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The Insurance Apprentice – Clearing some of the misconceptions about the Insurance Industry

Insurance apprectice

“I’ve learned that making a ‘living’ is not the same thing as ‘making a life’.”

Maya Angelou

If insurance is not already on students’ radar as a career choice, it should be. However, the mere word insurance makes people cringe when it is mentioned as a career pathway, but why?

There are a few misconceptions about the industry and the kinds of careers it can offer. Many misconceive it to be about cold calling clients, door to door selling of life or car insurance, processing boring paperwork or just plain boring, when in fact it is the very opposite.

An insurance career can offer stability, variety, challenges, rewards, above average potential for advancement and the opportunity for students to take their career where they want to go.

At its core insurance is ultimately a ‘people industry’ – whether that be in managing client or business to business relationships, working as part of a team to assess a potential risk, helping someone through the claims process or conducting an interview as part of a fraud investigation.

Risk Management, Underwriting, Loss Adjuster, Claims, Marketing, Appraising, and Investigations are amongst the other areas of the insurance sector where students could find a rewarding career. Not to mention, the traditional functions that are a part of an organisation like Human Resources, IT, Finance, Accounting and Communications.

Innovative, positive-thinking graduates who are keen to get to grips with both numbers and people in a constantly changing environment would fit well in the insurance industry. The insurance industry, contrary to popular belief, is fast paced.

It is essential to gain enthusiastic people that are keen to begin a career in the insurance industry to build the talent pipeline for the future. The aim is to fulfill the growing need for skilled manpower across the insurance industry and narrow the existing gap between the demand and supply of skills.

FAnews is also playing their part in trying to attract talent to the industry through The Insurance Apprentice programme, which is a great initiative aimed at tackling this problem. This initiative is about giving six people an intense five day learning experience and at the same time educating others about the variety of career options available in our industry. The educating part is aimed at young industry people who are still finding their way in the industry, it is aimed at students studying insurance and it is aimed at a wider audience outside the industry – educating them about the complexities we have in our industry.

Young industry talent will be given the chance to showcase their skills through a variety of tasks within the market such as underwriting, broking and claims management in order to test their industry knowledge, resourcefulness and determination, which will ultimately be judged by an expert panel. The winner will become the first South African Insurance Apprentice, who will walk away with a fantastic prize of a trip to Lloyds of London – a prize every young person in this industry will love.

To enter one of the most exciting programmes in the industry apply here.

To keep up to date with The Insurance Apprentice we invite you to like The Insurance Apprentice Facebook page here https://www.facebook.com/theinsuranceapprentice and follow The Insurance Apprentice on Twitter here: https://twitter.com/TheInsApp.

‘Follow the journey’ and stay abreast of the latest news and happenings of The Insurance Apprentice by signing up for the newsletter here.

About FAnews

FAnews, is a magazine and online publication focussing on the South African insurance and financial services industry. FAnews has an Audited Bureau of Circulation (ABC) figure of 11 000 copies and has been running for 16 years. Target audience is financial advisers, brokers, financial planners, tied agents, broker networks, bank and corporate advisers. Each edition carries a special in-depth focus on a specific segment of the insurance/ financial services industry and important issues are addressed, covering:

  • Life
  • Short-term
  • Retirement
  • Employee benefits
  • Investments
  • Medical schemes
  • Compliance & regulatory
  • Practice management
  • In the news
  • Legal

 

 

 

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