Industry: Insurance
 The insurance industry is all about providing clients with security and a feeling of safety. Insurance covers health, property, and assets that may be lost or damaged due to natural disasters, accidents, or negative human action. The insurance industry makes a profit by calculating the risk of insuring a client to predict if it will cost more money to insure the client or if the client’s monthly dues will eventually end up in a profit for the insurance agency. Insurance companies receive payments from clients that allow the client to be assisted in the case of an extreme situation. For example, health insurance will provide payment for their client’s medical bills if the client becomes sick with a disease covered by the insurance company that the client could not otherwise afford.
The downside of the insurance industry is that with the focus of helping and securing their clients, insurance is still a business that needs to make a profit. Often times, insurance companies will not cover individuals who are sick with certain diseases such as AIDS, or will only pay a portion of natural disaster recovery because the company must make a profit. It’s also faced a lot of public disdain and is known as a corrupt industry in need of reform.
You must have a personable character to work in the insurance industry, but you also must have a strict business mind in order to be successful. Insurance employees typically have college degrees, strong technical backgrounds, relate to people and can make them feel at ease, and are compliant with a bureaucracy environment. Insurance companies are looking to hire individuals who can perform risk analysis, adjust claims, write policies based of off risk assessment, and brokers who can match the client’s need with the services the insurance company offers. Brokers are hired to sell insurance coverage to new and prospective clients by personalizing their sales tactics to the specific client. Salaries range from $30,000 to $125,000 depending on experience, but no position is secure within the insurance industry due to the consistent merging, downsizing, and technology advances of insurance companies. However, companies are always looking to hire innovative individuals who can utilize information technology to improve the company’s services and procedures.
Positions within the insurance industry are slowly declining due to the merging of companies and technological advances which are taking over many previous positions. Life insurance companies such as Blue Shield are already thriving, while companies such as the Hartford Group are steadily growing due to the increasing population size. With the Baby Boomer generation retiring, health insurance is becoming an increased necessity to a substantial degree and after hurricane Katrina property insurance is on the rise due to heightened awareness for the need of insurance.
Car insurance companies such as State Farm must make informed decisions when deciding to cover a driver or declining their application. Insurance companies must make difficult decisions; which often results in not insuring needy individuals in order to make a profit. Recent trends from vehicle insurance companies is to offer a good driver discount, which rewards customers who drive safely, and in turn, lower their risk as an insurance customer. Age, gender, school grades, and much more all play into account for the quote applicants will receive for their monthly dues.
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