WANT TO make a career in the insurance industry? There is no one specific way to start off. An aspirant must decide what he/she wants to do at the entry level — work in underwriting, or sell insurance.
For fresh graduates with a flair for communication and selling ideas and therefore policies to people, private insurance firms are waiting. Much of the training will come from the firm itself, though a host of professional courses can be taken alongside.
For several everyday functions too, fresh graduates are hired. They may fill positions in accounting, data entry, logistics support and do jobs such as calling up customers to get their correct addresses and filling up various forms.
For those keen on becoming underwriters, at least a year of post-graduate study could swing that job interview. Many institutes offer post-graduate courses in insurance and finance. A handful are respected for their academic excellence and getting a degree from one of them could well be worth it.
Three-tier course
The most popular and perhaps the most cost-effective way to learn is to take the three-tier course offered by the Insurance Institute of India. "Triple I," as some in the insurance business call it, offers an introductory "Licentiate" course, an intermediate "Associate" course and an advanced "Fellow" course.
An aspirant must necessarily start with the Licentiate's course and work his/her way up. The introductory course requires no more than an SSLC qualification. The subsequent two courses require candidates to have cleared the previous level. So, if you want to take the Fellow's course, you must have cleared the Associate's course. Insurance firms value these qualifications when hiring people.
Rigorous study
For the Actuarial work, at least a B.Sc. in mathematics/statistics/economics will be a good start. A post-graduate or honours qualification is better. In India, a "Fellow Member" of the Actuarial Society of India (ASI), a professional body, is called an actuary.
ASI prescribes a course of study and conducts examinations as well. It does not bar students with other degrees, but there will be no escape from the tough four to six years of study required to master the basics of actuarial science.
Most aspirants join an actuarial department of an insurance firm as apprentices, and study the ASI course alongside. It is hard work, but for those with aptitude for statistical modelling, the returns are good. The ASI's website, www.actuariesindia.org, has a "Frequently Asked Questions" in addition to other sections that gives accurate information on what actuaries do and on how to become one.
Self-study programme
For those who like international exposure and recognition, the Life Offices Management Association in the U.S. offers a 10-course self-study programme that will earn a successful candidate the certificate of Fellow of Life Management Institute (FLMI). The programme is usually taken by people who are already working in a life insurance firm.
LOMA is an association of over 1250 insurance and financial services companies from more than 60 countries.
FLMI is not a certificate for any one thing, but is structured to help insurance personnel become better at what they do.
Several multinational life insurance firms are member- partners of LOMA and nominate their meritorious employees to take up the FLMI course.
Such employees get a chance to study the course at a discount and often, successful candidates find that their employers waive the expenses, for the qualification is valued and often a springboard for promotions and/or better offers from rival firms.
Even Indian IT firms looking for talented people with some "domain experience" in life insurance business, consider hiring FLMI-qualified candidates.
FLMI is open to individual candidates too, but will cost almost double. Also, while those nominated by an insurance firm get to take online tests at their convenience, independent candidates will have to take "paper tests" conducted twice a year at various centres.
Independent candidates will also have to wait awhile for their results, whereas the online test takers get to know the results within minutes of completing the tests.
The minimum pass percentage is 70and people have failed by margins of a quarter of a mark, one senior executive in a private insurance firm here said. LOMA also has a website, www.loma.org.
Pick your choice
HERE IS a list of institutes offering courses in insurance education:
Insurance Institute of India: Professional training course, by distance learning. Website: Insurance Institute Of India
International Institute for Insurance and Finance, Hyderabad: One year (two semester) post-graduate course in insurance and risk management. www.iiifindia.com
Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies, Mumbai: Two-year MBA with a full credit paper on insurance or a specialisation in finance with risk management as an elective and a one-year post-graduate diploma in actuarial science. www.nmims.edu
ICFAI University, of the Institute of Chartered Financial Analysts of India, multiple locations: Two-year M.S. in insurance management or MBA with specialisation in insurance and risk management or newly introduced CIRM(Certified Insurance & Risk Manager. ICFAI
Bharatidasan University's Bharatidasan Institute of Management, Trichy: MBA with courses in insurance and risk management.
http://www.bim.edu
Centre for Insurance and Risk Management, Birla Institute of Management Technology, Sector- IV, Pushpa Vihar, New Delhi- 110017. Phone: +91-11-26969254.
Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore: Two courses in insurance and risk management, as part of its MBA programme. Has a centre for insurance and risk management. http://www.iimb.ernet.in
Actuarial Society of India. www.actuariesindia.org
Life Offices Management Association. www.loma.org
Other useful websites are bimaonline.com and http://www.lifeunderwriting.com
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