Junior Analyst Scheme
About the Junior Analyst scheme
We began recruiting highly numerate and talented school leavers back in May 2017, as Actuarial Analysts, who whilst working at APR studied for an external qualification to become a Certified Actuarial Analyst (CAA). Our experience of taking school leavers on via this qualification was overwhelming positive, with our CAA’s thriving on real-world client projects and with several, completing the qualification and continuing on to additional exams with the aim of becoming fully qualified actuaries. You can read about our some of our CAA stories here
In October 2021, we were disappointed to hear that the CAA qualification was closed to new applicants. However, at APR we are keen to continue taking on school leavers, believing that the traditional university route is not the best fit for everyone, and building on our school leavers’ successes over the last 5 years.
We therefore are currently developing an internal school leaver programme, allowing successful candidates the opportunity to earn and learn, developing some great skills and experience along the way.
While we are still confirming the details, we expect successful candidates join us in September for our School Leaver Pathway (with the first cohort joining in September 2022).
In the first six weeks, you will:
- Begin with a block of intensive training 5 days a week, covering topics such as Excel fundamentals, VBA and introductions to technical areas such as life and general insurance.
- Meet APR staff, with a range of backgrounds and experience, who will deliver your training and help you get started.
Within your first year, you will:
- Spend approximately 1 day a week in-house for formal training, after the initial intensive training period. Here you will cover a range of material such as programming (R, Python & SQL), modelling practice, industry topics (reinsurance, Solvency II and IFRS17) and wider business skills (communication, project management and business development), submitting exercises for review and feedback along the way.
- Sit your first internal exams, covering actuarial mathematics and statistics, to assess your current progress and future development needs. There will be a generous study package available to support you, including all exam materials and days for independent study, to be taken either in the office or at home.
- Undertake your first client project for APR, alongside another member of APR staff where possible.
- Help contribute to various APR business functions such as recruitment, providing training sessions for new starters or as part of the social committee!
We expect candidates to progress along the pathway over the course of a year. After which, candidates will have the potential to work towards further professional qualifications such as in data science or becoming a fully-fledged actuary, depending on the candidate's interests. Such qualifications will be determined on an individual basis and at the discretion of managers and APR partners.
The School Leaver Scheme, along with your working experiences provides a great foundation for future career development and specialisation in areas that interest you most. This programme is perfect for talented, highly numerate school leavers or those with some further academic / employment experience, who want to develop a career in areas that are widely anticipated to be in high demand in future - these include finance, data analysis, coding and modelling.
Why choose APR?
APR's junior analyst scheme provides a fantastic start to your actuarial career, without the need to have been to university:
- You will be joining a very select team of outstanding actuarial staff, as we only take on the best candidates and don't compromise on quality - as demonstrated by our actuarial exam record and excellent client feedback.
- As an APR analyst you will receive some of the best training in the industry, from a highly experienced team of colleagues - you'll be given hands-on training in a variety of software packages, coding languages, and key technical and professional skills to ensure a lightning start to your development so that you're equipped to dazzle our clients while working on projects.
- You'll have the chance to make a significant impact early on in your APR career, whether it be delivering high-quality solutions to clients or working on in-house projects, helping to develop our successful business.
- An analyst role with APR will give you unrivalled variety in your work, through exposure to different types of clients across the whole spectrum of actuarial work, offering a real breadth of experience.
- APR will fully support you through the whole CAA qualification, both financially and with high-quality training. You will also be provided with a mentor who you can turn to for day-to-day support and who will look after your ongoing development and future career plans.
- This is an opportunity to 'earn while you learn'. With a generous starting salary plus bonus, and future increases based on experience and performance, the analyst role is a great chance to work towards a meaningful qualification without accumulating student debt!
Follow the links below to see some profiles of current staff, download a copy of our current analyst brochure or to apply to the scheme, and also to wider external resources.
(Please note some of the following links refer to the previous Actuarial Analyst (CAA) scheme but may still contain some relevant and useful information.)