff realise their full potential through our extensive training and development programme.
We can offer you an exciting and wide-ranging exposure to an actuarial pensions consultancy in a friendly and stimulating environment. Trainees and qualified actuarial staff work closely with our pensions administration teams. Our main business is to provide actuarial consultancy and administration services to pension schemes of corporate clients. We are committed to excellence in the professional services it provides. In a consultancy business we believe that the company will continue to be successful only so long as it can attract, develop and retain talented people who feel motivated and enthusiastic. This in turn depends on successful recruitment followed up by motivating and excellent remunerative career opportunities.
We believe all these ingredients are on offer at Punter Southall. In particular you can expect exposure to a wide range of actuarial activity, early responsibility and the challenge of contributing to an expanding business. We are committed to the continued support of our people, which is reflected in our Investor in People (IiP) accreditation. In combination with relevant professional training this forms the cornerstone of our training and development policy.
We have successfully completed our 2010 Graduate Actuarial Trainee Programme and therefore at present are not actively resourcing additional applications.
Closing date for applications
Our closing date for email and postal applications for our 2010 Graduate Actuarial Trainee Programme was Friday 6 November 2009
Graduate Actuarial Trainee Programme 2011
We will be commencing our recruitment process for our September 2011 intake in September of this year, further details on this scheme will be available towards the end of the Summer.
Summer Internship Programme 2010
Our Summer Internship Programme is specifically aimed at individuals who are interested in pursuing a career within the actuarial profession. The programme runs for 6-8 weeks during the months of July and August, commencing on Monday 5th July 2010.
Criteria
Internships are normally available to individuals who would be available to commence employment within 12–18 months of this placement.
You will need to be studying (or have studied) for a degree qualification in any discipline with an expectation to achieve a 2.1 or above.
In addition, we require a minimum of 340 UCAS points or equivalent (excluding General Studies and AS Level grades) including a grade A in A-Level Mathematics or equivalent.
Key attributes
In addition to the necessary academic achievements, we are looking for well-rounded individuals who possess and can demonstrate the following key attributes:
An ability to work as part of a multi-disciplinary team
An aptitude for working with people
Excellent interpersonal abilities
A client focused approach
Well-developed communication skills both orally and in writing to people with a diversity of social and educational backgrounds
Aon is a business involved in risk management, insurance broking, reinsurance, employee benefits and HR consulting services. In Gaelic the name AON name means 'oneness'.
Catlin Group Limited is an international specialist property and casualty insurer and reinsurer, writing more than 30 classes of business. Operating four underwriting platforms – the Catlin Syndicate at Lloyd's (the largest Syndicate in Lloyd’s of London), Catlin Bermuda, Catlin UK and Catlin US – as well as over 50 offices worldwide. Catlin shares are listed on the London Stock Exchange, and the company is a member of the FTSE 250 Index.
Catlin is recruiting graduates for 2010 in five areas: Underwriting, Actuarial, Catastrophe Aggregate Management, Claims and Finance.
The two year programme combines a mix of personal development, professional qualifications and cross-departmental business rotations.
Participants are required to undertake appropriate industry-related qualifications:
Underwriting, Claims and Catastrophe Aggregate Management - Chartered Institute of Insurance qualifications
Finance - ACCA or CIMA qualifications
Actuarial - Actuarial qualifications
Full study support is offered including all costs and study leave.
All roles are based in Catlin's offices in the City of London. The start date for graduate roles is September 2010.
The Catlin application period opens on 28 September 2009. The deadline for applications for Finance and Actuarial Streams is 30th October 2009. The deadline for all other streams is 11th December 2009.
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Candidates should have a minimum of 300+ UCAS points and have attained, or expect to attain a 2:1 for a degree in any discipline.
First Actuarial is a growing actuarial consultancy business with a focus in the UK pension arena. The firm was established in 2004, growing relatively fast from a team of 25 to over 80 people, now with five UK offices in Basingstoke, Leeds, Manchester, Peterborough and Tonbridge.
First Actuarial are looking for graduates with strong academic achievements. In particular, the firm are interested in strong results in mathematics, statistics, economics or similar subjects.
The firm are also interested in soft skills and competencies such as:The firm encourage a casual dress policy and flexible working hours.
Candidates can make applications to join First Actuarial from August each year. The recruitment process is typically just one interview. To apply candidates should send a CV and covering letter to the firm.
First Actuarial offer internships to potential employees. These are available to penultimate year undergraduates aiming for a good degree result.
Placements involve working in a team of actuaries and actuarial students on a wide range of pensions related work. You are likely to get involved in drafting letters and reports, carrying out pension scheme calculations and working on spreadsheets.
GAD the Government Actuary's Department is an actuarial consultancy "in the public sector, for the public sector".
GAD's key values are:
The following article is about graduate Actuarial jobs. Actuaries provide commercial, financial and prudential advice on the management of assets and liabilities, especially where long term management and planning are critical factors. Actuaries traditionally work in finance, investment and risk management, general insurance, life insurance, pensions and social security.
Actuaries apply financial and statistical techniques to solve real business problems. These business problems typically involve analysing future financial events, especially when the amount of a future payment, or the timing of when it is paid, is uncertain. A lot of actuaries' work might be thought of as 'risk management', assessing how likely an event may be and the costs associated with it.
Actuaries apply financial and statistical theories to solve business problems. Although there is a wide variety in the work of different actuaries, there is a common theme. For most actuaries the role involves making financial sense of the future. This involves:
Actuaries are most publicly associated with pension schemes and insurance.
Understanding how businesses operate, the possible impacts of legislation and how financial economics may affect future values are all essential actuarial skills. However, what really stands actuaries apart is their core mathematical, economic and statistical understanding applied to real financial problems.
Actuaries work for actuarial firms, actuarial consultancies, accountancy firms and insurance companies, as well as other types of company. Actuarial firms provide actuarial-only services and actuarial consultancies provide actuarial advice, whilst insurance companies and accountancy firms use actuaries to calculate risk and help work out financial investments.
Generally actuaries start working for either a traditional life (insurance, assurance, pensions offices) or a consultancy company. The main difference between these two options is that joining a life office you will be working for one internal client, the company, whilst at a consultancy it is likely that you will be working for more than one external client at a time.
Actuarial consultancies are probably the biggest employers of actuarial graduates in the UK. Many actuarial consultancies offer advice to employers and trustees who run occupational pension schemes. The advice to clients will cover a wide range of topics from setting up of a new scheme to assessing the level of contribution to be paid by the members and valuing the fund if the company is to be taken over.
Additionally, consultancies will offer a whole range of services to their clients, such as acquisitions, mergers, corporate recovery and financing capital projects. Because of their knowledge of the finance industry and their technical skills, actuaries work alongside other business professionals in consultancy firms.
In life assurance actuaries are involved at all stages of product development and the pricing, risk assessment and marketing of the products. In addition, actuaries fill key roles in financial management and the investment of policyholders' money: developing strategies that ensure customers get a good return
General insurance is a fast growing area of employment for actuaries, both within insurance companies and at Lloyd's of London, where they also have certain statutory duties. Actuarial and statistical techniques are used extensively in the analysis of often susbstantial amounts of data. Increasingly, actuaries are being asked to provide formal opinions on the technical provisions for general insurance companies.
Some other types of graduate employers of actuaries are listed below.
Actuarial consultancies are the biggest employers of actuaries in the UK. Many offer advice to employers and trustees who run occupational pension schemes. The 1995 Pensions Act made it a statutory requirement for the trustees of a pension scheme to appoint an actuary. The advice to clients covers a wide range of topics from setting up a new scheme to assessing the level of contribution to be paid by the members and valuing the fund if the company is to be taken over. Additionally, consultancies will offer a range of services to their clients, such as enterprise risk management, mergers and acquisitions advice, corporate recovery and financing capital projects.
Click here to find out what it's like to work for an actuarial consultancies on a daily basis.
The Government Actuary’s Department (GAD) provides advice to the Government via Royal Commissions, as well as giving advice to other government departments and a wide range of public sector bodies, including local authorities and the NHS. An important part of this work concerns the occupational pensions for about four million people via the operation of the National Insurance Fund.
Life insurance companies provide life insurance, pensions and other financial services. Actuaries are involved at all stages in the product development and in the pricing, risk assessment and marketing of the products. In addition, actuaries fill key roles in financial management and the investment of policyholders' money by developing strategies that ensure customers get a good return.
It is currently a legislative requirement that each UK life insurance office appoints one or more actuaries to perform the actuarial function, advising the firm's directors on the firm's ability to pay claims and how to ensure that the life assurance and pensions benefits from the many millions of pounds invested by policyholders are secure.
Firms that have with-profits business must also appoint one or more with-profits actuaries to advise the firm’s directors on the use of discretion in the management of with-profits funds and in particular the addition of bonuses to policies, having regard to the fair treatment of with-profits policyholders.
Enterprise Risk Management (ERM) is the process, effected by an entity’s board of directors, management and other personnel, applied in strategy setting and across the enterprise, designed to identify potential events that may affect the entity, and manage risk to be within its risk appetite, to provide reasonable assurance regarding the achievement of entity objectives. Actuaries working in this area are supported by the Enterprise Risk Management Practice Executive Committee.
The Finance and Investment Practice Executive Committee gives broad support to actuaries working in the finance and investment area. Prior to March 2008, finance and investment and risk management were dealt with by the Finance, Investment and Risk Management Board.
Although it is still true that only a relatively small part of the actuarial profession works in general insurance, there has been significant growth in recent years. Furthermore, although any material involvement only began about 30 years ago, actuarial contributions to general insurance go back to the first edition of Journal of the Institute of Actuaries in 1851. Actuaries working in this area are supported by the General Insurance Practice Executive Committee.
Today actuaries are making an impact in many aspects of healthcare, and are supported by the profession via the Health and Care Practice Executive Committee. In both the private sector and public sector actuaries' work will expand as the government seeks ways of restructuring the welfare state to meet the demands of a changing population.
Actuaries have traditionally worked in life assurance, and their role and responsibilities have evolved as life assurance itself has developed external relations. The Life Assurance Practice Executive Committee supports those members working in both insurers and consultancies who are concerned with long-term (life assurance) business.
Advising on company pensions is a time-honoured role for an actuary in a rapidly developing area. Pensions actuaries now advise trustees, companies and scheme members on arrangements including defined benefit, risk-sharing and defined contribution schemes. They work with specialists such as pensions lawyers and administrators to help keep schemes running well and meeting the needs of employers and pension plan members. Actuaries working in this field are supported by the Pensions Practice Executive Committee.
The Social Policy Board ceased to exist on 1 March 2008, when the profession's revised structure took effect. During its lifetime it provided input to Government and others on the development of social policy, wherever actuaries have a contribution to make. There are a number of member interest groups which are continuing the work undertaken by the Social Policy Board and its committees.
Although there are many opportunities available to actuaries, generally actuarial trainees start working for either an insurance company office or a consultancy firm. Having decided on a career as an actuary, you ought to contrast and compare the opportunities offered by the life, non-life and pensions companies, as well as the consultancy firms. These opportunities offer different lifestyles and challenges. Working in an insurance company environment means that there is usually only one client; your employer. Variety of work is available but tends to come more slowly – often you’ll be asked to work in one area for a period of about one year before moving on to the next challenge, taking the experience you have gained with you. The day-to-day work within consultancy firms tends to be more varied, as in any year you are likely to work for a number of different clients (and partners) solving different types of problems. This can become particularly challenging if you have a number of projects running in parallel and you need to ensure that you meet and manage each of your clients’ expectations and deadlines. Some consultancy projects can involve working at the client’s premises, which may not be in the same town as your own office. This can give you an excellent opportunity to work with other people and see the running of an organisation other than your own consultancy. However, you would need to consider the impact of being away from home. You may also find yourself working on just part of a project rather than seeing it all the way through from start to finish.
In practice the majority of employers are looking for graduates with at least a 2.1 and excellent A levels or equivalent. The minimum entrance requirements for admittance as a student of The Actuarial Profession are maths A level at grade B, along with a second A level or equivalent in any subject at grade C, English GCSE at grade C and two other GCSEs in any subject at grade C (or equivalent).
For holders of a second class Honours degree or above in any subject, the maths A level requirement is reduced to a grade C. For holders of a third class Honours or above in a mathematical or actuarial science degree, the maths A level requirement is dropped.
Graduates from any degree discipline can work as actuaries, provided they meet the minimum entrance requirements for an employer. However, most employers recruit highly numerate graduates, with degrees in disciplines such as mathematics, statistics, actuarial science, economics, business, engineering, physics and chemistry.
In order to become a Fellow of the Faculty or Institute (FFA, FIA), students must pass examinations, demonstrate satisfactory completion of modules and acquire a satisfactory level of work based skills. Average qualification time is currently three to six years.
An actuary’s early training has a split focus on passing the professional exams and building practical experience. Once qualified many actuaries go on to be practising specialists in one of the traditional fields, with many actuaries becoming senior managers in insurance companies or firms of actuarial consultants.
However, there are many different career paths available for actuaries. Some actuaries specialise in technical research, whilst others may focus more on commercial activities.
Although qualifying as an actuary is a demanding process, the rewards are considerable. An actuarial career offers a challenging, well respected and well paid future. Graduate entry salaries are offered between £25,000 to £35,000 and senior actuaries can earn £100,000 plus.
The work of an actuary within a consultancy may include advising on pensions (designing schemes and calculating contributions), general insurance, HR management, risk management, mergers and acquisitions, corporate recovery, and financing projects. The exact nature of the work undertaken therefore depends on the focus of the employing organisation and the specific projects within their portfolio, but the work of most actuaries can be summarised by what is known at the 'control cycle' model. Actuaries monitor the general economic and commercial environment, specify targeted outcomes and assess risks, develop appropriate solutions and then monitor the experience and impact. The results of their decisions may require earlier stages to be revisited and revised; hence the cyclical nature of their work.
On a daily basis, consulting actuaries draw upon and apply their knowledge of economics, accounting, marketing, legislation and business practice. General responsibilities may include:
Trainee actuaries may choose to focus on the consultancy environment because it tends to offer more varied work, affording the opportunity to deal with a variety of different clients and possibly to travel, working at client sites. Balancing a wide range of responsibilities, projects and client demands can be challenging but also rewarding.
This page is about graduate jobs in Insurance. Insurance is one of the UK's most important service industries and one of the UK's largest invisible export earners, involving some of the most substantial funds in the world; over the last five years it has generated half of Britain's invisible earnings.
Within the Insurance industry there are five main business sectors: pensions, insurance, life assurance, investment and actuarial work. Over 300,000 people are employed in the insurance sector, either in insurance companies, of which there are several hundred, or in insurance broking, arranging cover with the insurance companies.
Insurance operates by a large group of people paying fixed amounts of money, known as premiums into a fund. Providing a claim is legitimate, money is then taken from these funds when compensation for a loss or accident is required. Therefore insurance products protect individuals and institutions in the event of these circumstances.
There are seven main areas of insurance:
There are many different areas of specialism in the insurance world but all fall within two principle business factors: life and general insurance. Life is concerned with insuring people against premature death or permanent injury, also providing for the financial needs of individuals through savings and in retirement. Pensions and long term investments contracts fall within the life category. General insurance provides protection against damage to property, personal injury and liabilities - everything from motor and household insurance to risk protection for high cost installations such as oil risks or satellites.
A third major facet of the industry is reinsurance, whereby insurers spread their risk by taking on their own insurance against claims. This spreading of risks accounts for a large proportion of the business which comes into the UK every year and represents a growing area of insurance activity.
The establishment of the single European markets means that UK insurers are having to cope with new business conditions, to ensure that they increase their share of the European business and respond effectively to the increased competition from overseas insurers within the UK.
In recent years there has been a large expansion in the services provided by insurance companies. The majority of the larger insurers now offer services ranging from unit trusts to mortgages, and this is a direct result of the increasing diversification of all the major institutions within the financial world. Insurance companies, building societies and banks increasingly find themselves battling for the same financial services markets. Within a decade it is likely there will be very few companies or brokers left dealing solely in insurance. Coupled with the increasing globalisation of the insurance market, there has been a marked trend in recent years towards the merging of rival companies in order to survive.
A further development is the increased provision of online insurance. At the moment, this is mainly concerned with personal insurance, since this is the easiest area to market and operate. However, as technology develops, new online services will be increasingly available for many areas of commercial insurance.
Insurance services cover a broad number of roles across the whole process of the insurance life cycle from selling policies, administering insurance claims, analysing and calculating risks, setting premiums, fund management and processing claims.
The merging and diversification of the insurance industry, along with advances in new technology, is good news for graduates. Insurance companies require more graduates than ever before and are able to offer a great variety of positions. New trainees may be employed in one of the main areas of insurance, or in developing sectors such as information technology and finance. Most positions allow employees to follow professional insurance exams leading to associate membership of the Chartered Insurance Institute (CII).
Generally speaking it is the very large organisations that dominate the insurance markets although there are the smaller actuarial consultancies or insurance brokers that can offer graduate careers. Many different financial services providers, such as banks and retail organisations, now sell insurance. These brokers are intermediaries who go to an insurance marker on your behalf to negotiate the level of cover you require. The market provides an arena for the broker to negotiate the best deal with an insurance company. However, particularly in personal insurance, customers can also deal with insurance companies direct without using an intermediary.
Life assurance companies provide a variety of savings and protection services to policyholders. They are very different from general insurance companies that sell insurance policies for you car for example. Rather than selling short-term policies that tend to be renewed every year, life assurance companies sell long-term policies.
Sales are obviously the front end of insurance, dealing with the public usually face-to-face and advising them on the right insurance policy for them. There are also insurance organisations that specialise in providing insurance for companies and these organisations also offer sales positions for graduate entrants. Actuarial positions involve the calculation of the risk the organisation undertakes for the return on investment. This usually involves the use of statistical models to predict risk. Fund management is also the calculation of risk the organisation undertakes for the return on investment however less complex mathematical equations are used in actuarial work but more emphasis is placed on the subjective interpretation of data.
All the different graduate entry positions in insurance are generally segregated from each other. This means that you generally can't move within a company from one role to another, i.e. sales to actuary. As a result each type of graduate entry position will lead to different career paths within an organisation. The main graduate job roles can be divided into two main categories: technical functions and support functions.
Technical functions in Insurance are:
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Hewitt Associates provide HR business process outsourcing (BPO), offering both HR outsourcing and HR consulting. The firm primarily help organisations around the world to manage their employees' pension schemes.
Hewitt Associates' consultants analyse the past, assess the present and predict the future to help clients control the risks that affect their pension schemes. They analyse the investments backing client companies' future payments and the financial and demographic changes that have affected the amounts and timing of those pensions. This requires detailed data analysis and mathematical modelling skills as well as knowledge of the legal rules relating to pension schemes.
In order to be considered for a graduate role at Hewitt, you will need to meet the minimum criteria, which are:
Hewitt are looking for highly numerate graduates with good communication and strong people skills.
Hewitt's investment practice analyses the investments that finance the future pension payments for companies' employees. The work involves analysis of the past: investment market returns; returns achieved by specific investment managers; and the theories and practices adopted by those investment management companies.
Hewitt hire five to 10 graduates for this area of their business each year.
This business area is specifically for graduates looking to specialise in providing investment advice. Some will focus on technical research while others will support consultants advising clients, whilst developing the skills and specialisms that will ensure a successful career.
Hewitt's pensions practice analyses the pensions that are promised to clients' employees. It is the largest part of Hewitt's business. Teams of 50 to 150 people work in this business area in each of Hewitt's six UK consulting offices. The work involves analysis of the past: changes in employees' pay; employee job movement; and pensioners' ever lengthening lives.
Graduates working in this practice area will give advice to help clients manage and monitor their risks and financing. On other occasions they will be helping them re-design the type of pensions they provide.
Hewitt employ 25 to 30 graduates for this business area each year. Graduates will start working in the firm's Pensions Actuarial Services (PAS) team, and, over a period of approximately four years, you will acquire the knowledge and essential skills that provide the foundation of your career, whilst providing services to our clients.
Hewitt graduates are regularly able to choose secondments at other UK offices on a part-time or fixed-term basis to assist with client work or join a specialist team. Some consultants and trainee consultants will also be able to spend some months working in client offices as a full part of their team.These clients include the Government bodies responsible for the control of pension schemes. Some graduates may also be able to work in the firm's European Actuarial Services team in Budapest, participate in a US exchange programme or spend secondments to countries such as Italy, Portugal, Germany, Australia, Hong Kong, Mauritius, Korea and Sweden. There will also be regular future opportunities to work in the Netherlands or Switzerland.
Language isn’t a barrier to taking advantage of overseas opportunities as English is spoken in all international offices.
The application and interview process for Hewitt is as follows:
This test consists of a number of scenarios in which you need to analyse some data and interpret numbers quickly. It is a standard test used by employers across the banking and finance industries, with the scoring reflecting the number of scenarios answered correctly in the set time period. It is very unlikely that you will get through all of the questions, but the more you manage to do, the higher your score will be. The mathematics itself is straightforward.
Assessment centres are usually scheduled to take place over the months leading up to Christmas and the New Year.
When you arrive for the assessment centre you will meet some of Hewitt's recent graduate recruits who will answer any questions you may have. You will also hear from a trainee consultants, who will talk about their work and study experiences to date, and an experienced consultant who will tell you more about the firm's business, work and some client experiences.
There will be further opportunity for you to talk informally to more people over lunch and during an office tour.
The Hewitt assessment centre is made up of five portions, introductions, lunch and an office tour:
This test will be a paper based numerical test, similar to the online numerical test you have already completed. The focus will be on financial scenarios that you might encounter in your work at Hewitt. Calculators will be provided, but you are welcome to bring your own if you prefer.
For this exercise you will be asked to write a short memo to summarise your interpretation of the sort of information that you might find when advising one of Hewitt's clients. As well as demonstrating your ability to write clearly and effectively, you will need to be able to analyse information and make a recommendation. You won’t be expected to know anything about pension schemes, actuarial techniques or investments. You ability to clearly and concisely communicate is the main skills being tested during this assessment.
All of the candidates on the assessment day will be separated into two teams to debate an issue given to you before the assessment day. You will be required to demonstrate your ability to communicate verbally during the debate as well as your teamwork and communication skills when preparing for the debate.
You will be given the topic for debate prior to the assessment day so that you can carry out your own research, although you will not find out which side of the debate you will be on, until the official assessment day.
You will be given an individual exercise in which you will be asked to plan a task. You will have some time on your own to prepare before discussing your ideas with two of our assessors. They will be looking for an innovative approach to the task and a project plan that will ensure that the task is completed on time and to a high standard.
Your interview will be conducted by two assessors who will use the opportunity to find out more about you as an individual, your experiences and aspirations. Personality is a big factor when building successful relationships with clients, and will be a big factor during the interview.
In the criterion based telephone interview you will be asked 3 questions. Try to tie in all your answers with an example of when you were leading or part of a team.
As always smile, relax and take you time!
Example Questions:
"Why Standard Life"
"Tell me about a time when you had to take some challenging criticism and how did you responded to it.
The Gallup interview is a special kind of interviewing technique designed to determine what makes a successful candidate. This interview is different from a competency based interview and is conducted as a telephone interview.
Note: This is no longer used.
Occupational testing consists of numerical reasoning, verbal reasoning, abstract reasoning and comprehension tests.