Careers in Insurance Industry
Careers in Insurance Industry - Insurance industry is going to be one of the hot sectors attracting new talent. The employment generation from this sector is compared to other hot sectors like Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) and Information Technology (IT).
Want to know if you really a cut for career in Insurance Industry? Answer these questions:
1. Do you have an interest in understanding the risks (life and non life) and methods to cover risk?
2. Do you understand or want to understand what is Insurance and Actuarial Science?
3. Do you have the diligence to continuously improve yourself in one particular field even if you believe you are one of the best at what you do?
4. Do you believe in products you handle (whether you sell them or process them) and will vouch for your products all times.
5. Do you have the heart to help your clientele reap the most out of a risk coverage?
If your answers to two or more of these questions are yes, then maybe you should try looking into the building a career in Insurance Industry.
Insurance may be described as a social device to reduce or eliminate risk of life and property. Under the plan of insurance, a large number of people associate themselves by sharing risk, attached to individual. Insurance Career is the employment option that lately came to India’s innovative career seekers.
When liberalization policies opened up ground to Indian private sector Insurance companies and FDI capital, the growth thirsty sector started to boom. India’s general public was also in a hurry to receive the service oriented insurance business.
The Insurance sector not only provide protective shield to the lives and assets of the nation but generate thousands of jobs and career opportunities for India (insurance is second larges new age industry after BPO).
Insurance companies are in business of covering the risk. The risk, which can be insured against include fire, the peril of sea, death, incident, & burglary. Any risk contingent upon these may be insured against at a premium commensurate with the risk involved.
In a bookish definition – “Insurance is actually a contract between two parties whereby one party called insurer undertakes in exchange for a fixed sum called premium to pay the other party happening of a certain event”. The process of evaluating risk and asking a premium is known as underwriting.
In simple words - Insurance is a contract whereby, in return for the payment of premium by the insured, the insurers pay the financial losses suffered by the insured as a result of the occurrence of unforeseen events.
With the help of Insurance, large number of people exposed to a similar risk make contributions to a common fund out of which the losses suffered by the unfortunate few, due to accidental events, are made good.
Positions in Insurance Industry
Insurance industry requires people with diverse background such as marketing, sales, distribution, underwriting, operations, claims processing, investment experts, medical experts, agents, actuaries, risk managers and surveyors.
Here some of the key positions are explained:
Insurance Advisor / Agent:
The old saying – people do not buy insurance – it is sold to them. The advisor or agent is like last mile connectivity between Insurance Company and customer. A very vital link - the advisor helps them select an insurance policy and also aids in the ensuing paperwork and documentation.
The advisor’s job is a hardcore sales job (mostly commission based) and is not a one time sale. Advisor has to maintain relationship with customer over a long period. To be successful at this job you need to have very high degree of persuasive skills.
You do not need very high qualifications bu may need to pass IRDA exam to become an advisor. Advisors earn up to 10-15000 Rs. if they sell about five policies – and of course there is no limit for people with fire in their belly.
In most companies advisors and commission agents, there are chances for advisors to become Unit Managers in due course with few companies.
Unit Manager:
Unit Manager recruits advisors and motivates them to do more business. They prove a vital link between insurance agents and company. The Unit Managers are usually recruited from non insurance sales background and they earn between 2 to 4 lacs per annum.
Branch Manager:
The key role of Branch Manager to help achieve branch targets through his team of Sales managers, Unit Managers etc. They develop the sales network, chalk out the sales & marketing strategies for the Branch and help recruiting & inducting new Unit Managers. They sometimes joint sales call with their team. Branch managers in mid size cities earn somewhere between 3.5 to 8 lacs.
Insurance Underwriters:
Underwriters are the one who decide if insurance is provided and under what terms. They are needed to identify and calculate the risk of loss from policyholders, establish who receives a policy, determine the appropriate premium, and write policies that cover this risk.
Actuaries:
These are the guys who crunch the numbers (well they use mathematical theories, probability, historical data, compound interest, statistics and financial techniques) to decide on what premium is fixed for one category of customers.
While underwriters decide on case by case basis (by using guidelines provided by Actuaries) Actuaries are the one who create insurance premium tables. If you like numbers – maths, statistics you can be a cut for this jobs but you need to be a member of Actuarial Society of India (which you become only after clearing some eighteen papers – mostly maths and stats related).
This may soud tough but rewards a galore – they earn somewhere between Rs. 8 to 20 lacs per annum.
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