Our colleague Callum joined us in 2012 and is now part of a team of brilliant Field Investigators who interview customers and witnesses relating to high value theft claims and suspected fraudulent claims.
Below, Callum talks about his career at Hastings and completing a Chartered Insurance Institute (CII) Apprenticeship with us.
You can also take a look at our Apprentice Insurance Claims Advisor roles in Bexhill and Leicester.
My journey at Hastings
I started working at Hastings Direct in April 2013 in the Retentions team helping customers with their policy renewals. I worked there for a couple of years, being upskilled into Sales and Customer Service before becoming a Coach within Customer Operations.
In 2016, I joined the First Party Validation team, investigating Fire, Theft and Vandalism claims. This introduced me to the world of Claims and Fraud which then helped me to join the Claims Fraud Third Party team as a Claim Negotiator.
More recently, in March 2022, I was recruited on a secondment basis as a Field Investigator in the Field Force team, part of the Special Investigations Unit. At the end of last year, I was made a permanent member of the team.
Applying for an Apprenticeship
I had always been interested in doing an apprenticeship getting a qualification that may help my technical knowledge when dealing with claims. Having been interested in doing the CII course for quite some time to broaden my knowledge of the insurance industry, it wasn’t until I made it to the First Party Fraud team that I started studying for this qualification.
My biggest achievement
I would say that my most recent biggest professional achievement would be passing my certificate CII apprenticeship qualification – that coupled with being made permanent within the Field Force team, a role I had been aspiring to for quite some time.
A new appreciation for my work
The apprenticeship has helped me a lot in my role. It has helped me understand our insurance policies more, allowing me to explain this better to customers. Obviously my role focusses on investigating claims to confirm if we are going to provide indemnity for a claim, and I now have a much better understanding of the terms and conditions behind this.
The portfolio work I completed as part of the course also helped me reflect back on the work that I was doing, given that I had to provide evidence of certain skills that I had, or was using. It gave me a new appreciation for the everyday work that I did.
I would definitely recommend the apprenticeship to others. It’s a great way to get a recognised qualification which otherwise can be quite expensive.
There was plenty of support offered throughout the process with webinars covering different aspects of the qualification, online quizzes and other revision tools that wouldn’t have been available had I completed the certificate CII privately.
Join us: Looking for an opportunity where you can study and develop valuable skills alongside a paying career? Take a look at our Apprentice Insurance Claims Advisor opportunities in Bexhill and Leicester.