Career path: Insurance industry trainees part 3

While Dawn quickly found her feet in Jervis Dixon’s Kwality Insurance call centre – and passed her Foundation in Insurance Test less than three months after joining – Will initially allowed an active social life to distract him from his work and studies.

However, after Will re-sat his test, both managed to achieve a pass in the first module of the Chartered Insurance Institute’s Certificate in Insurance.

Dawn’s highly competent work and dedication to developing her career encourage line manager Fern Foxlake to involve her in the training of some of the firm’s new starters. Dawn rises to the challenge, putting some new structures in place around the skills required for an effective induction and helping the new starters become fully effective in their roles quickly.

Will, putting his early complacency behind him, is working towards the second module of his certificate studies – IF2, general insurance business. As he works through this second unit, he forms a better understanding of the practicalities of the industry he is working in – particularly in terms of underwriting decision making, policy wordings, claims and customer service.

His potential strengths as a junior member of Strobes Ingliss Norton’s commercial property team are also starting to become apparent. Team manager Nick Howard – who previously harboured doubts – has noticed Will’s ability to build rapport with brokers and their clients. His technical inexperience, however, holds him back from dealing with larger risks.

Meanwhile, Dawn is making steady progress in preparing herself for a second module, IF9 on customer service. This helps her form a deeper understanding of the theory and practice of customer service in an insurance environment.

Still less than a year into their careers, Will and Dawn have both acquired considerable practical and theoretical knowledge of working in an insurance environment, are feeling confident and settled, and are ready to take on new challenges.

Written by Ian Jerrum, Searchlight Insurance Training