Thinking about a career change in 2024?

If you’ve been thinking about a career change in 2024, the Insurance sector could be for you.

“The Insurance sector is always a buoyant industry and has great career and salary prospects, with a varied and interesting workload. If you are looking for career satisfaction and progression, Insurance could be just the right fit”, says Recruitment Specialist, Laurence Cooper.

We asked him a few questions about changing into this exciting career.

Tell us about your experience, Laurence?

I started in the Insurance industry in 2015, having previously worked in a Sales role. I started on a lower salary initially, but quickly gained experience and the company I worked for put me through my CII qualification. In total I worked in the industry for 7 years and really enjoyed it. The sector is interesting and varied with plenty of scope to progress, and no two days are the same.

What kind of jobs are there in Insurance?

You can either work for a broker, which is an intermediary company dealing with multiple insurance companies to find their client the right deal, or an insurance company itself.

Entry level positions include Customer Service Advisors and Personal Lines Insurance Brokers.

From there, once you have experience you can progress in a few directions, including Accounts Handler, Claims Handler, Account Executive, Underwriter, all the way up to Senior Management and Directorship.

What types of Insurance are there to work in?

The two main areas are Personal and Commercial.

Personal (or ‘Personal Lines’) will cover car, home, van, health, pet and travel insurance and commercial will cover anything business related, including property and fleet.

If you were thinking of changing careers into Insurance, what role would you start in and how much would the starting salary be?

This would be dependent on experience. Previous experience in a Sales, Customer Services and other similar roles is beneficial and will help get your foot in the door for an interview. It will also help when answering interview questions and can even have an impact on your starting salary.

Generally, you may start in an Insurance Broker role, and the salary could be from around £22,000 to £27,000, depending on the company, location, and your previous experience. If you have administration or customer service experience, this is advantageous.

You could also start as a Customer Service Advisor, which, depending on experience, company, and location, could start at around £20,000.

What does each role entail?

Account Executive

Typical responsibilities of an Account Executive include providing quotations on all products, arranging renewal and new business meetings, making mid-term adjustments, issuance and renewals, administering lapses and cancellations, liaising with Insurer’s and Underwriters on terms and conditions, arranging finance agreements and processing payments.

Account Handler

Account Handler roles include communicating with clients over the phone, email and face to face, sourcing and presenting the most suitable cover, liaising with underwriters, and managing renewals, mid-term adjustments and claims. Most clients will be warm clients.

Actuary

The responsibilities of an Actuary include understanding market trends and researching, designing, and developing profitable new products, providing support to stakeholders, ensuring accuracy of terms and conditions and product documentation and compliance with relevant regulations and legislation.

Claims Handler

The day to day responsibilities of a Claims Handler include managing a portfolio of claims, liaising with policyholders and experts, checking the accuracy of information, attending site visits with loss adjusters and providing excellent customer service.

Customer Service Advisor

The role of a Customer Service Representative can include assisting with all in-bound customer requests and queries and finding the best product solutions for customers dependent on their specific needs and requirements.

Insurance Broker

Insurance Broker roles are strongly administrative. The types of responsibilities you may do include making changes to policies, setting up new policies, renewing existing policies, cancelling policies, mid-term adjustments a lot of customer services on the phone and face to face, all inbound, a little cold calling i.e. lapsed clients.

Insurance Claims Investigator

The role of an Insurance Claims Investigator is to investigate claims and resolutions, manage all aspects of a claim until the validity is determined, provide technical guidance to stakeholders, examine documents, and prepare schedules for remedial work or cash settlements.

Risk Manager

A Risk Manager maintains the financial health and stability of an insurance company by proactively identifying, assessing, and managing risks. The role includes data analysis, developing and implementing strategies, researching, and staying informed about regulatory requirements, collaborating with underwriters to assess and price risks appropriately, developing contingency plans and procedures to respond to unexpected events or crises, monitoring and reporting the performance of the company’s risk management strategies and reporting to senior management.

Underwriter

Underwriters normally work for direct insurers, and they are responsible for deciding whether a policyholder’s risk is approved or not. Their role includes putting terms on a policy and setting limits and excesses.

What professional qualifications can you gain in Insurance?

There are a number of qualifications that you can gain in this sector. The professional body is the Chartered Insurance Institute and there is a Registered Qualifications Framework that has 5 levels.

Level 2 (CII Award): similar to GCSEs

Level 3 (CII Certificate):  similar to A-levels

Level 4 (CII Diploma): similar to the first year of undergraduate study

Level 6 (CII Advanced Diploma): similar to a Bachelor’s degree

Level 7 (CII Advanced Diploma): similar to a Master’s degree

For more information, click here.

Some companies will support you to complete these qualifications and on successful completion of each stage, you may be promoted or receive a pay rise or bonus.

What transferable skills should you mention in an Insurance job interview?

It is important to draw on a variety of experience that you have gained in previous roles. Customer services, administration and sales skills are all very transferable. It will also help if you demonstrate skills that are listed in the job description, for example, collaborating with other departments, good communication, working to deadlines, attention to detail and managing a busy workload. Good people skills can be extremely beneficial as there can be a lot of client contact. And remember to be prepared to give examples.

How do the salary expectations improve with progression?

Dependent on the location and type of business, salary expectations could look like the following (November 2023)

An established Account Executive can earn from £30,000 up to £90,000 plus commission. This is one of the higher roles in Insurance before directorship.

An experienced Actuary can earn from £40,000.

Claims Handlers can receive between £27,000 to £35,000.

A Customer Service Representative can normally earn between £20,000 to £25,000.

A director can earn anything up from £60,000 and may also be entitled to receive dividends.

Risk Manager salaries usually start from around £40,000.

Underwriter salaries can usually earn anything up from £45,000 or more depending on the specialism.

What is the work-life balance like?

The work-life balance can be excellent in Insurance, with an emphasis on a good working environment and company benefits.

However, sometimes you may need to be prepared to work longer hours, with occasional weekend working to speak with clients.

For more information, or to speak to Laurence about current opportunities, please call 01242 505400 or email laurencec@rerecruitment.com