Four young Bermudians are getting to see a little talked about side of the insurance sector ? brokering the deals between re/insurance carriers and those seeking coverage.

But those four Bermudians had to beat out 87 other applicants for the work experience opportunity at Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.

Who are they? Nicole Miller, Shahrzad Murray, Janson Cross and Alice Bennett were able to secure jobs with the well-known broking company earlier this year. They have all been on the job since October 15.

Alan Waring, an executive vice-president at Arthur J. Gallagher said the company recently launched a trainee brokers programme ? Career Launch ? after it realised it needed to seek out talent for the industry on the back of booming business.

Island brokers have reportedly seen their business grow dramatically with insurance and reinsurance coverage being in high demand ever since the market turned in 2001. The company is even having to move to new premises after outgrowing its present Reid Street office.

Mr. Waring said: "We basically got to the point where we needed to do a sweep of the talent in Bermuda. We put out an ad in May, with outlines of the roles and that we were looking for people with or without experience who were interested in making insuarnce their career."

The interest must have been their as Mr. Waring said the company received 87 applications ? and of those only four had any experience. But in the end, the four that got hired did not have previous work experience in insurance.

He added that the company went through the submissions and whittled their interest down to 37 of the applicants.

Booking a week and a half out from normal work commitments, Mr. Waring said he did back to back interviews. From those interviews, a dozen were short listed for additional testing, and then nine interviewed by a special panel.

Four lucky applicants were then offered jobs, with Mr. Waring saying that thankfully, all had been "delighted to accept".

Mr. Waring said Career Launch was set up after management recognised that it needed to make every effort ot build a solid work force.

"Arthur J. Gallagher has been her for more than 30 years and we need to plan if we are to be here another 30 years," he said.

Career Launch is a two-year programme that includes time out for the recruits to study to sit professional designations. The company also gives financial assistance towards the cost of sitting those exams.

Perhaps most importantly, the four young Bermudians get a chance to work with a team of brokers, and to be part of real broking deals.

"Each of our trainees is allocated to a particular account and work with trading brokers in their team. They are involved in negotiations, including meetings with clients and producers," he said.