EMB - Careers - Graduate Recruitment

Careers

Who are EMB?

We are the largest independent non-life actuarial consultancy firm in Europe. We provide actuarial services to insurance companies all over the world and we have a fantastic reputation in the market for delivering technical excellence and leading-edge thinking. Many of our EMB partners and consultants are recognised as thought-leaders worldwide. You will often see them in journals and at industry events sharing their knowledge and expertise. This knowledge and insight is applied to everything we do, from software development to consultancy services. We have UK offices in Epsom, London and Cambridge. Most graduate vacancies are located at Epsom. It’s a great place to work, only a short train journey from London, with fantastic facilities and open spaces. Many of our employees choose to live nearer to London and commute out to Epsom, so that they can have the best of both worlds.

Phil Austerberry, one of our consultants, gives his opinion about what EMB is like:

Name: Phil Austerberry
Degree: MEng Engineering Mathematics from Bristol University
Work History: Joined full time in September 2009 after a summer placement the previous year.

The relatively small size of our firm gives you a great opportunity when joining as a graduate. You’re not just another face amongst the masses; here you’ll get to know everybody working in your department straight away. Moreover, you’ll be working alongside the owners of our firm from the outset, meaning that you have the chance to learn from industry leaders and show them what you can do!

You’ll be encouraged to develop a broad actuarial skill set;you don’t end up doing any single job. Our resourcing team is careful to ensure that you’re exposed to all elements of the work that we do, which is beneficial to your experience and personal development, but also keeps things varied and interesting. You’ll be involved in real client work immediately after joining, and you’ll quickly gain more responsibility on every project you do as you build your experience and knowledge.

There’s a hard working culture here, but a relaxed and comfortable working atmosphere. All your colleagues whether junior or senior will be happy to help you out and teach you – everyone recognises that they were in a similar position once! EMB treats us well and there are various perks to working here, from free fruit and drinks, to health and travel insurance and a generous pension. Moreover, everyone is part of our bonus scheme which means we all get to share in the company profits - an added incentive to work hard!

One element that makes EMB stand out from other actuarial employers is our software; we make industry leading actuarial software used across the world by hundreds of clients. This is a very exciting side of our work, and we’re constantly developing and improving it. Not only will you be using our software products to perform analysis from day one, but you can also get involved in the development side of things, and help to train clients to use them.

It’s a very exciting time to be joining EMB. Despite the recent economic downturn we continue to grow strongly, diversify our business and have great future prospects. The work that we do is challenging and covers a very broad spectrum - you’ll never be bored!

What is non-life insurance? Are you a bit confused by the term non-life insurance? This term, which is also known as General Insurance, simply refers to the areas of the insurance industry that we provide services for. We think that it’s the most interesting of the actuarial practice areas to work in.

Rachael Naylor, one of our recent graduates, explains more:

Name: Rachael Naylor
Degree: Mathematics, Operational Research, Statistics and Economics (MORSE) from Warwick University
Work History: Joined EMB in September 2009

If you have decided a career in the actuarial world is for you, choosing the right actuarial practice area to match your individual skills and interests is now even more important.

EMB is the largest independent general insurance actuarial consultancy firm in Europe, but what exactly is 'general' insurance and what do we do? Well, general insurance probably means everything you have in the past thought of as just 'insurance', with the exception of life insurance. It covers a huge range of things, from motor and pet insurance, to insuring music concerts and nuclear power plants. You will get to work with huge household names that you see advertised on the television, as well as assessing the financial impact caused by worldwide catastrophes such as floods, hurricanes and other natural disasters.

One of the main features of general insurance is its unpredictability. The work we do is very much involved in understanding this sort of uncertainty, using various mathematical and statistical techniques to help us. Advising our clients on the quantum level of reserves that they require in order to be able to pay out on future claims is one of the most important things that we do, and this requires us to understand and become experts in the commercial and economic market our clients are operating in.

General insurance is perhaps the most dynamic of the main actuarial areas, which means that there is lots of room for innovation and putting your own stamp on the methods that we use at EMB. And compared to other actuarial areas, regulation is relatively light. No need to trawl through pages of legislation – rather use your skills and judgement to decide on the best approach. The industry itself is also growing at a rapid rate as companies seek to understand their risks in more and more detail.

This has led to very high demand for general insurance actuaries over the last few years and despite the recession there is no reason for this trend to change.

Why work for a consultancy?

Making the decision to pursue a career in actuarial consultancy is important, as it is very different from working as an actuary in a company. Our friendly, professional consultants are the factor that makes EMB special and the reason why we have a very strong client base. Tiago Pedro talks about being a consultant:

Name: Tiago Pedro
Degree: MMATH Mathematics with Study in Europe, from the University of Warwick
Work History: Joined EMB in September 2009

To be a successful consultant you require not only strong technical ability, but also good communication skills. From early on you will be having e-mail and phone contact with clients and attending meetings, often with senior members of the company present. There are also informal client social events which give you the opportunity to meet new people and develop your networking skills.

You will also have the chance to develop your communication skills by attending internal training courses, and giving relevant presentations to your peers.

The best thing about working for a consultancy is the varied nature of the work. In my time at EMB I have:

Done reserving – worked out how much money needs to be held to pay out all future claims;
Written reports to send out to clients;
Developed prototype pricing models for clients;
Given a presentation about a specialist topic to the rest of the company;
Produced weekly internal newsletters covering relevant industry articles;
Assisted clients with software issues;
Written VBA programs to speed up work tasks.

There are a number of other areas of work the firm is involved in. These include:

Software development;
Mergers and acquisitions – large multi-million pound takeovers that you could help to price using actuarial techniques;
Expert witness work - giving evidence to support a court case;
Pricing of everyday insurance products such as motor and household insurance, as well as commercial insurance products.

At EMB you will not be sidelined into a particular speciality and as different opportunities arise you will get the chance to be involved in a variety of work throughout your career here.

Due to the variety of work and the growing EMB international network, there are many travel opportunities – be it through meeting with a foreign client, working at one of our overseas offices or giving training courses abroad.

So what’s next? If you want to find out more about the sort of graduates we are looking for and all the benefits of working for us, click here.