I am currently responsible for a team of 27 consultants spread across Argentina, Brazil, Mexico and Uruguay that work with multinational companies headquartered in Latin America in their cross-border operations. Our team also assists global client teams in coordinating inbound multi-country projects in Latin America including global benefit management, benefit benchmarking reviews, retirement governance, pension plans accounting consolidation, and mergers and acquisitions. My daily tasks include a combination of client project work, project sales, people management, business planning, dealing with administrative issues, and post-business results and marketing activities such as posting in social media and speaking at client events.

A key challenge of my role is the need to coordinate my work with people in different geographic locations and business segments to deliver a consistent service to our clients. One notable project includes collaboration with the Corporate Risk and Broking Latin America team and the Client Management group to develop and execute an offering and sales strategy for Latin multinationals. It’s very gratifying to work cross platforms on this project, which is aimed at positioning Willis Towers Watson as the premier partner for the risk and human capital needs of these companies as they grow and cross borders.

The culture at Willis Towers Watson is client-centered, collaborative, inclusive and people-oriented. Additionally, it is performance-driven, positive, fun and ethical. The company is very respectful of its people and clients.

The best aspect of my job is the talented people I get to work with every day. It’s a very collaborative culture — it’s easy to find help from colleagues when required at a global, regional or local level.

I was surprised by the wealth of research the company undertakes every year on so many different issues that are important to our clients. It’s a clear differentiator and creates knowledge that can be used to understand trends and best practices, and applied to our client work.

I would like to keep working in roles that allow me to interact with clients — developing relationships and helping them solve their different issues in our areas of expertise. I’d also be interested in leading larger teams within the business and expanding the scope of what I do to other geographies outside Latin America.

Do it! Having worked at some of the leading global consulting companies, I have found Willis Towers Watson to have the most supportive and collaborative culture. Some of the most talented professionals in the industry are working here.

I formerly worked for a small field marketing company that was outsourced to conduct retail sales for large technology companies. I worked on various accounts for about six years where I managed client relationships and worked to increase sales for the company, and eventually worked my way up to a client service manager role. Through LinkedIn, I was exploring other roles but had not considered one in insurance until I was contacted by a company recruiter. I learned through a phone interview that my skills were transferable, and I was hired as a client service manager. My current role requires making a lot happen in a short amount of time, but the skills I learned in my previous role – staying organized, creating lists, learning systems and processes – prepared me well.

In my role, I provide market insights to insurers who are my clients, as opposed to the policyholders. As client service and analytics manager, the key responsibilities of my role are to ensure that clients receive their reports and are kept updated through meetings, per their contract agreements. This involves building relationships with both colleagues and client teams to ensure processes are in place and followed effectively throughout the quarter.

So much of my role depends on building strong working relationships with a large number of colleagues. Being completely new to the company, I’ve spent the last few months meeting and working with as many of these key individuals as I can to ensure that we build a mutually beneficial working relationship.

I will be completing a training course with the Chartered Insurance Institute, which will allow me to earn certifications helpful to advancement within the company. This training provides an entry-level understanding of the insurance market as a whole in London. From here, I can progress to higher levels of certification, which will open me up to other roles within the company.

The culture here is inclusive, supportive and there is a good work ethic.

The diversity of people and the variety of challenges presented to me are two of my favorite aspects of working at Willis Towers Watson.
Also, there is a much better work/life balance in my current role, since I am not spending the majority of my time on the road, which was required in my previous position in field sales marketing. I’ve learned that I can accomplish a great deal within a reasonable amount of time.

I’ve spent most of my career working for much smaller companies so the breadth of benefits and support available here was more than I’d expected.
Also, my move to Willis Towers Watson meant a change in industry for me. I wasn’t aware of how transferable my skills could be from my previous role and how open the company would be to considering them.

My definition of success is to be constantly challenging myself, learning in whatever role I have and enjoying my day-to-day work. I remain open-minded as to what opportunities may present themselves or that I will look to create.

Keep your LinkedIn profile up to date – it’s a powerful resource and representation of yourself, even if your experiences don’t necessarily match a position. I’m very grateful that Willis Towers Watson has remained an open-minded and inclusive company when considering applicants. Don’t think that you shouldn’t apply for a job if you don’t already work in that industry – many people that work in field marketing sales like I did may not realise that their skills are transferrable to other kinds of work. Keep yourself open to the possibilities!

I found the process to be quite smooth with very few surprises. The assessment centre had a relaxed atmosphere, and I was given very constructive feedback following my interview.

My first year as an apprentice has been all about developing a knowledge base for the work I do day-to-day. I’ve been given responsibility to complete regular tasks and take ownership for the quality of my work. As my apprenticeship progresses, I’ve been given the opportunity to help train new apprentices in some fundamentals of actuarial work, including the use of Excel, as well as provide peer support to three recent graduates. I’ve been able to help them learn how our team works and answer any questions they may have.

I’ve received great training provided by Willis Towers Watson that has helped me pass two professional exams that are essential to gaining an actuarial qualification.
I’ve also learned that teamwork is the most important part of working within an office — in order to deliver quality work for our clients and also enjoy ourselves in the process.

I have learnt that beyond being good at the technical math work, the most important part of my work is the relationships I have built up with my colleagues. By having a tight group of friends, both apprentices and other colleagues, I have been able to enjoy my apprenticeship fully, as well as being encouraged by others to strive in my role.

I’ve appreciated the opportunity to help train new apprentices and go to local careers fairs to promote the Willis Towers Watson apprenticeship programme. I’ve enjoyed meeting college students to discuss their career goals and the possibility of the apprenticeship as an alternative to university.

I felt very proud and extremely grateful to those who nominated me. It was actually quite a surprise because I did not know I had been nominated. I think it shows how committed Willis Towers Watson are to ensure their apprentices achieve greatness.

Two of the values that have impacted me most are Teamwork and Client focus. Willis Towers Watson have fostered an environment where both values constantly feed into each other. I have been part of many teams including a team of apprentices and graduates to complete a high profile project which involved many complicated calculations. Had our team not put in the extra work together we could not have met our deadline, it was a very satisfying and rewarding feeling to collectively complete a difficult task. In terms of client focus, I have been part of a team who have successfully completed projects that generate £100,000s in revenues, and in some cases been able to project manage a team to reach some of these goals.

I have been given the opportunity on multiple occasions to help set-up and host a team quiz for over 50 colleagues during lockdown. To enter these quizzes colleagues had to donate to our charity partner, the Alzheimer’s Society, and a local charity, Stripey Stork. Overall, we raised around £5,000!  I am very proud to have done this as naturally colleagues were having a tough time due to COVID-19 and by hosting these events I was hopefully able to make a big impact to team moral.

I think that the biggest challenge was that for the first year, the work we were doing was the same difficulty of work as graduates coming out of university. The structure of the apprenticeship programme and our manager were clear in that we were not expected to be at the same level as the graduates, but gave us room to grow and perform at a level above what was expected. This freedom to excel was a perfect environment for myself and I feel that the apprenticeship fostered my growth very well.

During my apprenticeship, I have been able to go to multiple client meetings and also be the lead on a wide variety of projects. I have been able to use my skills in maths within my career to achieve great results for our clients and for the organisation. By achieving this during my apprenticeship, Willis Towers Watson have recognised this and allowed me to start studying for the actuary exams, with the view to becoming a qualified actuary.

I would say that my apprenticeship has allowed me to make a significant impact within my department within a very short space of time. Following the completion of my apprenticeship, I have been promoted to an actuarial consultant. I am now one year ahead in my career than I would have been if I had entered as a graduate from university, with the bonus of 2 years extra experience. This shows that the apprenticeship, if the person has the right level of commitment, can open the same doors as going to university, and Willis Towers Watson are keen to remove whatever barriers may face apprentices in their career

I would suggest to anyone applying to an apprenticeship at Willis Towers Watson to be proactive; research the company, it will impress the evaluators and make you stand out.

I was hired as a consultant, advising trustees of defined benefit pension schemes and supporting the scheme actuary lead consultant. From there, I became a scheme actuary leading client accounts. I’ve also completed secondment work, in which I worked in-house for a large banking client supporting their internal pension function through a significant period of change in regulations affecting their pension scheme. I then moved my career focus to de-risking pension schemes, i.e., removing pension scheme risk through the purchase of bulk annuities in the insurance market. Today as head of Edinburgh, Retirement, I am responsible for the strategic direction of our team, revenue and growth, and overall team performance.

As head of the Edinburgh office, my day-to-day job is varied and unpredictable — which I love. One week I am on the road going around Scotland fronting external events in the local market, promoting our brand and the work and solutions we provide. The next week I can be behind closed doors with key members of my senior team considering business strategy for the year.

Time is always in short supply — as it is with most jobs these days. And having my first child, a one-year-old daughter, can put additional pressure on the time I have available to give to my role. But the company has been exceptionally supportive during this time of change for me, and I have been able to reshape various work priorities to ensure I can still achieve the best outcome for the local team.

I was fortunate to be selected for our Emerging Leaders training programme a few years ago. This was a two-year programme that brought together more than 30 colleagues from across Europe. I met some incredibly talented individuals and, importantly, some great friends along the way. I’ve learned to be open to opportunities, such as this one, as you never know where they will take you.
If you remain open to new things, you develop along the way. You need to be brave and sometimes take a less obvious move (maybe sideways) rather than always aiming straight up. Working for an organisation like Willis Towers Watson allows you this flexibility, given the breadth of services we offer. The skills you start with develop along the journey, and the roles you end up taking may differ greatly from your original career path or plans.

As part of the Emerging Leaders experience, we were split into smaller project teams and my group was tasked with considering the benefit package of 2025. We were given access to senior leaders and research facilities across our company. This also involved travel across Europe (Madrid, Munich, London), culminating in a proposal to our company’s leadership committee offering ways to help shape where we take our business in the future. It was fantastic to be given the opportunity to add our voice to the future direction of our company and enjoy the freedom to pursue such an ambitious initiative.

I’m proud to have been given the flexibility to make a difference in how we drive our team forward locally by becoming head of the Edinburgh office and being entrusted to run a team of 40 colleagues. The role allows me to hire top talent, and then I’m tasked with putting them in the right scenarios to ensure both they — and as a result, we as a team — reach our full potential.

The culture is exceptionally collaborative and supportive. I continue to be amazed at the lengths colleagues will go to in supporting each other, putting clients first and getting results.

Being part of such a large organisation means you have access to the very best ideas to take to your client base. But somehow, we have not lost the friendly feel of a small company, and there is a real sense of team here.

The degree to which the environment is collaborative. Given the size of the company, it continues to surprise me how supported and connected you are to so many people across different fields.

My hope now is to continue doing a job I genuinely love. I know that working at Willis Towers Watson will continue to challenge and stretch me, and allow me the flexibility to take my career wherever my future skills and interests go. I love working with our clients and our team so whatever it is, it will involve both of these.

Do it! I’m so glad I did. I was very happy with my previous employer and it took quite a bit for me to convince myself to move — but I’ve never looked back. The breadth of opportunity is unbelievable and, most importantly to me, the culture is fantastic.

I joined as an account executive managing large accounts, mainly in the Energy and Industrial sectors. I then moved to New Business Development for a few years and then moved again to be in charge of our Facultative Reinsurance unit in Lisbon from 2011 to 2015. In 2015, I became the sales leader for Portugal and, following the merger of Willis and Towers Watson, was appointed head of clients.

I work together with colleagues in all lines of business to identify opportunities and continuously deliver best-in-class service and solutions to our clients. I also oversee our Marketing team locally, and I’m charged with making sure that our relationships with carriers remain close and strong.

Sometimes it can be challenging to get everyone on the same page when people come from different business cultures. It takes optimism, resilience, and the ability and conviction to constructively look for common goals and show that our differences can make us stronger.

Willis Towers Watson has enabled me to progress and evolve in my career, working on different projects within different teams and steadily growing professionally and personally.

Immediately following the merger of Willis and Towers Watson, I was proud to work with our leadership on the design and implementation of a plan to find synergies between people and businesses to create a new way of working together. It was very rewarding to engage with our new colleagues, learn about what they do and discover the amazing new world that our combined company is as a whole.

I’m also very proud to be a coach in the company’s incredible internal professional development program, Client Acumen, which is a 12-month learning and development program that facilitates a deeper understanding of the key business issues facing the companies we serve. And I’m proud to have colleagues that I can also call friends.

Willis Towers Watson is a very inclusive company, where one can expect to be challenged to strive and excel. A company where our values are not “corporate marketing” but something to uphold and live by. And, especially, a company where commitment is recognized.

The best part about working at Willis Towers Watson is the fact that I learn something new every day from inspiring leaders, colleagues and clients. This team spirit is the foundation of our success.

When I first joined the company from a local independent broker, I was surprised by the sheer size and, yet, how collaborative the work was. The ambition and teamwork of our colleagues and management is something that still amazes me today!

My greatest ambition is to see Willis Towers Watson become the market leader in Portugal, in terms of being a provider of choice. I’m already in the best possible position to try and make this happen. The company has always given me the right opportunities at the right time.

Be open-minded, be generous, be ambitious, and be innovative. There is a world of opportunities in our company — be ready to go for them.