APR Actuarial Insight Programme
The APR Actuarial Insight Programme aims to provide participants with a wider understanding of the actuarial industry. It covers what opportunities the career offers, the type of work you may get involved in and will allow you to appreciate why our team are so passionate about this career.
This is a one-week programme which we intend to offer either in-person at our London office or virtually. For 2023, the virtual week will run from 3rd – 6th April 2023, whilst the in-person week will run from 10th – 14th July 2023.
What’s in it for you?
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 the three key actuarial sectors (Life Insurance, General Insurance, and Pensions). We’ll also introduce typical actuarial problems and techniques through hands-on exercises and model-building. Examples of exercises you can expect to get involved in, include:
- Building cashflow projection models to value typical life insurance products
- General insurance (GI) pricing techniques exercises
- Building stochastic models to calculate the expected cost of investment guarantees
- A half-day activity encompassing much of what you’d have learnt over the week
If you attend the in-person week, you may also have the opportunity to visit the offices of Life and General insurers we work with, giving a deeper and diverse insight into the actuarial profession.
In addition, during the week you will meet some of our senior actuarial staff and partners, giving you the opportunity to ask questions about their career paths and experiences as an actuary. We’ll also provide a session covering our graduate recruitment process, and more broadly on good practices which would set applicants in good stead, for future graduate role applications and interviews. Finally, for those attending in-person, there will be a social evening during the week to meet more of the APR team.
Successful admission to and completion of this programme will also guarantee progression to the second stage of either the Graduate Associate Scheme or Junior Analyst Scheme (depending on which you apply to).
Who should apply?
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, and we welcome all to apply, but 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 other knowledge – indeed successful applicants are provided with Excel material in advance of the week to help ensure they have a suitable knowledge base for the week and ensure they 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.
Application process
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. Giving you the opportunity to showcase your suitability 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 after 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 form below.
How to apply
Applications are now closed for the 2023 APR Actuarial Insight Programme.
However, if you are interested in an actuarial career, you should also consider finding out more about our Graduate Associate and Junior Analyst Schemes.
Feedback from past attendees
“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.”
“The actuarial academy gave me a brilliant insight into the actuarial field that I feel I couldn’t have gotten anywhere else in such a short amount of time.”
“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.”
“The academy has confirmed my desire to become an actuary.”