Taylor Lawrie's profile
I joined Aon in 2014 as part of the first intake of Aon Hewitt Pension apprentices.
I finished college in 2012, where I studied B-Tec Sport, A-level History and Business studies. Shortly after finishing college I made the decision to train to become a personal trainer. I studied from home and funded the course myself by working at a local golf course to become a Level 4 Personal Trainer and Life coach. I still work towards my qualifications as I find them interesting. After all my hard work a dedication I achieved my Level 2 in Personal Training and am set to sit my Level 3 exam soon. However, having decided that this wasn't the right career path for me I started looking for apprenticeships. I found this amazing opportunity of an apprenticeship at Aon and decided to apply in February, in June was invited for an interview.
My assessment day was in Farnborough, which is where I am currently based. It was a very interesting day and It showed me how professional Aon was as a brand and how professionally they tailored the assessment day to make sure they get the best candidates for the role. Fortunately for me I was able to show that I possessed the potential to have a great future within Aon. They offered me the positon, and embarked on a two week residential induction in High Wycombe. Here I learnt more about what Aon will expect of me and what I can expect from the company. I learnt how to present myself as a professional employee and how to make an impact when working inside and outside of my office.
As a Consultant Apprentice, my role varies from day-to-day as I get involved in a full range of client issues and learn the skills needed to become a valued advisor. I will support the delivery of client-facing plan management activities. Assist in day-to-day retirement management services i.e. trustee reports, newsletters etc. and play an active part in delivering client satisfaction, retention and profitability. I will also carry out administrative tasks contributing to the retirement and investment consulting process.
Since starting my program, I have found the experience both challenging and highly rewarding. Stepping into the office for the first time was both nerving and exciting. At the start it seemed that everything was a just a flood of information and that it was all coming in so fast. But now a month into my time here I can see how this information relates into my day-to-day work. Tasks that seemed daunting are now understandable and can be done with little help. I'm really enjoying diving into work learning more and keeping myself busy. I have already had the chance to pull together meeting packs for clients and start work on the new change over from ATO to APO, which is uploading all the old files saved on the system to an online database that clients can access. We also have just been assigned our own clients to work on so this is a very exciting new opportunity to take on new responsibility and workloads.
I am lucky that the layout of the Farnborough office allows us to integrate as a team, so I have experienced working with senior consultants, actuaries and investment teams. I have had the opportunity to gain extra training in Farnborough's administration department, where I work on Monday and Tuesday. I believe that this has given me a wider understanding of how Pension Schemes work and have learnt further skills which may not be available to other apprentices. We have learnt how to compose stewardship reports, calculate leavers and how to comprise some of the other important items that go into meeting packs.
The apprenticeship has proven to have a huge impact in my individual development; I have learnt new skills and am already becoming more of a well-rounded individual. I believe that once I am able to pass my RPC exam and my NVQ that Aon will provide excellent opportunities to progress further. Who knows what position I will have in the company or what location I will be working in after 10 years.