How to Become an Insurance Agent – What Employers Look For
Job Description
An insurance agent’s main goal is to provide their client with the insurance policy that is best suited for their lifestyle and budget. In addition to selling insurance, these agents are also responsible for maintaining records of their clients’ claims and policies. Their clients call them when an incident occurs and they need to put in a claim in their policy, so agents also need to help the client file the claim and get what they need from the policy. Agents can be broken down into two types: captives and brokers. Captive agents works for one company and help their clients pick a claim from that company alone. Brokers act as liaisons between their clients several different insurance companies to ensure their clients with the best price and policy. Brokers do the comparison shopping for their clients.
Guidelines
There are several different types of insurance companies, such as life, health, medical, auto, or home. Although there are so many different types of insurance, they all have generally the same guidelines to become an insurance agent, even across the nation.
1) Be at least 18 years of age.
2) Knowing about the industry will be really helpful when deciding on what type of insurance company you’ll want to work for.
3) There are no education requirements, but most insurance companies look for candidates who have a bachelor’s degree in business or economics, or some type of related field.
4) Take the state required insurance exam and obtain a license. In some states, it is required to take a course before taking the exam, and in other states candidates are allowed to just purchase a textbook and take the exam without the course.
These guidelines vary from state to state, so it is important to look up the specific requirements for the state in which you reside.
Skills
Certain skills are needed when selling insurance, which is why education is not too particularly important in this industry. Employers look for candidates who have prior experience in sales and who have the ability to sell. A charismatic personality and the ability to be concerned with clients’ issues as well as understanding are also important traits to have.