Pursuing a career in Insurance can open a myriad of opportunities. If you are interested in working for companies that tackle important issues the world is facing today; such as climate change, political risk, or cyber crime then Insurance is the way to go as they understand and manage how to deal with these issues if they were to occur. There are various roles in which you can build a career in Insurance leading to many opportunities. Here, we look into why you may want to pursue a career in this industry, and the different career paths and types of roles you can pursue in Insurance.

Why pursue a career in insurance?

A career in Insurance has a range of benefits from strong earning potential to being a part of an exciting ever-changing industry where you can develop key skills to have various roles in Insurance. Insurance is a trillion-pound industry and pretty much covers everything in the world in order for big businesses to run freely. Being a part of one of the most influential and important part of the UK economy has many prospects and opportunities.

Another reason to pursue a career in insurance is the social value it adds to the world through risk transfer to support those in times of need. Working in Insurance allows you to be constantly growing and developing your skills and education towards be qualified in different areas of the industry, you will also most likely have the chance to work internationally or even relocate as many larger companies in the sector have multiple global offices. As you can see there are many good reasons to pursue a career in Insurance and you can read more of them here.

The different areas of specialism/careers in Insurance

There are various career paths you can choose to take in this sector which all requires different levels of education and training. Although some career paths require certain expertise; there are always opportunities for growth or to change your career for example if you are an underwriter you can then become an actuary with the right training and qualifications. There are many career opportunities and roles in Insurance with some only requiring a high school education and others needing a degree. Getting into insurance is possible at any level of education as there are many apprenticeships and qualifications such as the ones the Chartered Insurance Institute (CII) offer  that will give you the skills needed for the industry. Here are the various career opportunities you can take:

Claims Adjuster

A claims adjuster gathers information by conducting interviews, inspecting certain situations to figure out how much the insurance company they work for will pay to the person making the claim. They work with claims examiners to determine if the insurance company should pay if someone makes a claim. This role can lead to working in different specialist areas in insurance and moving up to become a claims manager with experience.

Insurance Sales Agent

Sales Agents are responsible for looking for new clients for insurance companies. They can work with companies directly or with insurance brokers to expand their customer base by contacting potential clients; dealing with policy renewals and analyse current client policies to suggest changes or additions to their policy. Insurance sales agents using sell more than one type of insurance and can expand their work to different areas in insurance or look into getting the right qualifications to become an Insurance Broker.

Insurance Technician

There is a lot of administrative work in Insurance with dealing claims, organising and developing reports amongst other tasks. An insurance technician helps with this and provides administrative support in all types of insurance work when needed. Their role can consist of providing customer service, checking proposal forms, taking claim details, updating records and also sending letters. This role can lead to many opportunities where you can specialise in an area of insurance such underwriting with further training, from here, with experience, you can then move into other areas of insurance such as working in loss adjusting, compliance or broking.

Insurance Broker

Insurance Brokers help arrange deals between clients and insurers and advice clients on the most appropriate policies for them; by using their knowledge to help them find the right cover and at the best price. With this career path you can progress into management, move into other areas such as in underwriting or compliance. You can also move into other roles in account handling, claims broking or business development.

Risk Surveyor

Risk surveyors carry out surveys of items that need to be insured to help assess potential risks. They work with risk managers to be involved in identifying, evaluating and reporting risk to other parties; such as loss adjusters, underwriters or even business owners to make sure they are aware of risks relevant to them. You can become a risk surveyor by starting out as an administrator for a risk team. Then with some employers you can have the chance to take industry qualifications to become a risk surveyor; or even risk manager depending on your level of experience. Other progression opportunities in this role include; becoming a senior surveyor, moving into insurance loss adjusting or even setting up your own consultancy.

Underwriter

Underwriters are responsible for issuing policies and deciding on which policies an insurance company should offer potential clients. They also calculate the amount charged for insurance coverage. They set out the details of the policy which they create; through analysing information from prospective policy holders and assess the risks, likelihood and potential cost of the claim. The career progression for this role can lead to applying for related jobs; such as working in claims management, loss adjusting, risk management or even becoming a catastrophe modeller. You can also work with more complex issues and risks as you progress in your career.

Catastrophe Modeller

Catastrophe modellers estimate losses from catastrophic risks; such as terrorism or natural hazards by using complex IT models to do so. They can work in an insurance company with underwriters to ensure that if losses occur; they are kept with specified limits. With this career you can then progress to more senior roles such as become a senior catastrophe modelling analyst.

Insurance Loss Adjuster

This role involves investigating large or complicated claims for insurance companies with the aim to lower loss and to get businesses back up and running with the minimum amount of disruption. If you want to become a loss adjuster; your role will consist of visiting sites to survey damage, gathering evidence, requesting reports from specialists and advising claimants on how to avoid further losses amongst other tasks. The progression for this career path is to specialise in a particular type of claim once you have gained experience. You can then move into management or even become a chartered loss adjuster, where you can set up and run your own practice.