The insurance industry is one market sector that rarely experiences a significant downfall, even during times of economic recession. That’s partly because individuals and those in business always need insurance to offset a potential loss of income or property, whether that loss is perpetuated by injury, death, or disaster. At the core of this demand is the need for risk management, or rather risk transfer, which basically equates to the burden of the cost of such losses shifting from the insured to the insurance provider. While there are numerous careers and areas of specialty to be found among insurance jobs, all of them operate under this central principle.
Many insurance jobs involve selling insurance contracts, most commonly those that cover health, life, disability, and long-term care, as well as property and casualty insurance. Insurance agents, otherwise known in the industry as producers, are licensed to sell these types of insurance. They may specialize in selling only one type of insurance, or they may be qualified to bundle a combination of insurance products for multiple clients. In addition, many insurance agents work in an advisory capacity to provide financial planning services, including retirement and estate planning. With additional licensing, they may also sell securities, such as structured annuities and mutual funds.
The flip side to risk management works on behalf of the insurance provider, which has necessitated the need for insurance jobs that focus on determining the risk of insuring specific individuals or entire groups. For instance, it’s common knowledge that young drivers, especially males, typically pay more for automobile insurance than older and more experienced drivers. This is because the insurance industry has determined there is sufficient evidence to suggest that the former are much more likely to become involved in an accident. Actuaries, who coordinate with government agencies and other organizations to gather and analyze statistics, are responsible for making such risk assessments.
Other types of insurance jobs provide risk management support. For example, an insurance underwriter sets the cost of the insurance premium based on determining the risk associated with insuring an individual or business entity at the time a policy application is made. An insurance inspector, sometimes called a loss control specialist, helps to pare down the risk of loss to both client and producer by inspecting residential and employment sites for conditions that may lead to accident or injury.
There are also a number of insurance jobs that specialize in providing customer support. Service representatives, for example, are usually the first point of contact between the client and the insurance company. As such, they must be familiar with multiple insurance products in order to answer questions or direct the customer to the right department, as well as exhibit a certain degree of compassion and patience. The claims adjuster, whose primary task is to negotiate a settlement between the parties involved in an accident, for example, also shares these traits. However, in contrast to most other insurance jobs, this position usually involves more time on the road than it does behind a desk.
