Meet our people: Claire

Claire Catterson Retirement Analyst, RSC Belfast
MSCi Mathematics, Queens University Belfast.

“We specialise in providing all the calculations required for an actuarial valuation, so if you like number crunching and problem solving then this is the job for you.”

I joined the Retirement Service Centre as a graduate in September 2007, within the first week any doubts were soon forgotten and I knew that Mercer was the place for me. The people were so helpful and friendly and it was such a young office, I realised that working here was going to be a lot of fun.

The first few months after joining the RSC consisted of both on and off the job training, initially to enhance our knowledge of pensions and then to familiarise ourselves with the Mercer specific software which we would be using on a day to day basis. When it came to doing my first piece of “real” work I felt confident I had all the skills required to start.

The RSC is split into teams of 10 – 12 people all at varying stages of their career. Although you are starting at the bottom of the ladder, your opinion and contribution to the team is no less valued than that of the Team Leader. Indeed, it is this mentality that makes the RSC such a great place to work.

A typical valuation process starts with validity checks on the scheme member data and this is where your valuation experience also begins. This is a crucial stage in the process as major errors in the data will impact heavily on the final results. No pressure then!

Of course, no two pension schemes are the same and this is where the challenge and variation comes from.

Learn more about our Retirement service centre business