Asta Vacancies

Apprenticeships and Summer Internships and Work Experience at Asta

February 2020

Apprenticeships 2020/2022

Asta has an opening for an ‘A’ level student to undertake an 18 month Apprenticeship Scheme commencing on 1st October 2020. The successful student will have completed their studies this year and will have the opportunity to rotate between two or more functions, and if applicable, provide administrative support to other teams at peak times.

As well as gaining valuable exposure to the activities of a Lloyd’s managing Agent, the successful individual will be provided with training and support from Asta’s apprenticeship levy partner, FWD, whilst they complete the CII Certificate in Insurance.

We will source candidates using FWD, LinkedIn, the LMG and the Brokerage, as well as direct applicants. The selection process will involve online ability testing and a face to face interview.

Apprentices start on a salary of £20,000 which will be reviewed after 1 year, and they will receive a number of staff benefits including pension, private medical insurance and sports club membership. They will also receive a £500 completion bonus at the end of the scheme and a further £500 if they successfully complete the CII Certificate in Insurance.

A copy of the job profile providing further details can be viewed or downloaded below.

View Job Profile

Internships Summer 2020

Asta will also offer intern placements over the summer period lasting a minimum period of 6 – 8 weeks. Placements are available within a number of functions including Compliance, Company Secretarial, Risk and Internal Audit, and depending on the calibre of students, we may find other opportunities within the business.

We will approach the Brokerage to source the interns, as well as consider direct applicants. The Brokerage is a charity whose aim is to help young people from City fringe schools access experiences of work, employability skills and jobs within the financial services. Depending on the level of interest we may shortlist candidates by interview and/or online ability testing.

We will consider those studying ‘A’ levels and also university or college students that have not yet graduated.

The eligibility criteria for these specific roles is set out below:

must be completing ‘A’ levels or in further education but not yet graduated
have a minimum GCSE of grade 6/B in English language and maths
be numerate
have a good attention to detail
be keen to learn and develop
have good communication skills and have confidence to mix socially with all levels of staff
be eligible to work in the UK
must be available to work for a minimum period of 6-8 weeks commencing in late June 2020

As the interns will be carrying out structured and meaningful work within these teams they will receive a salary of £350 per week and holiday entitlement.

If you know of a young person interested in applying for either the Apprenticeship Scheme or Summer internship placement then can you ask them to send a brief CV and an accompanying email to Careers@asta-uk.com setting out why they are interested and their career ambitions.

Applications deadlines are as follows:

Apprenticeship Scheme – 6th March 2020

Summer Internship placement - 6th March 2020

Work Experience

We are aware of the benefits of work experience in developing social skills, assisting young people with career decisions, as well as enhancing their CV when they are up against other candidates in the selection process.

Work experience differs from internships in that they give pupils an overview of what it is like to work in an office environment and gain an understanding of a particular function or role by shadowing employees. It will mostly involve observation although the pupil may be asked to perform basic admin tasks, including filing or scanning.

Managing work experience requests can be administratively time consuming and it can place a strain on teams finding things to keep a young person occupied, particularly during busy periods. With this in mind; Asta is happy to offer work experience placements on the following basis:

Duration – 1 to 2 weeks during school holidays
Students from age 14 in school/college and undergraduates
Employees are responsible for finding a team willing accommodate the young person and is responsible for their wellbeing during the placement
The placement will be unpaid although reasonable expenses for travel and lunches will be reimbursed if the pupil completes an Expenses form and attaches receipts
HR is provided with details at least 2 weeks in advance to allow time to confirm the placement in writing and to deal with the young person’s school, where appropriate

Please contact a member of the HR team at Careers@asta-uk.com if you have any questions about the Apprenticeship Scheme, summer internship placements or work experience.

Job Profile

Job Title

Apprentice – 18 month Apprenticeship Scheme

Department

Various

Reporting to:

HR Manager and Placement managers

Summary of the opportunity

Following the success of the Apprenticeship Scheme, we are looking for an ‘A’ level student who will be employed for a fixed period of 18 months on a rotational scheme. The Apprentice will gain valuable exposure to the activities of a Lloyd’s Managing Agent where they will spend placements within various business functions which may include providing the following teams with administrative support:

Governance – Including Company Secretarial and Compliance
Syndicate Finance
Risk

They may also provide administrative support to other teams at peak times.

The Apprentices will receive on the job training and will also be provided with full support from FWD, Asta’s Apprenticeship Levy partner, when they undertake the Level 3 General Insurance Practitioner Standard (CII Certificate in Insurance).

Key Tasks

Governance
Assist with core Compliance and Company Secretarial activities. This will include committee organisation, prepaing meeting packs, company secretarial administration, compliance monitoring and assisting with specific regulatory projects. The placement will also involve assisting with preparing Board packs and collating data for regulatory returns.

Syndicate Finance
Assist both the Corporate Finance and Syndicate Finance teams and gain an understanding of their role within the wider business. This will include providing Corporate Finance with assistance with the purchase ledger and cash book, as well as general bookkeeping and reconciliation work within Syndicate Finance.

Risk
Assist with core risk management activities. This will include key risk indicator and risk appetite monitoring, risk event reporting and analysis and risk and control reviews.

Provide general administrative support to other functions when required at peak times.

Key personal skills required

Good communication skills, both written and oral.
Flexible approach and happy to adapt workload to changing priorities.
Positive and mature outlook with a desire to learn.
Highly numerate.
Good attention to detail with the ability to produce consistently accurate work whilst working to tight deadlines.
Good organisation skills with the ability to use initiative but know when to refer work upwards.
Good team player with the ability to build and maintain effective working relationships.

Key technical skills, knowledge and professional qualifications required

Must have recently attained 3 A-levels, 2 of which at grade 6/B or above and have both maths and English GCSE at grade 6/B or above (or equivalent).
Can demonstrate initiative and ambition through extra-curricular achievements or work experience.
Basic working knowledge of Microsoft Office packages, notably Excel, with a natural ability to pick up new systems quickly.

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