I would have to say 9 times out of 10 when you talk to an insurance agent you will get a response that they never intended going into insurance, followed by the story of how they ended up in that field. My personal story is not that different. I was a finance major at Florida Gulf Coast University and always was pretty good at math and enjoyed studying financial mergers and acquisitions while in college. I graduated amidst the financial crisis in 2011, so getting into the financial field was a little worrisome. Then I thought about insurance. It’s a fairly recession proof product that people have to have no matter if times are good or bad, which caught my attention given the market we were in.
Prior to being in the industry, there always seemed to be a negative stigma associated with being an insurance agent. You don’t realize all of the different opportunities and career choices available in the industry until you’re in it. Being in the field for the past 9 years has opened my eyes up to what a great industry it can be. I would love to help fight that negative stigma so that people don’t knock the idea as a career choice right off the bat. The different career paths within the field are incredibly vast, so I encourage people to consider it as a potential career choice. Some of the various careers in insurance are as follows:
- Personal lines sales
- Commercial lines sales
- Marketing
- Underwriting
- Finance/Accounting
- IT
- Claims
- Customer Service Representatives
Whether you’re the indoor office type, or someone who prefers to be out interacting with the community and dealing directly with business professionals, there is a career for you. I’ve had the opportunity to chat with many older insurance professionals and find that many of them end up staying in the field in some capacity for life. So, whether you start out as a customer service representative, or an agent, there are plenty of opportunities and routes to take within this industry.
