Employer profile: Barnett Waddingham, an independent professional services consultancy

Barnett Waddingham is an independent professional services consultancy, which means they give advice to businesses. In this guide, you'll learn what it's really like to work for them and how you could get in.

Barnett Waddingham at a glance:

What does Barnett Waddingham do?

Barnett Waddingham is an independent professional services consultancy. We give advice to businesses on pensions, investment, insurance, and risk management. The biggest service that we offer is pension administration.

There are three main types of pension: 

The ‘defined contribution (DC) pension’ is the most common type. This is where you and your employer put money into the pension fund. It's then invested, and its value can go up or down depending on how the investments perform over time. 

The second type of pension is called a ‘defined benefits (DB) pension’. It's based on things like your salary and how long you’ve worked at the company. 

The third type of pension is called a ‘state pension’, which is the pension that you receive from the government after you retire.  

We help businesses choose and set up the right DC or DB pension schemes for their employees.

Where is Barnett Waddingham based?

We have 1,600 staff based across our nine offices in Amersham, Birmingham, Bristol, Cheltenham, Glasgow, Guildford, Leeds, Liverpool, and London. 

Alongside our pension, investment, insurance, and risk management advisers, we have marketing, HR, IT, software development, secretarial, and governance teams.What are some of the most common entry level roles at Barnett Waddingham? 

The most common role in our company is pension administrator, and you can train for this job with our Pension Administrator Apprenticeship Programme.

The programme is 18 months long, and you’ll work towards a level 2 Award in Pension Essentials. You’ll be the first point of contact for employers looking to set up a scheme, and all of the employees that have opted into the scheme.

You’ll support senior pension administrators with tasks like calculating pension payments, speaking to banks and investment managers, and updating databases. You might be thinking, “But I don't know about pensions or financial services – will I enjoy it?" This is where we'll support you. We know it can be daunting starting your first job after school or college, and our friendly team can help you make that transition into work.

We also have a level 3 IT Support Technician Apprenticeship Programme, where you'll help with IT-related tasks across the business, like setting up laptops and computer support in meetings. In addition, we offer a level 3 Secretarial Business Support Apprenticeship Programme, where you’ll learn to provide administrative support across the business.

We've now taken on our first level 4 Software Engineering apprentices and we’re developing more apprenticeships across the company.How can someone join Barnett Waddingham at entry level?

You could join us straight from school or college as a full-time apprentice.

You’ll need to apply through our website by filling out the online application and sending us your CV. 

We’ll then invite you to a short telephone call. If you're successful, you'll be invited to an assessment day or interview at our office. 

If you'd like to ask anything before applying, please contact the Early Careers team on earlycareers@barnett-waddingham.co.uk—we're happy to answer any questions you might have!

What are the entry requirements for these roles? 

To join us as an apprentice, you’ll need a minimum of five GCSEs, including maths and English, at grade 4/C or equivalent.

Ideally, we’d like to see that you’ve studied up to A level or equivalent, with at least a grade C in two or more subjects. 

What skills do you look for in applicants for entry-level roles? 

Barnett Waddingham prides itself on its values, which are trust, integrity, and quality. A key part of putting our values into practice is building relationships with our clients, so we look for people who have strong communication skills, a positive attitude, good attention to detail, and initiative.
What is one top tip to help someone apply successfully for an entry-level position at Barnett Waddingham?  

Mention any work experience that you’ve had, even if it was just for a day. You may have lots of transferable skills that you can talk about that you might not even realise!

For example, as a barista, you'd need good time management skills so you don't keep customers waiting for their drinks. Or, as an admin assistant, you’d need good attention to detail to make sure that any details added to a spreadsheet are correct.

What can students be doing right now to build their experience?

Get a part-time job where you deal with customers and their complaints! It's a great way to learn how to develop relationships, because you’ll build rapport with people and help find solutions to their problems.

Our apprentices who have previously worked in restaurants, pubs, or shops find it much easier when they start working with their own clients. 

Alternatively, take up a sport or volunteering role – anything that involves having to work with others is useful experience.

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