Insurance in general serves the function of protecting an individual, a family, or a company from perils or unexpected damages. Such damages which may result from natural disasters like fire, flood, electrocution, disease, drought, etc causes harm to our properties and are in some cases life threatening.
Insurance is created to guarantee you of any loss you may encounter within you, your place of work, or elsewhere. The insurance company is commonly called the insurer, while the individual acquiring the services is referred to as the insured or policyholder.
There are a wide variety or types of insurance policies to enroll into, this has created several job opportunities for people with different skills at different levels of education. Today we discuss different types of insurance jobs and the most common steps that can help you get into the insurance business.
Getting a job in the insurance industry depends to an extent by your level of qualification, professional experience and how influential you are. There are jobs offered to those who are not educated too, so it’s all about what you have to offer than your school certificates.
They Include:
- Processing clerk
- Risk analyst
- Loss control
- Customer service representative
- Insurance agent/salesperson
- Senior underwriter
- Claims examiner
- Actuary
- Administrative assistant
- Marketing assistant
- Claims adjuster
- Claims representative
- Junior underwriter
- Specialist
Now that you have known the job opportunities in the industry, lets explain how you can go about pursuing the above listed jobs.
Criteria To Getting a Job in An Insurance Company
Jobs possess similar career paths hence it is good you choose the specific insurance job that interests you and find its requirements, recommended education and experience. consider the following steps:
For education, you need to have attended high school diploma, have a bachelor’s degree, or more, but such educational requirements are for higher posts like working at managerial level in the company. You also need to earn a master’s degree however, only a few insurance companies require this certification and its mostly required if higher posts like those dealing with mathematics. The pay rate or salaries of such workers are always higher than those with diploma or bachelor’s degree.
Risk Management Skill
There is more enthusiasm or zeal to work if you are a problem solver or if you are good at risk management. Your ability to convince someone who has doubt about insurance policies is a tactical skill that every insurance company will embrace from an employer.
For experience or skill (which is the most required) you need:
Networking Skill
Internet has taken over our traditional way of doing business, with the help of internet networking, insurance companies can advertise coverages to their insured, or even organize public enlightment campaigns to those who are ignorant of the benefits of insurance or to those who have not heard of such companies.
Workers in the field cannot give out maximum working capacities to their employers if they have ill knowledge of internet networking.
With the help of networking a new working finds it easier to hook up online with insurance groups, managers, or clients for business.
Networking can also help you to improve the background knowledge you had at the start of the business. You are likely to meet new professionals who have more experience and have stayed longer than you in the business.
It also saves issues of lack of trust from the insured as communication is frequent and you as a worker (insurance agent for instance) is made vulnerable to explain to an insured individual about coverages offered by your company and how they can acquire them.
Meeting up with people to discuss business gives you the opportunity to develop your career more, you will find it easier to convince someone who wants to buy premiums from your company if they have meet you via someone that has given good credit records about you.
Gain Work Experience
Only employees who have worked elsewhere before have such skill, it gives them advantage over those who are seeking opportunity to work for their first time. e.g. an employee with a good networking skill from past experience can mentor someone who is going to work in the industry for the first time.
As a new employee who wants to improve your work experience, you need to attach yourself with a professional who is more experienced than you to gain knowledge on how the company operates.
Acquire Certification in Your Niche
There are different areas in insurance that you can focus on as an employee, such areas may include accounting, risk management, insurance law, statistics, etc. narrowing your interest on a specific area gives you a better skill and knowledge about your work and hence creates a good work experience. It also adds ‘weight’ to your resume.
Consider Who You Employer Would Be
There are many companies that offer different types of insurance policies. Before you apply for a position in any company, you need to go online and make brief research about the company that is most suitable for you.
Obviously, there are many types of insurance policies and companies offering them, although these distribution is not uniform, health and life insurance are the largest types of insurance and they have the largest companies compared to other kinds of insurance.
Each company has its unique job criteria or principles of operation. You need to know what is required in order to be fully prepared for interview.
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