An event designed to draw together students and the big wide world of work they are heading for takes place at schools around Dorset this week and insurance company RIAS, one of Bournemouth’s biggest employers, is taking part.
Representatives from the Learning and Development department at RIAS will be hosting a series of 45 minute sales-focused workshops throughout the day on Tuesday 21st October, which 14 year old students will be invited to attend in groups of 10.
The ‘Business Administration & Finance Employer Engagement Event’ is organised by the Business Administration & Finance Consortium and is made up of representatives from schools and colleges across Bournemouth and Poole, together with Paragon Skills for Industry.
“This is the first of its kind,†says RIAS Managing Director Janet Connor, “and RIAS is extremely pleased to be taking an active role in fostering solid relationships between employers and schools in the region.â€
The seven schools taking part are Avonbourne, Bournemouth & Poole College, Poole High, Corfe Hills, Twyneham, Porchester and Ashdown.
There are plans to make this initiative an annual event in a continued effort to strengthen relationships between employers and schools.
About RIAS
• RIAS was established in 1992 and is a specialist provider of insurance products for the over 50s age group
• RIAS negotiates with a panel of insurers to secure competitive, value for money products
• RIAS has over 970,000 customers and employs over 1,100 people across two locations – Bournemouth and Belfast
• In December 2007 RIAS won the ‘Personal Lines Broker of the year’ award at the Insurance Times awards
• RIAS was ranked 2nd in the 2008 Auto Express Driver Power Survey on motor insurance and was rated best for claims payout
• In August 2008 RIAS was awarded 2nd place by Which? magazine for house insurance customer satisfaction and rated best for settlement time on claims
• RIAS received a Commendation at the 2008 CCF European Call Centre awards in the ‘best people practice’ category
• RIAS was a finalist at the 2008 UK Broker Awards in the ‘Intermediary of the Year’ category
• RIAS is a finalist at the 2008 Insurance Times Awards in the ‘Personal Lines broker of the year’
RIAS is part of Fortis (Insurance UK), a leading provider of award-winning personal and commercial lines insurance solutions in the UK and the 2007 British Insurance Awards ‘General Insurer of the Year’. The insurer’s successful customer-centric strategy has been founded on aligning its activities to how customers want to buy insurance, combined with delivering high quality products, manufactured at costs better than market norms.
Fortis’s unique multi-distribution capability enables it to deliver products face-to-face, by phone (inbound and outbound), over the Internet and via SMS technology. Aligning its business activities with its partners’ general insurance strategies enables Fortis to offer end-to-end white label capabilities in product development, marketing, campaign management, sales, fulfilment and claims – providing a seamless integration with partner brands.
Insuring in excess of 6.7 million customers and working with a range of partners, Fortis is recognised for delivering consistent and high-quality customer experiences. It employs 2,901 people as of 31/12/07 with a head office based in Eastleigh and others in Belfast, Bournemouth, Gloucester, Haywards Heath, Redditch, and Stoke-on-Trent. In 2007, its profit before tax and interest (excluding impact of weather related events) was £92.2 million and its GWP was 757.8 million.
RIAS PLC,
RIAS House,
Deansleigh Road,
Bournemouth,
Dorset BH7 7DU
Telephone:01202 254545
Email: [email protected]
website: www.rias.co.uk/home-insurance/overview/
