Insurance Jobs

Insurance jobs are plentiful and are generally quite stable. There are lots of opportunities for professional development and advancement at insurance companies. You really should think of insurance as a career opportunity as opposed to a job.

So how do you know if which insurance jobs are available and which insurance company is best for you to work for? Well, this page will get you on your way!

In general, insurance companies offer good benefits, an opportunity for professional development and advancement, the ability to earn a good income and achieve a decent work life balance. The following is a summary of common insurance work opportunities.

Customer Service Representative (CSR) - insurance company’s use different names for this position. Essentially an Insurance CSR is the frontline sales and service staff for the insurance company. In an agency or brokerage they work to support the insurance agent or insurance broker by doing a variety of administrative and customer service tasks. Starting salary in Canada is about $24,000 but there is lots of room for increases. A CSR can also be a representative in a call center environment in a “direct insurance company”.

A CSR is typically an Entry Level Insurance Job

Insurance Agent - there are two primary types of insurance agents. There are Life and health insurance agents and property and casualty (P&C) insurance agents. P&C agents are sometimes focused on personal lines (home and auto) or on commercial lines of business. Some insurance agents handle every type of insurance. An insurance agent position is typically a commission job. Sometimes there is a base salary but it is usually nominal at best as the insurance company wants new sales from their agents. The pay range for an agent is quite broad but generally unlimited.

Insurance Broker - Like agents, there are usually two types of brokers. There are those who do life and health and those who do property and casualty. Some brokers handle all lines of business. Unlike an agent, a broker represents more than one company. The pay range for an insurance broker is unlimited. This is one of the most challenging but rewarding insurance jobs there are.

Loss prevention specialist - a loss prevention specialist will visit properties that are insured to look for potential sources of claims. They make a detailed report for the insurance company and the insurance company will then instruct the insured to act on certain recommendations.

Insurance Actuary - Actuaries are generally hired straight out of university. This is an important job in the industry because an actuary looks at different types of insurance risks and calculates how much premium must be charged to clients in order for the insurance company to meet its claims obligations while earning a healthy profit and being able to sell enough policies. Actuaries work at the insurance company’s head office. This is one of the best paying insurance jobs thre is.

Underwriter - An insurance underwriter works at head office and assesses each application that comes in from the agents or brokers to make sure that it was priced right and acceptable business to the company. The underwriter ultimately decides if the insurance company will accept or reject the business submitted by the sales force. This is a salaried position and each company has several levels of underwriters starting at underwriting assistant and leading up to Vice President of Underwriting. Obviously the salary range depends on years of experience and what position has been obtained.

Claims - the claims department of an insurance company always needs good people. There is quite a range of claims representatives. Often a claims adjuster is hired internally. For example, CSR’s often move to these positions as there is more opportunity for advancement and they are already licensed and have some experience.

Sales manager - different company’s use different names for this position. In general the sales manager is a territory or branch manager of some sort who oversees the agents or brokers. A sales manager is always a former agent or broker. The position is a combination of salary and heavy bonuses based on the territories overall sales performance.

Marketing - most insurance companies do quite a bit of advertising and it is common to have an in house marketing department at the head office with quite a few positions for marketing and communications graduates.

IT - all insurers rely heavily on technology. Most have some sort of IT department. If you have experience or education in this field it can be very good to work for an insurance company IT department.

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