Insurance is a great industry to pursue a career in with all the opportunities and career paths you can take. However, it does require hard work and training to get your foot in the door. Here, we look into what a career in Insurance entails and the training you would need to get a career in Insurance.
What is Insurance?
First, we should break down the different types of insurance and the different roles you could pursue. Insurance is a global, complex sector that supports innovation as well as delivers enormous social value by helping people and businesses in times of need and unpredictable situations. Risk comes in many forms and can be something personal such as your phone being stolen to something more unique such a singer suffering from a career-ending injury or a business being affected by a natural disaster or cyber-attack.
Personal Insurance –
This type of insurance covers personal situations such as protecting property, other personal items or even healthcare and travel risks. How this works is that insurers cover these situations at a fraction of its value by pooling risk. This is done when they group large numbers of people who face a similar risk and collect a small amount of money from all of them which will be available to those who need to claim insurance when something happens. The amount they charge can range from person to person depending on their age and other attributes that can affect the risk.
Commercial Insurance –
Commercial Insurance provides policies to businesses which allows them to protect property, equipment, stock and employees after unexpected events such as cyber or even terrorist attacks. There are different types of commercial insurance which includes Public, employers’ and product liability insurance, which pays compensation when someone has been held liable for an adverse event. Professional indemnity insurance which protects against claims of negligence from businesses professionals; and business interruption which allows commercial businesses to protect their income is they are unable to trade.
Special Risks: The London Market –
This type of insurance protects against unique situations that don’t fit into personal or commercial insurance and exists in the Lloyd’s of London marketplace. Situations such as a celebrity taking out a policy for a body part that makes them money or even an extreme case such as policies taken out by thousands of people against abduction in dangerous parts of the world or by aliens.
Why pursue an insurance career?
Having a career in Insurance can be rewarding in many ways from helping make an impact with your work to having the chance to pursue a wide range of roles and opportunities and of course the financial reward with some graduates earning up to £32,000 depending on the business function according to the IPS Group’s salary guide in 2019.
Read more about the reasons to work in Insurance here.
Training needed for different areas of work in Insurance
The Insurance industry has a wide range of jobs in sectors such as HR, marketing, sales as well as others. Most roles require training on the job through graduate schemes and apprenticeships as well as having qualifications in numerical subjects, although this depends on the type of role you want to pursue. Depending on the level of education you have you qualify through the Chartered Insurance Institute which helps make you highly respected for your knowledge and expertise if you become a member. These are a few technical roles particular to insurance and the training you would need to pursue each one.
Underwriter –
Underwriters obtain information from policy holders to assess risks and the potential cost of the claim. They then issue insurance policies and decide which one’s insurance companies should offer potential clients and calculate the premiums.
Training needed –
Although it is possible to become and underwriter with any degree depending on the company; degrees in business, management, economics, maths or law can be advantage. After this graduate training schemes for underwriters are the way to go which normally last two years and then another two to three years’ training in a specialist area.
Actuary –
Actuaries can work in life and general insurance and analyse data to calculate the probability of difference outcomes and their potential financial impact to help minimise risk in the future.
Training needed –
It is not a requirement to have an actuarial degree however, it is necessary to have an A level or equivalent in maths and a numerical degree such as economics, maths, science or even engineering. You will then need to pass exams and qualify as a Fellow of the Institute and Faculty or Actuaries to become a professional actuary which you can complete whilst working on graduate schemes with certain insurance employers.
Loss Adjuster –
Loss Adjusters try to mitigate loss and get businesses working again with the minimum amount of disruption by looking into circumstances surrounding a claim and negotiating an amount to replace the loss or repair damage. They work independently of insurance companies and are deemed to be fair and impartial.
Training needed –
Depending on the firm, some larger one’s run structured training schemes which will give you an introduction to the profession, however, with smaller firms they will focus on hiring people with experience particularly in claims management.
Insurance Broker –
Insurance brokers work independently to insurance careers to arrange deals between client and insurers. They also advise clients in both personal and commercial insurance on the most appropriate policies for them.
Training needed –
Although a degree can be accepted by employers, numerical or business-related degrees can be an advantage. Some broking firms provide training programmes which can involve gaining experience from different areas of work over a period of up to 2 years. You can also work with an employer on a graduate scheme where they can help you gain CII professional qualifications why working to obtaining a Chartered Insurance Broker Status.
To find out about more roles in Insurance and how to pursue a career in them check out the different areas of work on our careers page here. If you are looking for a graduate scheme or internship check out our latest jobs here.