Mike K
Mike is a Brokerage candidate and current undergraduate student.
His GCSE studies were heavily affected by Covid, though he was able to pass them all and move on to A levels which he was able to study mostly at sixth form rather than from home. After passing his maths, physics and economics courses he moved on to Greenwich University to study maths.
Mike’s first in-person event with The Brokerage was a bootcamp at Reed Smith. The event was eye-opening. Before he had only attended online events and had not even wanted to turn on his camera because ‘I wasn’t sure yet if I wanted to get involved.’ That changed with the in-person events.
Online events had been good for developing his knowledge, but in person was where he was able to directly apply that knowledge and develop his skills. At the Reed Smith bootcamp he was able to interact with professionals, including volunteers from insurance company IQUW. At another event with Westfield Specialty he was able to apply the knowledge he’d learned online about different areas of their industry such as marine insurance.
One online call he enjoyed was with The Hartford, another insurance firm. ‘I got to ask the dumb questions like ‘’Do insurance companies have to hold the whole of the claim?’. Mike was interested to learn that insurance companies have to have very large reserves to cover potential claims.
As well as insurance he has also been to an event with consultancy Baringa. ‘I wasn’t sure if I wanted to do consulting, but there was definitely a lot to learn! One of the activities we had to do, we were given a case study and had to do a presentation so I went from not knowing what consultancy is to doing my first beginner consulting presentation in just 4 hours. Plus they gave us sweets! Freebies always work.’
‘Why The Brokerage?’
After finishing A levels, Mike did not have any work experience. Partly that was down to covid restrictions during his studies, but he also did not have family connections that could help him out. His sibling had already been taking part in The Brokerage and recommended he also take part.
Future plans
After attending several events with insurance companies, Mike is thinking about moving into Insurance when he finishes his education. ‘I’m not sure about being a broker, but maybe underwriting would suit me, or actuarial work to use my maths skills.’
Advice to a 16 year old:
“You should be involved with The Brokerage because if you don’t you’re actively disadvantaging yourself. You can speak with the experts and from that you can figure out where you don’t want to go from there.”
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