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Mark's story

Introducing Mark

Business Development Lead International Health and Risk, WTW.

Introducing Mark

Business Development Lead International Health and Risk, WTW.

Insurance is a people business, the skills veterans have acquired when interacting on a daily basis with people from all walks of life will stand them in good stead.
Mark Jenkins

Service and Corps/Regiment, Rank, last day in Military.

12 Years, RAMC, Major, 18 October 2018

What has been your experience of the LMN Placement Programme? How do you feel it has helped with your transition into the insurance industry?

My programme consisted of placements with Marsh and Chubb. The opportunity to network from ‘inside the wire’ so to speak is invaluable. At Marsh in particular I was assisted by a member of the LMN (David Adams) who facilitated a combination of insurance industry insight and networking meetings with differing lines of business. This is a fantastic way to get a flavour of what parts of the insurance world look like, see where you feel comfortable and meet people who can make hiring decisions. I worked hard to make a good impression, had a little bit of luck (right place/ right time) and after a lot of coffee meetings was offered a short term contract as a placement broker working in the Marsh high risk personal accident team.

Please describe your role and what specific skills you feel you have developed within your military career that assist you in this position?

I work as the business development manager for our International Health and Risk team. My focus is on growing the awareness of our business unit within WTW, building our network and leading the sales and marketing effort. At the start it was a steep learning curve, you need to be motivated to develop yourself and the specific skills needed in whatever new role you find yourself in. This is largely self-directed, there is of course help at hand but it is assumed (rightly so) that you will figure things out for yourself and be a self-starter. Insurance is a people business, the skills veterans have acquired when interacting on a daily basis with people from all walks of life will stand them in good stead.

What is the best bit about your job in the insurance industry and how does that compare to the military?

I enjoy the relationship based nature of the industry. There is a lot of emphasis on building and developing a good network of colleagues, client and prospects, which as always starts with building your reputation and integrity. But just like the military, this can take a long time to build and short time to lose, so always be aware you are not in the mess any more and it might not be ‘just banter’.

What’s been the biggest challenge for you moving from the military to insurance?

I would say pre pandemic it was the commute! But that’s no longer an issue and the future of work should be much more flexible. I certainly miss some of the variety and travel that was on tap in the military, but at the same time my family and I have the stability we were looking for.

What advice would you give service leavers looking to pursue a career within the insurance industry?

Your military background will often help to open a door or two for a networking coffee/drink, but keep it in perspective. Nobody really cares how fast you run a mile and a half, or the great times you had adventure training. What they do care about is how you can add value to their organisation in the future and use the transferable military skills and experience you have, so focus on that. The best advice I received was to strive to be the Insurance professional who used to be in the military, rather than the military guy who works in Insurance.