Rachel

Meet our Graduate

Rachel

Politics with International Relations, University of York

Associate Consultant, Marsh Risk Consulting

I fell into the insurance industry without much planning. When I was a child I wanted to be a spy, so I jumped at the chance of an internship at a “risk and investigations” consultancy during my university holidays. I really enjoyed my time there and surprisingly came away having found the risk work far more interesting than the investigations work. The following year my search for graduate jobs in the risk industry brought me quite naturally to an insurance broker.

There really is no such thing as a typical day in Marsh Risk Consulting. Our work is project-based with multiple projects running at a time, so I tend to be working on at least one new thing each week. I usually spend half the week in the office preparing for site visits and client meetings, and the other half of the week will be spent at client sites facilitating workshops or conducting risk interviews. Although the process of risk identification might be similar, each client and industry is a totally different learning experience – since joining Marsh I have found myself in warehouses and factories, as well as corporate headquarters and even down a mine!

My favourite thing about my role is the variety. I get to deliver all sorts of projects to a range of clients based all over the world – it is impossible to get bored! As my role is often face to face with clients, I am lucky enough to get to travel quite a bit, which again adds another dimension to the work and gives you insights into different cultures too. At this stage in my career, especially on a non-rotational graduate programme, I am very lucky to get exposure to such a range of businesses and people.

As part of the graduate scheme I have had regular coaching and training sessions to help my own professional development. As one of our graduate challenges, we have been tasked with taking over a charity shop for a day. Challenges like this, and other team-building exercises I have done in my business area, are a great way to build on valuable workplace skills in a different environment.

I’ve found the biggest challenge in moving from university to the workforce has been balancing full time work, the ACII qualification, and a social life. It’s a totally different challenge to full-time study. The self-motivation, discipline, and time management required at university come into their own when you throw a busy job into the mix.

My advice to people interested in applying is to thoroughly research Marsh and the different roles available. A bit of digging into the different types of work undertaken by Marsh can go a long way in informing your own decision-making about Marsh and in helping you come across as prepared.