Who Works at an Insurance Company?

[Jimmy_EC5W]

I have applied at JustCar Insurance (SunCorp) doing sales in a call centre.

I blitzed the phone interview, but declined the 'team assesment', which was tomorrow. I had the call yesterday. I'm already in a job that I've been with for 4+ Years. I didn't want to say yes straight away, mainly for these reasons:

-I live 25kms from the CBD in the west.
-The call centre is in St. Kilda on St. Kilda Rd.
-Sitting on my ass all day from 8am-6pm.
-Base Rate of 41k.
-The team assesment (which was necessary), was two days later.
-Training to start the job is only two weeks away.

Because I said no, it was basically a now or never (not really never but my application is held until the next opening.)

Who here works at an insurance company?

Whats your position? How long has it taken you to get there? Is the pay good/getting better? Is it worth it? Does sitting on your ass (if your a desk jocket) get annoying?

Thanks....

 

[cyber_scriber]

If I recall correctly, JDM VR4 (Steve) used to (or still does) work in insurance.

 

[Guest]

Yeah I still do.

I resigned from doing similar work in May last year from Shannons Insurance as the call centre type work and meeting KPI's (Key Performance Indicators), having to get a certain amount quotes/sales etc, it just wasn't my thing. Insurance is a very 'generic' type industry, majority of people hate it but do it because it's an easy industry to get into doing the base level duties and it pays the bills. There is money to be made in Insurance however its a few steps up from the average joe employed in the industry. It also depends on what role, generally call centre ones are towards the bottom, then claims handlers, then (actual) underwriters, then brokers and of course managers and ceo's etc are up the top.

Sometimes you can get lucky and start off doing basic work and then an internal spot becomes available being a Team Leader or something and that can get you off the phones and onto somewhat of a more comfortable salary.

The base rate they've offered seems about roughly where it would be for a new person who has little to no insurance background (im assuming this is the case?) but will be reviewed and once you've started gaining experience it'll increase, as normal.

The Insurance industry at the moment is also trying to clean up its image and quality of its staff so there will probably be some study options put on the table in front of you which will also help bump up your pay, and its not a hard topic. I did more full on comfusing stuff in Yr12 lol.

It's also an industry that you can make a lot of contacts in, very very quickly. If especially if you're someone people can chat to, rely on and get along with. I've been in the industry for just on 6yrs now and have been with 4 different companies in that time frame all of whom have approached me and offered me a job (however I seem to have this effect on most employers :s). I started off working for QBE Insurance doing health insurance claims for expats & non residents of Australia, then a 'associate' from RAA Insurance (same as RACV) made me an offer doing motor vehicle claims which I did for about 3yrs, I was then approached by the manager of the underwriting dept (same company) and did underwriting for 10 months before I was approached by Shannons and did that role for just over a year before I was poached by my current boss doing Commercial Insurance Broking (currently studying my diploma in this).

Of course everyone is different, you may get in to the role and hate it from day 1, or you might enjoy it and the people you work it.

Honestly, I don't mind it and its a comfortable industry to work, it'll always be around and there will always be jobs in it so you do gain some experience and then decide to leave and a few years down the track you find yourself in financial trouble/unemployed etc, you can always guarantee there will be jobs on offer in this industry. I am however becoming sick of sitting down all day but that's not to do with the industry, that's just me being a very active type person and disliking being a 'couch potato' type person.

My 2c (*inc GST)