Early Careers Programme, Farnborough - Corporate & Commercial

From day one, our mission has been to create an independent business with a unique culture - one that is controlled by the people who work for it. Finding the most talented and entrepreneurial people has always been key to our success.

People come to Howden for lots of different reasons, but they stay for the same one: our culture. That's what sets us apart, and why we nurture and retain the best talent in the market. Whatever your priorities - work/life balance, career progression, sustainability, volunteering - you'll find like-minded people driving change at Howden.

At Howden, Corporate & Commercial, commercial insurance isn't just what we do - it's who we are. We support our clients through the complex landscape of commercial risk. We understand the diverse needs of businesses from large corporates to emerging ventures, meticulously crafting bespoke solutions to empower businesses to navigate uncertainty and achieve unwavering growth.

We are proud to extend our Early Careers Programme in 2024. As an Early Careers Associate, you'll participate in a five-week residential course to develop your insurance knowledge, giving you the foundation to launch your insurance career in broking, claims or underwriting. Our three-year immersive development programme includes:

• Tailored coaching and support from your manager and mentor.
• Multiple learning opportunities through online, hands-on, and group projects.
• Deep dive opportunity to learn legislative and financial compliance requirements.
• Practical experience to master system needs.
• How to support our clients with appropriate solutions, structure, price, and placement strategies to support their business growth.
• Collaborative, entrepreneurial, and team-based environment.
• Industry-recognised qualifications.
• Hybrid working environment (after initial training).

The five-week residential course will focus on developing your knowledge of Howden, while the latter stages are designed to expose you to your new role and the insurance industry. In addition to gaining valuable work experience, you'll have the opportunity to partner with clients from all walks of life and help them with issues that matter to them.

Please note we offer full time, permanent positions within our programme. You will be based within an office local to your home location and ideally be onsite for 3 days per week on average after initial training.

What you will be doing:

• Supporting our Account Handlers in managing client portfolios with day-to-day enquiries either over the phone or email. The enquiries could be a change to personal details or even assisting with a brand-new policy.
• A helping hand to gather policy renewal information to enable terms to be obtained and orders placed.
• Partnering with Account Handlers and Executives to grow existing client portfolios by seeking new, and/or existing opportunities.
• By learning policy wording and underwriting guidelines, you will be able to support customers with claims enquiries.
• Keeping information up to date and accurate across our systems. Performing checks to ensure we are compliant to processes.

What you need to be successful:

• Turn detective and have interest in people and their needs. To identify where further support is needed. Asking the right questions and not making assumptions.
• Have first class communication skills and previous experience in a customer service-related role. Being comfortable speaking on the telephone, ensuring our customer is well informed.
• Attention to detail, have you captured everything correctly?
• Be able to work in partnership with your colleagues. We believe our strength is our people and working together sees us at our best.
• Ability to work on several tasks simultaneously. Being able to juggle different priorities and ensure you are still able to achieve the best outcome.
• An interest in financial services and looking to take the first step to develop your insurance career.

Qualifications:

• 5 GCSE to include Maths and English at grade C or above (or equivalent).

Our Culture: People First

We've travelled far since opening our first office in 1994. Back then we were local experts - based in London, with direct access to the world's biggest insurance market. We're still locals, and we still deliver the right advice and the right insurance to our clients. But now, we're local all over the world. With 15,000 global colleagues and a partner network spanning more than 100 territories, we are the largest independent insurance broker in the world. But our values haven't changed since day one, when we set out to create a company grounded in:

* An employee-ownership model
* Aligned external investors
* The trust and integrity born of friendship
* Expertise
* Independence

Our focus on being a people-first business has always been at the very heart of Howden. Our vision was to create an independent business with a unique culture; one that would survive and thrive as a business controlled by the people working for it. Our employee ownership model sets us apart in the market. It's created a culture of collaboration and innovation, where we're driven to think bigger and empowered to challenge convention.

Our flat structure and entrepreneurial spirit help us attract the best people and empower them to be the best version of themselves. And when we bring in and nurture great talent, more follows. That makes us better - and that's better for everyone.

Diversity & Inclusion

At Howden we consider our people our chief competitive advantage and as such we treat colleagues, candidates, clients, and business partners with equality, fairness and respect, regardless of their age, disability, race, religion or belief, gender, sexual orientation, marital status or family circumstances.