APR Actuarial Insight Programme
The APR Actuarial Insight Programme provides participants with a thorough overview of the actuarial industry. You will learn about the diverse opportunities an actuarial career offers, the type of work you can get involved in, and appreciate why our team are so passionate about this career.
This is a one-week programme held twice per year, once virtually and once in-person at our London offices. For 2024, the virtual week will run on 25th – 28th March, whilst the in-person week will be held on 8th – 12th July.
Applications are currently open. They will be closing on 16th February 2024 for the virtual week, and on 29th March 2024 for the London week.
At APR, we are renowned for the high-quality training we provide for our actuarial staff. The insight programme offers a glimpse into this, through a week of interactive workshops and training sessions hosted by our actuarial employees. These sessions cover a variety of topics across three key actuarial sectors (Life Insurance, General Insurance, and Pensions). We'll also introduce common actuarial problems and techniques through hands-on exercises and model-building. Examples of activities you can expect to get involved in include:
- Building cashflow projection models to value typical life insurance products
- General insurance (GI) pricing exercises
- Building stochastic models to calculate the expected cost of investment guarantees
- A final half-day activity that ties together much of what you'd have learnt during the week
- Opportunities to meet some of our senior actuarial staff and partners to ask questions about their experiences
- A session covering good practices for the APR graduate recruitment process, which can also be applied elsewhere
If you attend the in-person week, you may also have the opportunity to visit the offices of insurers we work with and there will be a social evening during the week with the wider APR team.
Successful admission to and completion of this programme will guarantee progression to the second stage of either the Graduate Actuarial Scheme or Junior Analyst Scheme (depending on which you apply to).
The programme is rewarding but intensive and relies on engaged attendees with intellectual curiosity and an eagerness to learn. It is designed to cater for people of different ages, but we would generally expect applicants to be in their final year of college or in the first couple of years of university.
We do not expect attendees to have any prior actuarial or related knowledge – indeed successful applicants are provided with Excel material in advance to help ensure they have a suitable knowledge base for the week and can get as much out of it as possible. You do not need to be studying a mathematical subject; however, a numerical background may be useful for some sessions.
Similar to our graduate recruitment process, the process for the APR Actuarial Insight Programme is simple and transparent:
- CV and Covering Letter – An opportunity to demonstrate how and why the programme would benefit you. Note that we will not consider applications without a suitable covering letter.
- Application Questions – A set of questions to further assess your suitability for the programme. This is to be completed independently but is not time limited. It gives you the opportunity to showcase your ability in a non-time pressured environment.
- Telephone Interview – A call with a senior member of staff to further discuss your motivations and suitability for the programme.
We aim to provide feedback within two weeks of each stage of the application process. Additionally, we are happy to follow up with further feedback if requested, regardless of progression through this process.
Please provide details of any mitigating factors that you would like to have taken into consideration in either the covering letter or in the comments section of the application form.
“I really enjoyed the academy week at APR. It was eye-opening for me in understanding what a career as an actuary would be like. I would recommend it to anyone that is considering this career path.”
“Everyone is so friendly and the size of the team made the office feel like home.”
“Really enjoyable and insightful week. All the staff were great and really good at explaining some fairly difficult topics.”
“My favourite exercise in the week was the stochastic model we made on Friday. Generating a whole bunch of scenarios and understanding why that was a useful approach was pretty interesting. I also thought the opportunity to interact with a variety of staff members at APR and ask them various questions about actuarial careers was a very valuable one.”
“I thoroughly enjoyed the speaker sessions, as it was very useful to hear from different actuaries from a variety of backgrounds. Everyone had something unique to add.”
“Speaking with APR staff gave me a real insight into the personal and professional growth opportunities the company provides.”