Insurance Underwriting Jobs in Demand (Ernst and Young study) - YouTube

There are essentially four different types  of avenues that underwriters should look into  

and so the first one that i really like  here is um underwriter as a decision  

scientist and this kind of goes back to the  video that i produced a few months ago and  

it talking about data analytics and information  and we know that we have information internally  

we also have information um publicly and  then we have information we have from  

our talks with the customer or our talks with the  agent but this really just goes to show that that  

notion that analytics is here to stay and will  only be part of the underwriter's role now  

and going into the future because as companies  look to of course create more shareholder value  

particularly if they are publicly traded company  etc or certainly look at their longevity and  

staying in business profit and loss is going to be  of the utmost importance to any insurance company  

and ultimately the underwriter so the analytics  revolution fundamentally altered the insurance  

landscape and we know that all the different  elements of analytics that we have is certainly  

part of our jobs now i always like to say that  just because you have a lot of information doesn't  

necessarily mean you have to look at every single  thing and this is where kind of like artificial  

intelligence is a great avenue here is because  if we have um tons of information artificial  

intelligence can decide based off machine learning  and learning about how we do business or how a  

particular area performs from a loss perspective  can really help you hone in to the elements that  

really matters the most and if you're looking  to make a decision using analytics just look  

at what's your exposure so we talked about what  is the exposure and disposer meaning location  

exposure meaning that insured or their prior loss  history and exposure meaning any sort of elements  

surrounding the property or business that you're  writing and so that's your exposure like what  

could give rise to the loss and basically the  major items that you feel or believe that will  

give rise to the laws focus on those elements  the second one here is underwriter as a customer  

advocate and i thought this was really interesting  because it talks about the soft skills element  

here which in the previous video that i released  it was really focused more on the analytics the  

um the data and information and although we  did discuss soft skills we didn't really get  

into it and i'm the customer advocate  meaning the customers the policyholder  

which is the policyholder who pays premiums to  your company and this is interesting because we  

when you look at retention and keeping customers  and business with you that goes a long way  

one of the things we look at here is being  a customer advocate is that if a customer is  

having a challenge or is having an issue whether  it be they need flexibility if you are requiring  

an inspection to be completed within two weeks and  say for instance the customer has something major  

come up and being flexible and working with that  customer to perhaps provide an extension or some  

sort of um just any flexibility you can give and  like you're advocating on behalf of the customer  

you're letting the customer know that you are  willing to work with them and then when we talk  

about retention and keeping customers with the  company it's usually in most cases it you actually  

when any insurance company writes a policy  where most insurance company writes a policy  

there's a lot of upfront costs that or expenses  that the company takes on when they write a new  

piece of business and so typically the company  really starts to see more of the profit come  

in later down the line usually at the next renewal  or the renewal thereafter and so retention is like  

really important so that's why the customer  advocate here and i really like the part of  

having the customer the soft skills is because  everything we do here is obviously we want to make  

sure that the company can make a profit but also  making sure that the customer has what they need  

services and solutions are offered and provided  and when the customer actually needs us for any  

reason as an insurance company that we're there on  behalf of the customer third here's underwriter as  

an innovator i really like this one is i like  all of these by the way but um underwriter as  

an innovator i like this a lot because it really  goes to show how underwriters really have a lot  

to to say and a lot of input in the decision  making of the company and i always tell people  

that if you're an underwriter you actually have  more clout or more um more of a voice than you  

think because essentially you are the one that are  is you're making the decision number one and then  

number two you're the face of the company from an  underwriting perspective whether it be directly  

with the customer or directly with the agent  you are the face of that company from a p l and  

underwriting perspective and so i'm thinking  kind of differently how if you notice trends  

or if you notice um issues within your book of  business or your portfolio you can maybe come up  

with solutions and present to your company or  your management that might make things better  

processes making processes more efficient i'm  utilizing technology you should do more with less  

and i always tell people if you're interested  and you like technology underwriting is the place  

to be because there's a lot of information  and technology that we have at our disposal  

that if your company is not using it now maybe  there's opportunities to use others in the  

future but i'd really like the underwriter as  an innovator especially as new emerging risks  

arise a lot of this just for an example in 2020  we had the record number of hurricanes or name  

storms and that's unprecedented and so you have  to have an innovative mindset in order to kind of  

keep up with where things are going just to be on  a lookout on the horizon and make sure that you're  

as mitigated as possible for unintended losses the  last one here is underwriters as a sales executive  

and i um i think this one is interesting because i  think in many companies not all but many companies  

underwriting and sales tend to be kind of separate  meaning they if you're an underwriter you may not  

also have sales responsibilities although and  there are cases or commercial underwriters are  

usually big in this is where the commerce the  underwriter is also the sales person and so you  

have a sales quota you have a sales goal but you  also have a p l a profit and loss goal as well  

and so that underwriter in those cases is the  sales person but and and so although you may  

not be in a position to where you're also a  salesperson you may actually have a sales um  

partner or you may have a sales team that helps  bring in business or helps onboard agents etc  

you can still as an underwriter and this  isn't saying that you have to you underwriters  

have to know how to sell it's just saying  underwriters should think like a salesperson  

and although you may not be face to face selling  directly you're thinking as a salesperson from  

uh from a new business perspective if you are  looking to grow revenues if you are looking to  

improve your loss performance you're thinking from  the perspective that you number one you want to  

be great as a salesperson but you also want your  customer or your client to also benefit and have  

the best possible product it's possible based on  their needs and so as an underwriter and this kind  

of goes back to training that we talked about  underwriters or trainers as well as agents and  

brokers or trainers as well you are essentially  training your agent or training your customer  

as to those products that you have and so get  an understanding of what the client or what  

the customer needs in terms of their risk their  exposure and then offering up the best solution  

possible that meets their needs and that's where  kind of the sales mentality or thinking like a  

salesperson can really help in the underwriter  role and i think if you look at some of the some  

of the best most successful underwriters  today or even in the in the in the past  

they've been great essentially at most of of the  four items here particularly thinking as a sales  

executive because they've you they've been able  to create great relationships and partnerships  

with their agents or with their uh policyholders  and then they they've had customers who've stuck  

with them throughout the majority of their careers  because they those customers felt comfortable that  

you as the underwriter were always recommending  the best possible product for them or if there was  

new emerging risk on the horizon that you brought  that to the customer's attention based off what  

you knew about their exposure and i'll just recap  these underwriters the sales executive that's one  

underwriter as a decision scientist love that  one underwriter as a customer advocate and then  

underwriter as an innovator and i think the  last part of this um study just shows that  

i'm beyond technology talent points i'm  the way forward and it just talks about  

you know talent and how can you not only get  into the industry as an underwriter but what  

does the future look like for your career um going  forward after doing all these things essentially  

if you're an underwriter for an insurance company  or for any type of company you're an underwriter  

you can essentially kind of paint your own path