Careers at Aviva
Aviva plc is the largest British general insurance company, operating in three core markets (the UK, Ireland and Canada). Aviva is headquartered in London. Aviva employs around 31,000 staff and was created in 2000 when Norwich Union merged with CGU. Norwich Union remained the UK arm of Aviva until 2009 when the brand was phased out. Aviva is a leading provider of pension and life products in the UK and Europe, with an estimated 18 million customers. The current CEO, Amanda Blanc, is Aviva's first-ever female chief executive.
Aviva's core values, which are worth keeping in mind at all times in the application process are:
- Care
- Commitment
- Community
- Confidence
Aviva Application Process
The Aviva application process has several parts and is open to graduates or those that will have graduated in the coming year. The process includes online tests and screening as well as interviews. Once an offer is made, further screening takes place to ensure that candidates are entitled to work in the UK.
Aviva Online Application
The first opportunity to make an impression in the Aviva application process is the online application. The application form is online and involves both answering questions as well as uploading your CV. Therefore, it is crucial that your CV is well-written, tailored explicitly for your application to Aviva and reflects your experience and qualifications as applicable to the needs and values of Aviva.
As with all applications and CV writing, ensure that you have covered all of the requirements of the job description with examples and outcomes - you do not need to make all of these work-related and can draw on examples from your personal life too where appropriate. If it was a team outcome, draw attention to your personal contribution.
Aviva Aptitude Tests
Online tests are now common in the application process in an effort to ensure consistency and root out bias, unconscious or otherwise, by using online anonymised tests. The algorithm does not know your name, age or sex and is programmed to simply assess whether skills and personal behaviours match those indicated as desirable by Aviva.
Aviva Situational Strengths Tests
The situational strengths test will be carried out online from your own home and device and you will need to meet a minimum score to make it through to the interview stage.
In the situational strengths test, you will be presented with hypothetical workplace scenarios, which might be written or in a video, following which you will be presented with a set of answers or outcomes. They may not be perfect responses and you will need to choose which is the most or least likely to be your response should you encounter that situation. This test is looking for candidates which have the best fit for Aviva's culture, so it is essential you are familiar with the company's values.
The scenarios may be related to a skill or a strength. For example, in relation to whistleblowing, encountering wrongdoing, or how you might prioritize workload. You may not find the exact response you would give, so you are also being tested on how you interpret the presented written answers.
Aviva Critical Reasoning Test
Critical reasoning tests examine how a candidate processes, analyses and evaluates information and then makes a conclusion or judgement based on that information. It tests whether candidates are able to think logically and strategically and whether they are swayed by information presented without supporting evidence. The tests consider inference, assumptions, deduction, interpretation and evaluation of arguments and information.
The test presents paragraphs of information that may include numerical or other data. This is followed by a number of possible answers, from which the candidate selects the appropriate response.
The test is usually timed, and how long a candidate takes to reach conclusions is also taken into account.
Aviva Interview
The final stage of the Aviva application process is an interview, which may be conducted as a pre-recorded video, which you will complete from your own home, giving you choice over location and time of day that you record. It is important that you still dress and speak appropriately for a professional context and do not read out pre-written answers.
There are time limits for each question and you should prepare appropriately detailed replies depending on the length of time given. Be consistent and don't shoehorn in all your knowledge where it is not relevant.
Take time to prepare and consider Aviva's own suggested interview questions. This does not mean that they will all come up, but they suggest that part of the interview at least will be concerned with self-examination of strengths, weaknesses, how others may describe you and what motivates you in your personal and professional life, including whether or not you are more excited by starting or concluding projects. Time spent in preparation will pay off, as you will only get one chance to record each response to a question.
Make sure that you have re-visited your CV and application form and that you are consistent with your replies, experience and examples.
