Norwich Union, soon to be Aviva, is pleased to announce the winners of the unique Future Adviser Programme. The programme is designed to encourage high-calibre graduates to pursue a career in financial advice.
Norwich Union, soon to be Aviva, is pleased to announce the winners of the unique Future Adviser Programme. The programme is designed to encourage high-calibre graduates to pursue a career in financial advice.
Students from Manchester Metropolitan University Business School were given the opportunity to win an internship with Norwich Union earlier this year.
The competition was run by Norwich Union in partnership with The Institute of Financial Planning as part of The Future Adviser Programme, designed to encourage high-class graduates to pursue a career in financial advice.
Candidates were asked to write an article on an issue currently facing the financial advice sector. A shortlist of students was then prepared by lecturers from Manchester Metropolitan University Business School. The top 16 candidates were interviewed by a panel made up of Norwich Union, The Institute of Financial Planning, Manchester Metropolitan University and a representative from Bankhall, The Tenet Group or The Money Portal.
The six successful candidates are: Terry Hewes; Anna Novitskaya; Jonathan Molloy; Edward Baker; Peter Dzurianik; Adam Perona-Wright. They will all be awarded:
- Six week internship to be taken in the summer break of 2009 (15 June to 24 July)
- Cash prize of £1,000 each
- Norwich Union believes that practical experience is vitally important, so two weeks of the internship will be spent at a high-quality advisory firm. Interns will learn about:
- The "soft skills" required in financial advice
- The end-to-end financial planning process
- Both winners and runners up will be rewarded with a profile on Norwich Union's website www.futureadviserprogramme.com/ to help them build contacts - with a view to finding employment following the completion of their degree.
Steve Gay, distribution development director, said: "We look forward to welcoming the six successful candidates and helping them develop as they learn more about the financial advice profession. We were extremely impressed by the standard of candidates and hope that initiatives like this will contribute to redressing the disparity between demand and supply of high-calibre graduates in the financial advice sector."
Jonathan Molloy, a final year business studies student at Manchester Metropolitan University, said: "I was already researching a career in financial advice when I heard about this competition. I think schemes like this are a good way of raising awareness of the sector, especially with such a big name like Norwich Union involved. This internship will be a real career boost; it's a great way of seeing the different aspects of the profession and a great opportunity."
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Press office contacts:
Sarah Poulter - 01904 452828 Out of hours: 07800 691569
Notes to editors:
Norwich Union will be working with Bankhall, The Money Portal and Tenet to deliver practical and valuable experience of working with a high quality advisory firm. Their participation is as part of a pilot and therefore Norwich Union may seek to extend The Future Adviser Programme to more firms in the future.
About Norwich Union
Norwich Union is the UK's largest insurer. It is a leading provider of life, pensions and investment products and one of the largest financial adviser (FA) providers. FAs provide over 70% of the company's long-term savings business in the UK.
Norwich Union is the UK's largest general insurer with a market share of around 14%, with a focus on insurance for individuals and small businesses.
Norwich Union's news releases and a selection of images are available from Aviva's internet press centre at www.aviva.com/media.