Best Insurance Jobs for a Business Degree

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Lots of undergraduates avoid getting business degrees because they think they’ll simply end up in a cubicle at a big corporation. Others avoid them because they associate business school with starting a business and that’s not the route they want to go. But having a business degree can help you land a wide variety of jobs, including in the insurance industry. While you can get a job in insurance without it, having a business degree ensures you’ll get the best of the available jobs.

Insurance Agents and Brokers

In the insurance business, agents and brokers act a lot like salesmen, soliciting business over the internet or phone. You do have to get licensed for the job, and every state has its own particular requirements for licensing.

An insurance agent or broker has to have the right skills, skills that a business degree can help you obtain. Just take a look at a job title analyses and see if you got what it takes to sell services and insurance products to clients.

The annual income usually comes to about $35,000.

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Service Representatives

You know customer service representatives. They’re the people who answer the phones when you call a business as a customer. As a service representative in the insurance industry, you help answer billing questions and make requested changes to policies. For example, if you work for auto-insurance company, you’d help somebody add a driver to the policy or change a vehicle.

Having a business degree looks desirable to companies looking to hire service representatives because it shows you understand the work that goes into a change in a business policy. Some states require a license for the position, others don’t.

You’ll find the average annual income for this job to be about $33,000.

Underwriters

When an insurance producer receives an application for insurance, the producer then sends the application (as long as it’s correctly completed) to an underwriter. Underwriters check the application, ensuring that it meets all the requirements for eligibility. As the underwriter, you can approve the application, contact the producer for more information, or decline it if you deem the applicant ineligible. You also review policies already in place, deciding whether to cancel a policy with excessive claims.

Business degrees look good because you have to take the business’s needs into account when deciding whether to accept, decline, change, or cancel a policy. You’ll often find the average annual salary for this job to be about $49,000.

Actuaries

In an insurance company, the actuary determines the premiums for insurance policies. You spend your time analyzing the available statistics and using them to decide how probable it is for a claim to occur. You also keep an eye on the cash reserves of your employer, doing your best to make sure that the business has enough money available to pay future claims.

A lot of actuaries also help write the policies and the provisions that go along with them. This is the big reason business degrees can help immensely. Also, because of the flexibility in the level of responsibility that comes with the job, the salaries vary greatly. A typical annual salary can range from $56,000 to $98,000.

Claims Adjusters

If you get a job as a claims adjuster, you’ll spend your time assessing insurance claims and deciding what amount to pay out to the client. If somebody with a policy gets involved in a car accident, the adjuster checks out the vehicle, assesses the damage, and distributes the checks for the necessary repairs. This job often requires you to travel to policyholders’ homes.

This job takes an investigative attitude, and requires important decision-making for the company. Having a business degree shows that you can assess financial situations in an appropriate and intelligent way. Claims adjusters usually make an annual salary of around $45,000.

 
How has your business degree helped your career? Let us know in the comments section below.

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By Calvin Sellers

Calvin Sellers is a tech writer and graphic designer from Tampa, FL. Follow him on Twitter @CalvinTheScribe.