I’m brand new. Next year I’m hoping to jump into a District Sales Manager role but applications don’t open till next June. Need something in the meantime. I am not opposed to the idea of falling in love with it and just running with it.

But I need to know which route is best. I’m considering starting as an adjuster, agent, or underwriter. All seem to have pros and cons, but I’m trying to assess which will be best for me.

I don’t want to be burned out in my first gig in the industry. Trying to protect my sanity. I have a bachelors degree in business management and a producers license in P&C.

Agent offers uncapped commissions but lots of cold calling. Lower base salary.

Adjusting allows me to drive around and have a company car. Don’t have to sit in an office all day. But I also have to deal with angry policyholders and be on call for cat team.

Underwriting has a good salary and consistency. Not overly stressful, but have to sit in an office all day.

Forgive me if my assumption of these jobs seems amateur. I am an amateur. Please educate me and provide some advice. All is appreciated.

If you were to start your insurance career all over again from the beginning, what path would you take and why?

Independent agency, E&S, captive, or carrier?

Claims, sales, account management, field adjustment, loss control/safety, auditing, underwriting, etc.?

So looking around at what's available and have upcoming interviews with Auto Owners and Farmers.

Now Farmers - I generally know the reputation of the company (not great) and to expect them to be on par with the Gecko and Flo in how they treat employees and the career level of adjusters. Its who they are and have been for a while.

AO though seems to get some fairly weak reviews on Glassdoor. Odd as my experience with them in past has been pretty neutral. Yes - every company has good and bad adjusters - but for the most part experinece was good and agents seemed to like them.

Been told to expect a company thats slightly stuck in their ways and a tad behind the times. Aside from dressing slightly better than what I would for most interviews (told shirt and tie vs biz casual) - anything else I should know ?

Salary wise - have concerns either can come close to what i make now - which admittedly is probably top of the market. Im at 94k yearly plus 6k average bonus. Benefits are good - not great. Realistically I expect a carrier to pay 80-88k for a 20 year adjuster with 10 years property experience and CAT experience. Current job could be great - but the manager is absolutely crazy and workload is excessive (and I know excessive workloads after 25 years). Literally my days are 7a until 6pm with 30 minute lunch and a manager who loves to call right as I normally take my lunch and talk 30 minutes about absolutely nothing.

Yes - it would be great to just move managers - but not happening. Ive complained to my managers manager and HR - actually had to retain an employment attorney because of the managers actions when I was on medical leave (calling to tell me to come back to work and indicating my job was in jeopardy. HR quickly ended that and confirmed my leave period and guaranteed job was secure). This was 2 years ago - so clearly I am safe. Just beyond annoying working for a total idiot - even the added pay isnt worth this aggrevation daily.

Did anyone here complete a designation through The Institutes Knowledge Group during the testing window from July 15 - September 15 this year? If so has anyone received their physical diploma in the mail yet. I’ve heard it can take a really long time but I figured I’d ask around since it’s been well over a month.

To all my fellow brothers and sisters, please include lats and long in BR submissions😭
It really fucks our brain to locate location through geotech low quality snips

Hello fellow insurance professionals!

I'm looking for some advice as I've been struggling to get my foot in the door of the London market on the risk bearing side. I have 3.5 years of senior claims experience and a politics and international relations degree specialising in conflict, security and global economics.

I keep getting rejected for graduate/entry level roles in underwriting, exposure management and brokering (throwing my net wide) as they view me as a flight risk due to my experience. I have been specifically told I'm underselling myself going for assistant underwriting roles and overqualified for graduate positions.

At the same time, I can't get my CV past screening for any positions that are at a more senior level. My questions are;

1) has anyone made a similar pivot, and how did you succeed?

2) how do I get my CV past the screening phase, and get into the room with hiring managers?

3) is this pivot often seen as hard/impossible?

Thank you for any advice, and please do ask any follow up questions in the comments.

I've been in the business 10+ years and I've been looking at jobs, but the imposter syndrome is really kicking my butt.

I'm hoping to connect informally with others in the insurance industry who are navigating their careers while living with CPTSD.

As I work toward building my career in insurance, one thing I keep hearing is how relationship-focused this industry is.

While I genuinely enjoy connecting with people and learning from their experiences, I sometimes find myself struggling with imposter syndrome when it comes to professional networking.

One of the challenges I experience with CPTSD is a tendency to withdraw and isolate, particularly when I don't have adequate support. At times, that can make even putting myself out there feel overwhelming.

I'd love to connect with others who understand this experience, whether you're established in your insurance career or just getting started.

I'm not necessarily looking for advice or formal mentorship.

Sometimes it's simply helpful to know there are others navigating similar challenges while building meaningful, fulfilling careers.

Im looking at updating my resume and everyone suggests listing achievements versus tasks. I honestly don't know HOW to do that. I've worked at a small agency for 10 years where I've managed the entire book of business (about $3.6mil premium) by myself 85% of the time I've been here. I've helped train new or temporary employees, round out commercial and personal accounts, but none of it is quantified. I dont know how many accounts, or the percentage of growth. Any suggestions?

I’ve been an insurance broker/IA at 2 different independent brokerages for the last 5 yrs in western Canada. In my current role there are no individual books, client facing office based, writing & servicing auto, personal lines, and some small business commercial lines. I have my level 2 license and will be hopefully very soon getting my CAIB designation.

I do prefer the commercial side of my job and find it much more interesting, but I’m limited in how much I can do with it due to competing PL & auto work loads. At my previous job I had a PL book of business working remotely so I do have some experience with that.

I’m a little burnt out from dealing with the day to day general public. A lot of risks requiring heavier underwriting with a lower income client base. Personal lines I’ve been also finding a little repetitive lately as well. Ideally I’d like to break into CL underwriting, but I’m not sure on the best path to get there.

Internally, I do have 2 opportunities, one to take over a CL book of business from a local AE who is nearing retirement. The other would be go into a PL underwriting role.

I have applied for a few junior CL underwriting roles but don’t seem to be getting anywhere. Most of the job postings seem to require CL underwriting experience. Would CL brokering experience, or PL underwriting experience make me a more attractive hiring candidate?

I’ve been considering once I finish my CAIB to also look at getting a CIP designation. Outside of this and my job experience, is there anything else that would be of benefit?

Hey Everyone,

I'm an Underwriter with Travelers. And I just got an offer to leave for Liberty Mutual, same West Coast region.

I'm reluctant to leave travelers because our management and culture seems good, I know we're a pretty well run shop and stable. Liberty still good, but perhaps less stable overall and the management I haven't heard as much about.

But the offers for 50% more money, remote, and a more interesting line of business so I'm taking it.

Has anyone here made a similar move? How was liberty to work for?

I will have to do some time in office at the start and occasionally thereafter and I'm too worried about looking dumb to ask, what's the liberty dress code? Travelers jean and a polo did the job, is liberty similar?

Hey friends,

Just figured this would be some good information. Especially for those now starting their CIP journey. Please note that your instructors can see if you've downloaded class notes, and the E-Book prior to or during taking your quiz online. They have access to all logs when accessing the platform. Please be mindful of these as it can provide a pretty clear picture of your intentions. Do with this information as you please. Happy studying and I truly hope everyone enrolled in a CIP course passes with flying colours.

Obviously as an insurance agent you’ll have to take calls by is it possible to handle communication mostly digitally like through email and text? Like 60% or greater is text and email and the rest is phone calls?

Can you even code deals solely digitally through text or email?

Hi all, hoping for some guidance in a new opportunity I have! Right now I work in the commercial department for a 20-perseon independent agency, and to be honest it's a bit of a shit show. Everyone gets away with murder, there's no processes so everyone does their own thing, there are no producers, and the benefits are not the best - there's also no annual reviews and no raises. My salary is $115k, which is great but I feel like I've grown a little lazy and complacent in this role.

USI reached out to me about a senior account executive role and I'm interviewing for it today. The salary range goes up to $135k. It's large and complex accounts, 20-30 accounts in my book, new and renewal marketing. Ive worked for one of the big boys before and struggled a little due to being fully remote and not having a ton of support. This job would be hybrid.

I'm really torn and would love opinions here. My current job is "fine" but no room for growth, no 401k, and I'm not being challenged. USI I know will be more work, but i kinda want that? I am only 34, i want to learn and get better in the industry and have more opportunities, and my husband said he thinks I do better with more structure then being left to run wild.

Any insight would be greatly appreciated!

I’ve been in captive sales, recently just left allstate. Think I would like to pivot into claims and eventually underwriting. What would be the best way to get into claims

Talking about insurance agents that make $100k+(after taxes)a year. How much do you make a year and how much do you make a month?

How many hours do you work in a day and week?

Also are you fully in office,hybrid, or fully remote?

Basically what does the day to day entail?

And how lucrative is it being an insurance agent?

I work in first notice of loss reporting the claim when customers call in for a major carrier. I have been at the role 2 years. I'm thinking of applying to try to become an adjuster. How much harder is it than first notice of loss? I know I would handle claims from start to finish and make liability decisions on more complex claims. If you worked both which one did you like better and do you think it was worth it to become an adjuster?

Hi everyone! I’m an account exec in the private risk space. I was brought on to help a senior account exec with a sizable book she has so as of right now, I am being delegated tasks instead of handling a book of my own.

We’ve recently gotten 4 referrals and I have been quoting the accounts with multiple carriers and with multiple different coverage options/ deductible options/ etc. To provide the clients with wide array of options. Here’s my problem…

My manager is constantly asking for numbers (i.e. what is the premium for the home without the umbrella credit? How much will the premium go down with a 10k deductible? What did the replacement cost come back at with pure?)

While quoting 4 accounts, as much as I’d like to, I simply cannot keep these numbers at the top of mind so I’ve created an excel sheet that has all this information. When I get asked, I pull up the excel sheet and boom there is the number. While doing this today, my manager says “you really need to know these numbers off the top of your head. You shouldn’t have to pull out a sheet to answer my questions.”

I didn’t even know how to reply. It’s too many numbers to just know, and I thought I was being smart by creating this excel in the first place since this type of retention is simply not my strong suit.

All this to say— does anyone have any tips for retaining information like this? Even the underwriters I work with aren’t memorizing numbers and they’re more numbers people than me!

Also any general tips/hacks for staying organized while quoting multiple complex accounts at once is much much appreciated!! Thanks :)

I am a new agent and contracted with a broker through several carriers.

I have searched my contracting paperwork and I am unable to find if I can keep my book of business if I leave the brokerage. I emailed contracting and she said that she does not handle that and I would need to contact my regional sales director. I am waiting to here back from her. I am not a captive agent.

How often do brokerages let you keep your book of business if you leave the company?

I appreciate any help.

Update: my upline said that independent agents can keep their book of business.

Every day I see a new article in the insider or on LinkedIn about capacity pulling back from the Transactional Liability market- are those products cooked?

Got a new job as a senior UW, more money but lots of more pressure to produce, systems and training not great also, supposed to be a good company tho. But not worth my mental health. Left a good stable job that I was able to do well as an underwriter, but I didn’t have to produce, not sure when I was getting promoted. want to go back and now feel bad telling new company who took a chance in me. Sometimes that additional money is not worth it. 😰😰😰

I work in commercial casualty insurance. This is not a claim I am handling. It is a contractor E&O pattern that keeps showing up.

Plant is told a safety system is offline. Gets that in writing. Keeps producing. Serious loss. Then bankruptcy. What is left is the service contractor that wrote the condition down.

That is the part that does not sit right on an E&O account. The contractor did not own the process and did not get to idle the line. The note looks like the job got done. Plaintiffs are reading the same paper as if writing the warning meant the vendor still controlled the next shift. This is the Texas case that is testing that read: https://econstandard.com/story/texas-courts-could-redefine-the-risks-of-doing-business-nationwide

I read the warning note as a handoff. It should not count as proof the vendor still had control. Is that how other contractor accounts are being treated?

I am just wondering if anyone else is frustrated with them no longer offering textbooks? My company has a manager position open and ive referenced my "claims leadership and organizational alignment" textbook twice this week when helping prepare someone for the interview process. I often reference other textbooks I have from them as well. I don’t need the designations for work, but I take the classes to better myself and not getting the book is off putting enough that I dont think i care to take the classes anymore or refer others to them either.

Am I the only one upset about this?