Insurance Manager Jobs - Life Insurance Managers' Salary & Job Benefits - A Downfall

Life insurance manager jobs project a visual image of prestige, high salaries, and great job benefits. In reality the second level insurance manager jobs, that of life insurance managers, do not materialize into what many think. Here are reasons to say no to becoming one of the life insurance managers of a sales team.

Any life insurance company has one major motive in mind, and that is profit. When a new branch career office opens it places in a General Life Manager with a guaranteed a salary plus production bonus This article will explain how other insurance manager jobs work differently, like that of the life insurance managers.

A new sales manager is led by a carrot into thinking he is part of the company established money machine. HE IS NOT.

WHO IS ASKED TO BECOME A LIFE INSURANCE MANAGER? The office general manager needs sales growth, and having 2 sales training managers are better than one and 3 are better than two. So here is the start of the hunt to fill these insurance management jobs. If you have true sales ability and are making sales consistently, the general life manager is already scouting you out. This is especially true when he starts to give you the company call in leads for some really easy sales. (an initial sublime bribe) After 2 years experience, you are wined and dined by the general manager, and asked if you would like to make a big career jump to a insurance management job. You could be the next life insurance sales manager.

As an insurance manager, you will have a base salary, plus additional sales production income tacked on. In addition, you will no longer have to go out and personal scrounge up new business. This means personally no longer making cold calls! Health benefits are often provided. Then the big career ego blockbuster is laid out. The company will be expanding, and the new office general life managers chosen will be from the current life managers working for the company.. That is an offer few insurance representatives could resist.

WHAT A PROSPECTIVE LIFE INSURANCE MANAGER IS NOT TOLD. The sales company home office will benefit off every agent you hire, especially those that are productive then leave. When your agent leaves, your production bonus stops completely. The sales company takes over all money yet to be collected on the sales your leaving agent made. The general manager upon your first couple agent loses comes up with a "new plan just for you". He hands over a couple of mediocre in house agents, (those who no longer have a sales manager) and puts them on your sales team. In addition he is going to budget funds for the next couple months in the local Sunday newspapers to haul in enough new interviews to build your staff even quicker. Some weeks you will find your insurance manager job bombarded with interviewing a dozen prospective new representatives...

YOUR DUTIES AS THE SLICK NEW SALES MANAGER. Instead of a cubicle you get your own private office with a nice desk and chair. Your main duty is to recruit enough reps to always have at least a dozen. Ads portraying an insurance professional sales person with freedom in hours and unlimited income capacity always draw in lots of interested employed and unemployed people, some single, some with a family. Next as the leader you must license prepare them if necessary, plus get them to memorize the home office sales script. The hard part is budgeting your time. Your do not want to work 13 hour days, but recruiting and in office pre-training eats away lots of time.

Your insurance reps need their life insurance manager to spend enough time to train them outside the office. This means working with an agent on 3 straight appointments, and selling by example. You receive no instant compensation on the sales, but it will count towards your monthly bonus. You have the inside pressure of being the best sales manager in your office to ever move upward. SO YOU CHEAT. Often you will take the all important closing stage away from your struggling representative, and close the sale. It chocks your salesperson a sale, and a notch upward for you.

However the promotion to get your own company sales office never materializes.

HOW YOU REALIZE BEING A SALES MANAGER COSTS YOU. After 6 months of being a sales manager you stop blaming yourself when a sales person decides to head elsewhere. You then start up new insurance reps and help them get sales. However your office general life manager is now rarely handing any leads your way. As a result you put pressure on new agents to approach any relatives or friends to give presentations to. Your monthly income does not shoot up, despite all the sales you are closing. The base salary remains the same and because of 70% or higher first year agent turnover, your bonuses remain fairly level. The insurance management jobs prestige is quickly fading.

BACK TO SALESPERSON. When you tell the office general life manager that you want to sacrifice your sales crew and go back to selling on your own you are surprised. His face is unemotional. Unknown to you, he has already picked out your replacement and will entice his newest manager. The new life insurance manager will have some of your sales crew to him to get launched.

The best part for you is that by going out on so many sales presentations, you improved from being a good closer to being top notch at closing sales. Therefore immediately your commission income exceeds that of your salary income when you were a manager. In reality all the upper experience did, was make you see that can not cookie cut out insurance reps. Instead depending on your sales abilities always works best. Later you wil find that second level insurance manager jobs rarely pan out. Instead when you go independent, your manager job is managing yourself, a rewarding opportunity.

Insurance Risk Management Jobs - What Does A Risk Manager Do?

In the insurance sector the job of a risk manager in simple terms is to work out how likely someone is to claim and what premium would be required should they need to pay out on the policy.

An example of risk management in work could be, given the recent changes in the UK law, anyone found using a mobile phone whilst driving is liable to a fine and penalty points on their license. The idea follows anyone who has been found using their mobile and received penalty points is more likely to have an accident & claim on their policy. If they have disobeyed traffic laws in the past this implies they might do again in the future. Therefore their premium is higher to cover the greater likelihood of a claim.

The role of a risk manager typically goes through four stages

Planning - normally this involves understanding the process or what happens that needs to be insured. By understanding the detail a risk analyst is able to understand the potential outcomes of a situation and make reasoned judgments & recommendations.

Mapping out - this involves working out the various stake-holders and to what extent each risk needs to be assessed based upon the likelihood of the risk & consequences of that event.
Defining a framework - now that the risk itself has been identified a framework is important to understand & explain your findings.

Developing an analysis - here is where the experience & training really becomes important. It is the analysis & recommendations that are created during risk management that helps those creating premiums understand the situation even if they may not be familiar with the intricacies of that specific case.

However the role of an experienced and qualified risk manager can be a lot more complex & challenging. Field assessments as well as the production of detailed risk reports are all part of the job.

Given the important role insurance has within every area life an insurance job offers real potential for future growth. There are a number of organisations which risk analysts can become members of, which provide support, training & professional opportunities to their members. Chartered Insurance Institute (CII) is one of the main organizations and they offer a variety of specific qualifications which would be worth considering as part of your ongoing development in risk management.

The Different Types of Insurance Careers You Could Get Into

If you are looking to start a new career than you might be interested to know that the insurance industry can offer you a broad spectrum of career opportunities. If you have a strong background in math and great people skills than pursuing a job as an insurance service representative or an underwriter may just be the path you want to take. Though these positions usually require a college degree and some even require an insurance license both of which are fairly easily obtained if you have the drive to succeed.

There are generally 5 different fields that you may want to pursue as an insurance career, the first that will be talked about is agents and brokers. Agents or brokers may also be known as insurance producers who offer their clients insurance products and keep their policies up to date. They will usually solicit business over the telephone or web but may also have offices where possible clients may walk in to obtain a new policy. A producer must be licensed to perform their duties and sell and service insurance policies. On average an agent or broker will earn an annual income of about $34,322.

Another insurance based career you may want to pursue is an underwriter. Once a producer has taken an application from a prospective client they send the completed application to an underwriter. The underwriter will then review the application to ensure that the applicant is eligible for insurance from the company. They may then approve the application, contact the agent and ask for more information pertaining to the client or decline the application if the prospect is ineligible. An underwriter may also review current policies and if claims are excessive cancel it. The insurance underwriter usually earns about $47,955 annually.

The next career to be explained when looking for a job in insurance is actuaries. Actuaries determine what the premiums of an insurance policy will be, they analyze statistics and determine what the probability of a claim being received will be. They may also keep track of the company's cash reserves to make sure there is enough cash on hand to pay out any future claims. Actuaries will also help write the actual policy and provisions. The average annual salary of an actuary may vary widely and range from $55,798 to $97,028 based on what the actuary is handling for the company.

A career path that you may be interested in is a claims adjuster. A claims adjuster is the person who will assess any claims and decide what the proper amount of money to be paid out is. As an example if a client is involved in a auto accident the claims adjuster will examine your vehicle and assess the damage done to the vehicle and give the client the necessary amount of money for the repairs. Adjusters are usually required to travel as they will often have to visit a policy holder's home. An adjuster will generally earn about $44,741 per year.

The fifth and final insurance career that will be discussed is the service representative. If a client ever has a question or problem with their policy they may call the insurance companies headquarters, these clients will usually deal with a service representative. A service representative will answer a clients question about billing or make general changes to a client's policy, such as adding a driver or changing your address. In some cases a representative is required to hold a valid insurance license. The average pay scale for a service representative is $32,328 annually.

So now that you know the different types of careers you can get into with an insurance job it may make it easier to decide if this is a field you want to get into. You may need to get some extra schooling or obtain your insurance license but if the field of insurance interests you it will not be that big of a deal to take the time to obtain either one of these simple pieces of paper.

Finding a Insurance Claims Job - Insurance Recruitment Tips

We've compiled some helpful careers tips which will help getting an insurance claims jobs a fair bit easier.

The Job Search

Know what you are looking for - do plenty of research around your industry on job titles and the description of the roles. They might be too far away from where you are living or in a sector which you don't have specific experience, but the process will give you valuable information on the jobs you want. It will make you better able to quickly find the job you are after and arm you with a good idea what companies are looking for.

Search For the Job Title & Location - there are a huge number of resources online with insurance jobs listings, from specialist websites, general job search sites to local papers online classified adverts. Remember the search engine is your friend, don't be scared to search for a very specific job title with a definite location, it might help you find exactly what you are looking for.

Ask Around You Network - One of the easiest ways to get a job is to get recommended to the firm in advance. Let your friends know you might be open to a new challenge and they'll keep you updated if any suitable jobs arise in their workplace. You've got to be careful to only let people you trust know, the last thing you want is your current boss finding out.

The Application

Tailor Your Cover Letter - Some people find it quite difficult to write a covering letter when applying for insurance claims jobs, but they needn't be difficult. Take the job description from the advert and use it as a base for your cover letter. List all the qualities and experiences they have asked for then point by point illustrate how you have those skills with specific examples in the past.

Research the Company - Have a quick look around the company's website before sending off your application. A five minute scout might reveal an aspect to the companies business into which you have unique insight or it might save you from applying for one job when they have a more suitable job available. The more time and care you take over the application the more likely you are to get the job.

Don't Rush It - Sometimes you can get the urge to get a job application in as soon as possible. There is certainly no harm to be done by appearing keen; but you don't want to make any mistakes that will reflect on yourself badly. Triple check for spelling and grammar mistakes and read both your CV and covering letter aloud to make sure it makes perfect sense. Most of the time it's also worth getting a second opinion.

Making a Career in Medical Insurance

In the industry of medical insurance jobs there are many processes from selling the insurance policies to underwrite the policy by an underwriter and from managing the risk to review the utilization policies. The insurance career industry is formed to fill and to satisfy the customer requirements. The industry can provide many opportunities to people who are looking for. In individual insurance policy and in group policy there are many vacancies available in the career in medical insurance.

The medical insurance functions include paying monthly premium. The patient can transfer the risk to pay for the heavy bills from medical expenses, to the insurance company. There are many processes before entering or getting the insurance policies. The most important is underwriting and another one is sales professional who is selling the health insurance policy. On behalf of the patient who is covered under the insurance policy, the doctor will make a file to the insurance company for the claim. After receiving the claim from the covered patient the insurance company will make a formal underwriting.

The company will take benefit of discounts while at the time of quick claim. So the claims department in the insurance industry will always be busy. The insurance companies will sell the policy, they market the policy through the sales professional, and they underwrite the policy which they sell to the policy holder. The claims management will look after the claims which are received from the patient covered. In medical insurance jobs the results or money will not be obtained very quickly. You have to wait and it will take long time to get the great income. The person who is interested to work hard and who has the talents will get the job. Most of the people who are in high position begin their work in sales in insurance or in underwriting work in the insurance company. The college degree is also not required to get in to the medical insurance jobs.

Insurance Attorney Jobs

Some decades back, there was a need realized to meet the increasing public restlessness about jobs not giving any compensation for any injuries. This was taken up by the federal authorities discussed and then the new concept of insurance was born. Though it existed hundreds of years ago, but then there was hardly anyone who knew about it and did not put it in paper and as a business.

Insurance companies thrived on the public money - because they knew that all their investors wouldn't die or suffer injuries together and hence they could afford to make the compensation to a few.

But then greed started creeping in and often companies would find reasons to decline the insurance coverage of their customers. Again a need was born for someone who could argue against them logically and would help them gain the amount for which the people were insured.

Areas of work of attorney insurance jobs

• Coverage and Claims: The main job of an insurance attorney involves the study and research on the coverage and the claims of the insurance policy and that of the concerned company. Many a times, companies fool innocent people and deny them their claims, citing company rules and regulations - this is where the insurance attorney jumps in.

• Health Insurance: More people are subscribing to health insurance; therefore there is a growing problem in claims made too. Health insurance companies are the cleverest of the lot and have many clauses that they cite to deny their claim. When asked discreetly, they say that since they are here to do business and start providing claims to everyone, they have to force the shutters close - Mainly because almost all the people they cover have some or the other medical complication.

An attorney here will help the affected patient or their relatives to ask for claim for the patient.

• Automobile Insurance: Needless to say, you will have to have some knowledge about the working of a motor vehicle and the type you specialize in. During accidents, it will be your responsibility to see to it that your customer, the claimant gets what they should and are not taken for a ride by the insurance company.

Truly, necessity is the mother of invention and thus attorneys were called to help the insurance sector too. Insurance attorneys generally work for the people and help them make their claims and take their demands to the higher authority of the concerned insurance authorities and even the court - if the company defaults on its promise. Since insurance is a sensitive public area, companies now have resorted to taking more careful steps and clear instructions for the benefit of the general masses.

Finding Employees For Insurance Industry Jobs

Finding the right employee for any job opening can be a challenge to say the least, and this is no truer than in the insurance industry. With considerations ranging from experience and education to their personal skills, the decisions faced by recruiters and employers can be of critical importance.

When hiring employees for insurance industry jobs it is important to take many factors into account. Summarized, these factors include:

1. Education & Certification

2. Experience

3. Personal Skills

Education & Certification

Obviously one of the first criteria you will be looking for in a candidate will be their education. Whether the employee is applying for a one of your insurance sales jobs, customer service, risk management or some other position you will want to make sure that their education matches the criteria of the job. With this in mind an employer will often find him/herself in a position when multiple candidates are well educated and/or certified. While it may take additional time, looking into the schools themselves may yield significant differences.

A certificate from the "University of Phoenix Online" is worth significantly less than the same certificate from an accredited educational institution but unless you look into the credentials you may be tempted to consider them all equal.

While education cannot be considered the end-all-be-all of hiring any qualified candidate, a solid education from an accredited institution reflects more than a knowledge of the industry - it also reflects the job applicant's ability to write and present ideas clearly and also to stick with something they have started.

And isn't that a key feature in a candidate, whether the education is necessary in their job function or not?

Experience

This is perhaps the most important factor in filling jobs in the insurance industry (or any industry for that matter). What you should be reading into their experience is not simply the number of years they have worked in the same or similar roles however. While experience in a specific field lends itself to a strong understanding of the ins-and-outs of it can also have its downside that must be taken into account.

The value of experience in the insurance industry comes primarily from the reduced training that will be necessary to get the employee functioning. Knowing how to perform a specific function, especially a complex function such as risk management or loss control, can save a company countless dollars in training.

The downside in experience that must be considered is that an employee may not fully understand the processes and procedures unique to your insurance company. No two companies perform all their tasks the same way and an employee who has performed a specific role for one company may assume (incorrectly) that you do or should do it the same way. This can lead to bottlenecks and sometimes even conflict.

An additional drawback to experience that must be addressed when filling insurance jobs is the knowledge that the prospective employee has worked in insurance industry jobs and has chosen to leave an employer. The last thing you want is to fill one of your vacant jobs with an employee who has a history of leaving related positions.

Both of these drawbacks can be addressed with a few simple questions of the employee and to past employers.

Personal Skills

Personal skills are arguably one of the most important criteria when filling insurance industry jobs. While the importance of personal skill is obvious when hiring for insurance agent jobs, these skills are equally important when considering employees for administration and more technical positions as well. While these people may not necessary be dealing with the public on a regular basis they will play a key roll in developing a productive work environment.

Although the primary objective in any businesses is to insure profitability, developing an enjoyable work environment in which the various parties can communicate leads to new ideas, higher productivity due to a willingness of all employees to work together, and perhaps most importantly - a lower employee turnover rate.

For some insurance jobs, personal skills are more important than others however for every position they should be considered. You may even want to consider having the current staff who will be working closely with the new employee meet during the interview process and provide feedback. If your staff work well together their productivity will naturally increase.

Conclusion

While every company and position within that company is different, as long as the above three areas are considered when hiring for any of the various insurance industry jobs available, you as the employer are far more likely to foster a positive, productive and in the end, more profitable company. You will end up with a staff that is properly educated, has good experience if applicable, and works well together. Like any well-oiled machine - this is the recipe for success when filling insurance related jobs.