FEATURE
FEATURE
WHAT WAS IT ABOUT THIS APPRENTICESHIP PROGRAMME
THAT MADE YOU DECIDE TO GET INVOLVED?
THE
EMPLOYER
PERSPECTIVE
why taking on an apprentice
should be your next move
32
This September, the Insurance Practitioner Apprenticeship will celebrate
its third anniversary, and this means the third group of first years will begin
their three-year apprenticeship journey. However, none of this would have
been possible without the help and support of many employers and insurance
companies across Ireland. To mark the anniversary, we spoke to several of these
employers to get their view and hear about their experience of the programme to
date and why they feel so strongly about others getting involved.
WHO WE SPOKE TO
JO H N MULREI D
Learning and
Development
Manager at FBD
Insurance
CA ROLY N H IG G IN S
HR Manager,
Thornton & Partners
Issue 7 • September 2018 • The Insider
MAR C SWEE N E Y
Director,
Responsible for
Training, Audit
and Compliance,
Thornton & Partners
DAV I D M A LON E
Client Relationship
Manager, IPB
Insurance
A L E T TA B R E N N A N
Training and Quality
Manager, Post
Insurance
G R A HA M OR R
Commercial
Underwriting
Manager, IPB
Insurance
T I M F OZZA R D
Business Support
Team Leader
(Claims), IPB
Insurance
“When we were contacted about the
programme at FBD, we were very
impressed with the structure of it and
it was clear that it was developed with
the current and future needs of the
insurance industry in mind.”
- John Mulreid “At Thornton’s, we were finding it quite difficult to recruit staff and
to find the right people. We had to sit back and think about how we
were going to solve this problem and decided upon the Insurance
Practitioner Apprenticeship as it gave us the opportunity to bring
somebody on board that we could work with from the beginning of
their training and benefit our business in the long run.”
- Carolyn Higgins
We believe by
investing in these
people now, it
will help make
us become the
preferred place
for staff to work
in future years DID YOU FEEL IT WAS A RISK AND
IF SO, HAS IT PAID OFF?
“We got involved at the start, so for
us, there was some element of risk due
to it being the inaugural programme.
However, I believe this was mitigated
by engaging with key stakeholders
from across the industry, to ensure it
was relevant and manageable from a
business perspective. It is pleasing to see
that the feedback was acted on”
- John Mulreid
“The risk for IPB Insurance has
paid off. It was plain to see that the
apprentices were a different calibre of
employees who were highly motivated
and enthusiastic to learn the insurance
trade. They therefore developed their
skills faster than what would have been
expected of them.”
- Tim Fozzard
DOES YOUR BUSINESS PLAN TO CONTINUE
TO INVEST IN THE PROGRAMME?
“Each of the three apprentices that
IPB Insurance has taken on has woven
themselves into the fabric of the
company and are valued members of
staff. This programme allows us at IPB
to take part in developing the next
generation of insurance experts. We
believe by investing in these people
now, it will help make us become the
preferred place for staff to work in
future years.”
- Tim Fozzard
“We plan to continue with the
apprenticeship programme. We started
off with two apprentices, who are now
currently in year two, heading into year
three. We’ve certainty built a foundation
where it would be much easier to slot in
new apprentices, so yes, it’s something
we would be very excited about because
it has worked very well for us.”
- Aletta Brennan
Issue 7 • September 2018 • The Insider
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