Diary of an Insurer: McGill and Partners’ Hakim

Monday

Monday morning begins with a fresh juice and setting out my tasks for the week. I always start the week by reading the insurance trade and national press – especially looking for trends on weather and natural disasters that could affect our programmes, such as the recent Hurricane Ian. 

Meetings start at 9am. We go through open claims settlements as a team and decide what we need to be doing to be ahead of the curve.

As part of the apprenticeship, my manager encourages me to set aside one hour a day to work on my portfolio duties, such as writing out my knowledge, skills and behaviour evidence and revising for upcoming exams for my Chartered Insurance Institute Level 3 qualification. 

I usually end the day with a walk in Regents Park/Primrose Hill or meet with some friends for a kickabout.

Tuesday 

I head to the office on a Tuesday, as I normally spend Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday at the office.

I love being around the team in person and working collaboratively. On the way in, I grab an iced tea as I’ve never been a fan of hot drinks in the morning.

I start the day looking over emails from third-party administrators, client loss notifications, and market queries. I then work on a client engagement summary document ahead of our quarterly client engagement meeting.

Here we will review client policies and analyse the live risks we have. We also look into open and static claims that we’re working closely with them on, providing market updates and/or queries from reinsurers.

We finish the meeting by reviewing settlements and discussing any other business.

Wednesday 

Wednesday is normally my busiest day, filled with back-to-back meetings. I start with a quick session at my new gym – I’ve just joined following my yearly health assessment organised by McGill and Partners.

Among our client meetings we had our monthly company webinar, headed by our chief executive, Steve McGill.

Steve goes through employee and company news and there is my favourite part – the Lived Experience Campaign. This is when a colleague talks about experiences they have been through such as dealing with mental health, living with cancer, the impact of grief, and situations such as everyday racism.

This week, a colleague talked about the everyday racism she encounters as someone from an ethnically diverse background within the insurance industry.

This was very refreshing to listen to and really resonated with me, as I also come from an ethnically diverse background myself. 

My team has a weekly meeting with one of our biggest clients to discuss open settlements, provide updates on open losses and proactively notify them of market news of losses that they may not be aware of. 

The day ends with a call with our internal legal team to look over and discuss the status of current sanctions, and any open losses we have with sanctioned markets. 

Working closely with other teams has been invaluable to my professional development and the apprenticeship. I feel that I have gained a wide range of skills and an understanding of the company as a whole.

Thursday 

I have an avocado smoothie after my morning stretches and head into the City.

Once at my desk, I dedicate the morning to reviewing the sales pipeline, looking into and learning about potential new business opportunities within my team.

Sadly, one of my colleagues was off sick today but this meant I was able to take their place at lunch with a reinsurer. I had fish and chips – not so sad for me.

It is great getting the experience to meet face-to-face and discuss live/potential programmes and claims issues. 

Returning to the office, I spend the rest of the day studying and looking over my notes for my i-10 exam tomorrow. I continued studying when I got home and make sure I get an early night ahead of the exam.

Friday 

Today was exam day. I work from home in the morning and then head to my exam at 2pm. We’re encouraged to take study leave for professional development, so I spend the morning going over my notes and tackling past papers. 

I was slightly annoyed I scheduled my exam for today as my team was attending an insurance law conference in the City and invited me to join.

I would have loved to attend considering I graduated in Law LLB – tying together my academics and my job. 

I enjoy cooking so for lunch I make a healthy Thai green curry, hoping it will provide me with enough energy to get through the exam.

I try to squeeze in some last-minute revision before I enter the exam centre.

The exam was two hours long and the results are instant. I passed!

I touch base with my team to share the good news and everyone was very proud. 

One more exam to go and the apprenticeship will be completed – another milestone in my professional development.

Since producing his Diary of an Insurer, Hakim has completed his apprenticeship and been promoted to associate.