Insurance Jobs
Job Profiles in Insurance
Types of Companies Offering Jobs in
Insurance
Entry Level Job Profiles in Insurance
Public Sector Insurance Companies Jobs
Private Sector Jobs in Insurance
Insurance Jobs in India Important Links
Global Insurance Jobs Important Links
Insurance Jobs in India
have greatly increase in India with the liberalization of the Insurance Sector
and advent of private players. These Job opportunities
are a result of innovative products, better packaging of products, improved
customer service and better trained of employees.
An insurance company today has opening in marketing, distribution,
underwriting, actuarial, operations and investing departments.
Insurance Jobs are available in:
1.
Accounts
2.
Audit and Risk Management
3.
Actuarial
4.
Administration
5.
Business Research
6.
Channel Development
7.
Customer Service
8.
Claims
9.
Group Sales
10.
Legal & Compliance
11.
Marketing
12.
Operations
13.
Sales- Alternate
Channel/Retail/Direct
14.
Underwriting
15.
Quality Management
Insurance Professionals are recruited by:
1.
Public and Private Insurance Companies
2.
Reinsurance Companies
3.
Insurance Brokers
4.
Re-Insurance Brokers
5.
Actuarial firms
6.
Health Insurance Firms
7.
Third Party
Administrators(TPA)
8.
Consulting Firms
9.
Banks
10.
Non-Banking Finance
Companies
11.
Micro Finance Companies
12.
IT Companies
Entry Level Placement in these organizations is as:
1.
Management Trainees
2.
Executive Trainees
3.
Business Analysts
4.
Business Development
Manager
5.
Actuarial Analyst
6.
Insurance Analyst
The type of job which you
get as fresher in the insurance sector Depends both upon the type of the
organization and the education or skills of the applicant. The
job options in insurance in India are
today more varied and require the applicant to possess higher level of skills
and specialized trainings.
There are two broad streams of insurance –general insurance and life
insurance. Life Insurers transact life insurance business while general Insurers
transact the rest. The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) is
the regulatory body for the insurance industry in India Some insurance careers
are highly specialised and require relevant specialised qualifications while
others are open to all graduates.
Let us see what these different insurance jobs mean
Actuaries help design plans and evaluate the financial risks a company takes when it
sells an insurance policy or offers a pension plan.
Underwriters assess proposals and determine terms and costs of an insurance policy
before deciding whether to insure a customer.
The underwriter may decide to pass on a part of the risk to another
insurer. This is known as reinsurance.
Reinsurance is an insurance bought by the insurers.
Claims staff work with people to settle claims against their policies. They review the
policy details, and obtain evidence before paying a claim.
Loss assessors or surveyors investigate claims for losses caused by burglaries, thefts,
fires and car accidents, etc. They work out the loss covered by an insurance
policy and report the details and circumstances to the insurer.
Insurance agents work on behalf of insurance companies. They are sales professionals who
collect premiums and meet sales targets on a commission basis.
Insurance Brokers are independent business people who work for themselves or for brokerage
firms to find the best insurance package for their clients’ needs.
Risk Managers identify and assess their company’s risk, advising on insurance and
investment strategies.
PUBLIC SECTOR INSURANCE JOB OPTIONS
The Public Sector insurance industry employs many occupational groups such
as assistant administrative officers in insurance companies, insurance surveyor,
risk managers, underwriters, claim adjusters, actuaries, insurance consultants,
etc.
While LIC provides life insurance, the 4 independent public sector general
insurance companies, namely New India Assurance, National Insurance, Oriental
Insurance & United India Insurance are concerned with non-life insurance like -
motor, marine, fire, health and personal accident insurance
The various posts and
their specific jobs in public sector insurance companies are:
Administrative Officer and
Assistant Administrative Officer
Administrative Officer (AO) and Assistant Administrative Officer (AAO)
belong to the class I officer group. The job begins with the candidates joining
LIC and GIC on a probation-cum-training period of 6 months. This is to provide
exposure about the working of insurance sector. AAOs can choose any of the areas
from Administration, Development and Accounts.
In Administration AAOs handle policy making, policy claims upto certain
limit, checking clauses and details, filing official returns and statements to
higher regional offices etc. The Development AAOs deal with marketing and
procurement of business, promoting policies, getting contracts etc. The Accounts
AAOs manage the funds including incomes and expenses of the corporation. After 3
years of working as AAOs they can be promoted to AOs. This adds on more powers
and authority and they can be posted anywhere in India.
Development Officer
The Development Officer belongs to class II officer group. They are in
charge of their territory for the development of the insurance policies. They
handle recruitment of agents; train them for procurement of new business and
servicing of the existing policies. Over a period of time Agents recruited by
the Development Officers can also rise to the position of the Development
Officer. Recruitment process of Development Officers is handled by the
Divisional Office.
Actuaries
Actuaries help design plans and evaluate the financial risks a company takes when it
sells an insurance policy or offers a pension plan. Public Sector Insurance companies
hire actuaries but these jobs are few and highly paid.
PRIVATE SECTOR INSURANCE
JOBS
There are as many private life insurance companies operating at present in
India (www.irdaindia.org). Private insurers have designations different from
those of LIC & public sector general insurance companies, yet the functions are
more or less similar. The various functions in a private insurance company
(common to those in the public sector) can be summed as follows:
SALES & DISTRIBUTION
Sales function is the main line of function, and at any moment there are
thousands of sales professionals working in insurance companies; their profile
ranging from agents/ advisors to relationship officers/ executives to sales/
relationship managers. Private insurers have coined several designations such as
sales executives/financial planning executives/ relationship executives for
entry level sales jobs to sales managers/ unit managers/ sales development
managers/business managers etc for first level manager’s jobs in sales of
insurance products. Key result areas range from achieving First year premium
targets for entry level executives to recruiting and managing a team of agents
and achieving key sales targets for a sales manager.
Hierarchy takes you to the branch manager, cluster manager, area manager,
regional manager, zonal manager, and national sales head reporting to the CEO.
The sales manager’s role & function is similar to the development officer’s
role in LIC.
The sales function is
further divided according to channels of distribution. The 2 common channel
funnels are:
1.
The direct agency sales
channel
2.
The Indirect alternate
channel of distribution.
Career
path in the private insurance sector
Sales Career path in a typical private life
insurance company
Direct Agency Sales
Channel:
Agents and agency managers are a part of the direct channel that reports to
the branch sales manager and is responsible for branch sales targets.
Alternate Sales Channel:
The alternate channel comprises of distributors of insurance products that
operate independently from their offices & various sales points; and are
normally not a part of the branch sales business targets. These channels are
also referred to as third party distribution channels. TPD includes banc
assurance tie-ups, corporate agents, insurance brokers, business associates, and
referral arrangements with banks.
IRDA regulates the appointment and working of these intermediaries for the
ensuring the safeguard of consumer’s rights and interests. The Alternate channel
is one of the cost-effective growth strategies of the insurer and many insurers
have tied up with banks and financial institutions to leverage the distribution
strengths of the channel partners & reach out to their captive customers.
Banc assurance:
Banks find the tie-up with insurers beneficial because banks acquire a new
source of revenue and earn substantial first year commissions from insurers for
recommending the co-branded products to their captive clients. Many nationalized
and private sector banks in India have either promoted their own insurance
company or entered into corporate/ referral tie-up with insurers in the life/
general insurance sector. Bancassurance sales professionals employed with
insurers have business targets to be generated through the bank’s offices and
referrals. These sales professionals are referred to as relationship managers
and they in turn organize and manage the entry level sales executives at the
bank’s branches; whose job profile is simple: talk to walk-in customers and
captive bank customers, initiate prospect’s interest in the product and close
the sale. All such closed sales result in achieving premium targets for the
individual and the team. All this may seem simple, however, the job requires
high soft skills, coupled with a high emotional quotient level to sustain the
sales pressure & remain positive on the job.
The same is true for all sales professionals in the insurance industry,
with the exception of the agent/ advisor who; being his own boss, enjoys the
privilege of setting his own time and sales targets. One of the most challenging
functions of the sales manager is to maintain a cordial & challenging
professional relationship with his team of agents on an individual and team
level, since it is the agent who is the wheel of the agency business system.
Salaries in the Sales and Distribution range from 10-15k for entry level
trainee/ executive sales jobs with incentives; to 20-30 k for sales manager; to
40-60k for branch sales managers. Area sales manager get annual CTC in the range
of 8-10 lakhs, while regional sales managers salaries can range from 15-30 lakhs
pa; depending on the experience of the person, the employer, and the person’s
perceived worth to the company.
Thus, there are huge opportunities in the sales function in any insurance
company, to work independently as agents or become employees of the company and
function as sales executives/ managers etc. Sales jobs constitute the majority
in the insurance sector. However, the largest turnover of employees also happens
in the sales department; due to sales pressures, deadlines, and irregular
working hours.
ACTUARIAL
An actuary holds one of the most important position in an insurance
business. He is involved in solving wide range of financial problems related
with insurance investments, financial planning and management. Graduates in
maths or statistics are suited for this kind of a job because the work is based
on mathematical and statistical skills. In the coming times it will definitely
make one of the highly paid career option in the insurance sector. Entry level
salary is expected to be somewhere around Rs. 10 lakh p.a.
The Actuary and his Role
An actuary is always linked, by general impressions, with insurance and his
role to the job of asset liability valuation of insurers. As opined by the
Morris committee of the H.M. Treasury, London, and quoted above, an actuary’s
role, in fact, extends to the whole gamut of the financial systems of any
country, including the effects that the global communities make on them. His job
is managing risk for profit of any firm, of any size. Product Designing, Product
Pricing, Customer Value Management, Risk Management and Capital Management are
the five key elements in the alchemy of an actuary – be it insurance, banking,
fund management, any financial or risk-based organization of private or
government entities.
While most of the developed countries are engaging the so-important
actuarial services to their economic benefits, countries like India are yet to
gear up their ‘economic benefits’ to the actuarial advices. The reasons are many
and the most important one being the dearth of such services. There are not many
amongst the bright and capable graduates and post-graduates from the
universities to take up the qualifying examinations to become actuaries, for the
plausible reason that there are no regular and standard institutions offering
the class-room courses for these examinations.
UNDERWRITING
The life and non-life insurance segments require professional underwriters.
Underwriters assess the risk in the business and take care of risk management.
Normally foreign insurers prefer people with medical or life science background
for this job and the same is likely to happen here. Entry level salary can be
expected to be around 6 lakh p.a.
MARKETING AND DISTRIBUTION
Marketing insurance product is not easy at all. It is like marketing any
other financial product, which requires a push. Marketing therefore would
require specialization. Degree holders from reputed institutes and those with
experience in marketing and finance fields can anticipate bright opportunities
in the insurance sector. Even the role of agents will witness a radical change;
they will moreover serve as financial consultants, who will offer a complete
range of insurance solutions.
OPERATIONS
The insurance sector will be requiring Infotech professionals for elaborate
databases, network solutions and for in house packages etc. Like other sectors,
demand for database and software professionals is expected to grow in the
insurance sector as well.
INVESTMENT
Like banks and mutual funds, investment professionals
will be required in insurance sector as well. Professionals with degree in
finance from reputed institutes as well as experienced professionals from banks
and mutual funds have promising career options to look forward to.
Important Links
Insurance Jobs in India
PNB METLIFE
http://www.pnbmetlife.com/MetLifeCareers_Landing.aspx
United India General Insurance
http://uiic.co.in/careers/recruitment
Naukri Portal Insurance Jobs
http://jobsearch.naukri.com/insurance-jobs
MAX Life Insurance
http://www.maxlifeinsurance.com/careers/careers.aspx
Life Insurance Corporation (LIC)
http://www.licindia.in/careers.htm
TIIMES JOB PORTAL
http://www.timesjobs.com/jobfunction/insurance-jobs
Global Jobs in
Insurance
Allianz
http://www.agcs.allianz.com/careers/
AIG
http://www.aig.com/careers_3171_437777.html
Metlife
https://www.metlife.com/careers/career-areas/insurance-jobs/index.html
ZURICH
http://www.zurich.com/careers/jobsearch.htm
SCOTIA BANK
http://jobs.scotiabank.com/ca/canada/insurance-jobs
NIRA
http://www.insurancerecruiters.com/
INTERNATIONAL INSURANCE JOB PORTAL
http://www.insurancejobs.com/
http://www.indeed.com/q-International-Insurance-jobs.html
http://www.darwinrhodes.com/
http://www.insurancejobs.co.uk/jobs/broking/
http://www.totaljobs.com/JobSeeking/(Insurance%20Company).html
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