APR Actuarial Insight Programme

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 third 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 Exercise and Online Test – The exercise is a short, independent task that is not time limited. It gives you the opportunity to demonstrate your ability in a non-time pressured environment and to use some of the skills required of an actuary. The online test is timed and assesses numerical and verbal reasoning skills.
• Video 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.

“This has genuinely been the best Insight programme I have attended and exceeded my expectations by far.”

“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 we spoke to was engaging, interesting and helpful... I felt comfortable and welcomed; it is very clear that APR has a good company culture.”

“Hearing from so many actuaries, all enthusiastic about their job, was amazing. I enjoyed hearing about their career journeys, the projects they worked on and their thoughts about the industry.”

“This Insight programme has confirmed to me that a career as an actuary is definitely worth pursuing and I feel like the work would be intellectually satisfying. I enjoy the mix of maths, modelling and use of functions on Excel.”

“I really resonated with the final talk... it was inspiring, and whichever path I choose, I'd like to reach a similar position of independence, intellectual freedom, and influence.”

“It felt like a real community at APR, which is why I was so sad to leave on Friday.”

“I thought the structure of the week was really great... I liked how every day I learned about different topics in actuarial and was able to implement that knowledge through the tasks.”