52 years ago today I began my career in the insurance industry. Most individuals do not grow up dreaming of working in the insurance business, and I was one of them. I originally wanted to be a major league baseball player, but a talent deficit nixed that early. In high school I thought about following my father's to become a druggist (that's what they were called back then). My father was a second generation pharmacist and my mother had been a nurse so I thought heredity was favorable. Before dying he suggested that running a drug store was more of a retail business and if really interested in pharmacy I should consider research. But high school chemistry convinced me this acorn fell too far from the tree. During college objective was to successfully graduate without much thought to an occupation. I figured a college graduate with no draft commitment in 1968 would enable me to find something.
During college I worked part-time at the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles looking up driving records. During my senior year realizing I needed a job I began interviewing. Working for a state government along with being an economics major convinced me that working for an organization committed to making a profit offered more opportunity. I interviewed a medium sized insurance company (Chubb) and because of my DMV experience I came across as someone who understood the insurance industry. They offering me a personal lines underwriting trainee position in New York City, and I jumped at a chance to work and live in America's financial capital.
I've previously blogged about my career at Chubb. While an insurance career does not seem glamorous compared to others, insurance is the grease that allows our economy to function. Try getting a mortgage or financing a car without it. In most states you can't even register a car without liability insurance. Those are just a few examples. I spent half my career with Chubb and the other half with several insurance agencies. I watched this industry undergo a lot of changes over the years, but my perspective is once you have sufficient insurance experience it's pretty easy to find work and employment. The times I went looking for a job it usually took very little time to secure something.
So as long as society has to manage risk there will be a place for insurance. The business is not without some bumps in the road. Many people regard insurance as a necessary evil, taking too much in premium and paying out too little in claims. They think insurance companies have deep pockets but very short arms. Some insurance employees especially those handling claims approach clients wondering how they are trying to cheat the insurance company to regain dollars they feel should never have been paid as premiums in the first place. To be successful in this business it helps to be empathetic but fairly thick skinned.
One concern I have about the insurance industry is how much their advertising focuses on price and saving money. Insurance is an intangible in that when you buy it you don't get anything but a promise outlined in a contract that is not easily understood. If you have a claim it's not always clear what you can expect to receive. There are basically three things a company can offer, price (premium), quality (coverage) and customer service. Almost any company can do one of these better than their competition. Many can do two of these very well, but no organization can consistently offer the lowest price, the highest quality AND the best service. People pick what's most important to them and often it's price because they don't expect quality and service. That's too bad because often those are really more important. The industry itself is guilty because most of the time they do not effectively demonstrate the importance of quality and service.
I'm no longer active in the insurance industry, mainly because I enjoy semi-retirement, learning and applying new things in the fields of exercise science and gerontology. It certainly helps that I can take college course in these subject tuition free since I am over 62 and live in Georgia. I enjoyed my insurance career and feel fortunate to have embarked on it even if it was by accident.
