What’s on offer
Everyone in insurance has a key function to play, liaising closely to deliver a seamless service.
Insurance Technician
Insurance technicians carry out vital office support, working within the various units, such as underwriting or claims, managing routine correspondence. You must be organised, efficient and helpful. Planning skills are key to keep on top of workloads. You will often answer incoming calls, fielding them to the right people, so an understanding of the business is important.
Key responsibilities
- Maintaining all customer details, checking accuracy to safeguard the business from errors.
- Controlling the incoming and outgoing flow of paperwork, developing systems to improve efficiency.
- Issuing claims forms and tailoring correspondence to customers.
- Servicing insurance policies when a customer’s details change.
| Starting salary | £10,000 to £14,000 |
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| Potential earnings | £40,000 for senior technicians |
| Entry requirements | None specified, although anyone under the age of 21 studying for the Chartered Insurance Institute (CII) diploma will need 4 GCSEs, or equivalent, at grade C or above. |
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| Apprenticeships | Foundation and Modern Apprenticeships. Contact www.careerswales.com |
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Call Centre Operator
There are many different distribution channels in insurance. While online processing is increasingly popular, call centre staff still play a vital role. You may work in the incoming sales department or make outbound calls to potential customers from data previously captured.
Key responsibilities
- Matching products to customer needs and bringing in the money.
- Informing customers about special promotions and accepting payments.
- Striking up a rapport with the customer and listening carefully for clues to identify further sales opportunities.
| Starting salary | £9,000 to £14,000 |
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| Potential earnings | £25,000 |
| Entry requirements | None |
| Professional qualifications |
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| Apprenticeships | Foundation and Modern Apprenticeships. Contact www.careerswales.com |
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Underwriter
Underwriters weigh up many factors to try and predict the likelihood of a customer making a claim. Your job is to minimise your company’s financial loss, so you’ll be accountable to senior people. There’s a significant amount of skill involved, although you’ll use actuarial information, statistical data and sometimes your own judgement.
Key responsibilities
- Assessing the extent of an insurance risk, such as likelihood of accidents, damage to property or theft.
- Deciding whether a customer is an attractive or risky proposition and what terms you will offer.
- Investigating background information, consulting with professionals such as doctors, art valuers or risk surveyors to establish all the relevant facts.
- Adjusting standard terms or imposing extra charges to reflect a risk. You may even opt to exclude part of the risk. This is common in life assurance if a customer has a pre-existing medical condition.
- Meeting with clients, gathering information about their claims history and security measures, identifying the level of cover required.
- Overseeing ‘high-risk’ portfolios with many different insurance elements worth millions of pounds.
You would usually specialise in one insurance type: for instance general insurance, life assurance (covering illness, injury and death), commercial insurance, re-insurance or insurance relating to a specific sector, such as marine, aviation, art, construction or power and utilities.
| Starting salary | £13,000 to £16,000 as a graduate |
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| Potential earnings | Senior specialists can command anything from £40,000 to over £100,000. |
| Entry requirements | Most are graduates, although employers set their own entry standards. Biology, physiology or healthcare may be useful for those wishing to work in life assurance |
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| Apprenticeships | Graduate programmes and fast track schemes may be available within larger companies. |
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Claims Handler/Claims Technician
These are mini-project managers, the glue between the business and the customer. Far more accountable than an administrator, you’ll be the face of insurance, empathising with the customer. Communication skills and good telephone manner are therefore essential.
Key responsibilities
- Coordinating and organising everything from suppliers to deliver replacement goods, to processing straightforward claims payments.
- Matching the right skills to the right claim, booking and allocating loss adjusters, building inspectors and surveyors to visit customers.
- Reassuring customers during emotional times requires a helpful and diplomatic approach. You’ll need to deal with the occasional complaint calmly and efficiently.
- As a managerin claims, you will need to ensure sufficient staff are on duty to cover busy periods. This may include drafting in emergency cover to cover a storm crisis.
- Maintaining customer records and monitoring claims progress to update customers. This may require some IT knowledge, which is usually taught on the job.
| Starting salary | £12,000 to £16,000 during training. |
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| Potential earnings | £24,000 and potentially £40,000 as a claims manager. |
| Entry requirements | None, although most employers request four GCSEs, including English and maths. |
| Professional qualifications |
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| Apprenticeships | Foundation and Modern Apprenticeships. Contact www.careerswales.com. |
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Loss Adjuster/Surveyor
As independent claims specialists, Loss Adjusters are both the customers and insurance company’s advocate. When a claim is reported, you visit the customer on site to conduct investigations and assess the extent of damage. This may include liaising with experts, such as police, solicitors and forensic experts. Your job is to reach a satisfactory financial outcome for both parties. You’ll need to be methodical and observant, but fair-minded, diplomatic and confident in face-to-face situations. Many Loss Adjusters are home-based, using laptops to maintain contact with the insurance company.
Key responsibilities
- Gathering information about the incident, for instance fire or theft, often by on-site interviews with the customer.
- Checking the customer’s policy to ensure the loss is covered, discussing any discrepancies and providing a report to the insurance company with recommendations for final settlement.
- Comforting customers and explaining clearly the whole insurance process during what are often traumatic times.
- Providing practical advice to minimise any further damage. This can be a hands-on role, helping during emergency situations such as localised flooding or accident scenes, working with other services to make situations safe and salvage cherished possessions.
- Organising clean-up operations - for instance relocating families into temporary accommodation after a house fire and bringing in approved contractors to restore the property.
- Working with special investigation units if a fraudulent claim is suspected.
Note: Loss Adjusters may visit scenes of accidents, such as train or vehicle crashes, building fires or incidents on a gas or oil rig. This can be quite distressing.
| Starting salary | £15,000 to £21,000, rising to over £28,000 with three years’ experience. |
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| Potential earnings | In excess of £40,000. Top specialists can earn up to £80,000. |
| Entry requirements | Life skills and sense of maturity are important. Most have gained experience in risk management, accountancy, law, surveying, engineering or insurance. |
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| Apprenticeships | Graduate programmes and fast track schemes may be available within larger companies. |
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Risk Manager/Surveyor
Risk is everywhere and while there’s not enough cotton wool in the world to protect from every hazard, insurance risk managers or surveyors play a crucial role in spotting potential dangers. Your aim would be to help businesses and individuals reduce the probability of loss. Ability to inspire confidence in clients and influence them to accept your recommendations is important. You’ll need to be methodical and retain large amounts of technical data, so a good memory helps. There are many specialist paths, depending on your personal interest, including liability, commercial property, engineering, transportation etc.
Key responsibilities
- Conducting detailed risk surveys and advising a client on ways to lessen their exposure to hazards. Considering the structure of a building and its use and ensuring legislation is complied with.
- Identifying the risks, recommending the most cost-efficient ways to maximise cover without exposing the customer to grave losses should the worst happen
- Suggesting measures to reduce hazards like accidents, fire, flood and theft, recommending extra precautions such as installation of CCTV cameras, sprinkler systems or burglar alarms.
- Preparing detailed reports for underwriters, outlining recommendations and actions taken by customers.
- Revisiting customers regularly to assess improvements, for instance the reduction in employee accidents and liability claims. Issuing quality grades once certain standards are met.
| Starting salary | £20,000, rising to over £28,000 with 2-3 years experience. |
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| Potential earnings | Specialists can earn over £60,000. |
| Entry requirements | A degree isn’t vital. You can work within insurance and progress internally. Science or engineering subjects at HND or degree level can help |
| Professional qualifications |
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| Apprenticeships | Relevant experience in underwriting or health and safety in insurance in preferred. Fast-track and graduate schemes may be available within larger insurance firms. |
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