The County Insurance Academy
‘The investment in The County Group Academy will help to close the age gap by encouraging younger people to pursue a career in insurance. It will close the knowledge gap by equipping the academy students with the professional qualifications, understanding of insurance and practical business knowledge to help drive forward the continued success of The Group. The development of a pipeline of our people with the operational experience, skills, qualifications and knowledge of The Group and the industry will benefit the business in many ways. The ability to be proactive in recruitment and placement of (almost) the ‘finished article’ will promote the engagement and retention of motivated people who have taken a step towards a long term and rewarding career.'
Alastair Christopherson | CEO The County Group
Graduate Scheme: 3 years of structure and progression
Year 1
The year will consist of two work based placements and progress towards Certificate in Insurance
Year 2
A further two work based placements and work towards Diploma in Insurance
Year 3
Two placements and work towards Advanced Certificate in Insurance and presentation of a portfolio of evidence to support the qualifications
Fast track your career in Insurance...
The County Academy, a graduate training program, is in place to help a team of graduates build a working knowledge and understanding of our business, in the support functions and throughout the Retail and Commercial areas of our business.
The Graduates will complete a 3 year program consisting of six different, 6 month rotations around the Group to help develop their understanding of all that we do and how the Group works together in its support of the branches, customers and clients. We expect the Graduates on each rotation to be treated as any other member of staff and benefit from all the experience that we have in our teams and across the Group. Each Graduate also has a professional mentor from the Senior Leadership team to support on their journey.
The program combines the ‘real world’ experience of learning in the workplace and professional qualifications. Each week the graduates will spend four days on their work placement and one day of study to support learning, development and professional qualifications.
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The Academy is a great chance to get involved in different sections of a big business, and expand your knowledge. The staff and mentors are super supportive, and allow you to have your own voice. Most importantly… there is a great support system through any challenging times.
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The County Academy so far has been really good. It has been interesting to experience the operational side of the business as well as the insurance. Being able to earn a qualification through the apprenticeship side has been a great way to expand knowledge of the insurance industry. There has also been a good number of opportunities to attend extra training to help give even more support.
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The Academy gives a fantastic opportunity to get a feel for the whole business from the 6 month rotations allowing us to gain a vast understanding of each sector the business operates in. The Academy also allows you to gain your financial qualifications while on the job learning which helps to give you a deeper understanding from the learning side of the job.
The Rotations through the programme
Commercial Insurance
Come to Understand the world of commercial insurance for our clients, the whole process of protecting businesses with their commercial insurance needs ranging from the system we use to client visits and ‘factfinds’, dealing with the claims and the claims process, from new business to renewals, providing quotes as well as interaction with insurers and clients, new business, renewals and midterm adjustments.
Private Clients
Take a look at Private Clients insurance from the new business process, renewal and midterm adjustments as well as accessing the insurer portals, Open GI and any other system appropriate. The rotations may be in a branch as well as at the Private Clients Contact Centre in Crewe or at the Insure Taxi brand in Southport.
Finance
Spend time looking at the various roles and duties across the Purchase Ledger team and Insurer Bank Account reconciliation process and how support is provided to the teams in the various branches.
Operations
Spend time in the role of operations across the whole group including, facilities, asset management, and aspects of branch support and experience how these teams provide support and what is provided across the different areas and branches in the group. This includes Health and Safety, facilities, car parking and meeting management and centralising resources in the group.
Work based project
The graduates will also undertake a work based project through each of their rotations – a review of processes, evaluation of the lapsed clients, pipeline and prospecting techniques or anything that would benefit the branch or business’s needs.
