Insurance broker : Career development

It is common for brokers to undergo general training and gain a few years' general experience before moving into a specialist sector, management roles or other functions within the industry.

The introduction of the competence framework by the Chartered Insurance Institute (CII)  means there is a clear career route within the profession and the ability to move into other areas of insurance quite freely.

Specialist roles include:

• insurance account executive;
• technical broker;
• claims broker;
• new business executive or manager (whose role is to find and develop new business relationships for a firm);
• sales manager (whose role it is to allocate new business once the initial client interest has been generated).

In smaller firms, brokers may undertake many of these roles as part of their job. In larger firms, these may be very separate roles, only reached through promotion.

It is also common for brokers to specialise in one area of insurance, such as risk management, assessment, marine, household or motor. They may work in specialist departments in large companies or for small specialist firms.

Progression into management is also possible, managing a team of brokers or several branches of a broking firm.

Recent mergers between large broking firms have made the profession very competitive and have, in turn, affected the career progression available. The market is also becoming more international, and good language skills, as well as openness to geographic mobility, may open up a wider range of opportunities for career progression and promotion.