Information regarding Insurance careers, what is the best route to take?

Question

I am a 21 year old Irish recent Business Studies graduate, having majored in Risk Management & Insurance. I am considering looking for a career in underwriting but am not really sure what this entails on a day to day basis, or what the prospects are like - therefore I don't know that it is the right career choice for me. I do not think that I wish to have a career in claims, but would consider loss adjusting. Would a full driver licence be necessary for this? Would it be a mistake to accept a job in claims because if I change over to underwriting I would have to go back to a starting wage?

Does anybody have experience in the industry and perhaps offer advice? Is further education worthwhile in this field?

Thanks

Answer 1

Underwriting is pretty interesting, I think.  On a daily basis, you'd be doing things like pricing new and renewal business, reviewing/ analyzing new accounts, looking at losses, interacting with customers, answering questions, researching issues - in a day, I do so many different things, I probably couldn't even list them all here.  I like that it's always different, though the actual daily tasks you'd find might be slightly different from company to company.  I think claims might get a little boring after a while and the dealing with irate/ upset/ injured customers part doesn't sound like it would be that much fun.  We have a few people in my office who have switched from claims to underwriting and the claims background was pretty helpful for learning coverages when underwriting.  I don't know about switching to a lower wage if you moved from one function to the other but my company doesn't do that as far as I'm aware.

Good luck!