4-minute read
It’s admittedly hard to find anyone who grew up dreaming of working in the insurance industry. But guess what? It’s actually fairly easy to find lots of us in the industry who love what we do.
So, why does insurance get a bad rap?
Well, for starters, let’s acknowledge that the reputation of the industry doesn’t always serve us well. Insurance carriers don’t want to pay your claims, the salespeople are overly aggressive, the service is lacking. Those are the reputation stereotypes, the clichés, and, unfortunately, sometimes the case.
But here’s the thing: If you stop to think about it, insurance helps keep things running. It makes it possible for businesses to build factories, to hire employees, to stage sporting events, open universities, and more. None of that would be possible without insurance.
Sure, the industry has its bad apples. But so does medicine, the legal profession and so on and so on.
And guess what? The insurance world needs you.
The industry employs about 2.5 million people in the U.S. today, including 1.1 million who work for insurance brokerages like The Mahoney Group. With roughly half of the industry’s workforce older than 45, plenty of hiring is expected in the insurance field for years to come. It’s estimated that nearly 400,000 employees will retire from the insurance industry workforce within the next few years alone.
Those are some big numbers, right?
So, beyond helping make the world go ‘round, why else do those of us in the insurance world enjoy the work? Why should you consider an insurance career?
Here are three reasons that we feel might be among the most compelling:
- There’s a real purpose behind insurance. It’s about helping the hard-working owners of those businesses recover after a fire, a flood or some other disaster, whether natural or man-made. It’s about keeping the doors open to a business that might have taken years to build, and which employs potentially hundreds or thousands of people. Helping people get back on their feet during some of the worst times of their lives is a feature of life in the insurance world that can be truly satisfying.
- You’ll get the training and support you need to succeed. Of course, this won’t be the case everywhere, so you’ll need to ask plenty of questions to ensure you’re joining the right company. But many insurance companies today, whether they’re a brokerage or a carrier, are spending more than ever on virtual and in-person learning and development programs. Put your best foot forward and you’ll have all of the best industry designations under your belt in just a few years or less.
- The income potential in an insurance career is better than average, and in some cases, considerably better. A survey of young insurance industry employees found that more than 80 percent felt “very optimistic” or at least “optimistic” about earning a higher income in the next year. And if you’re in sales in the insurance world, your income potential is limited only by your own enterprise.
There are other reasons that you might like or even love about working in insurance, and if you’re motivated and driven, it can almost certainly be the career choice or switch you’ll wish you had made years ago.
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The Mahoney Group, based in Mesa, Ariz., is one of the largest independent insurance and employee benefits brokerages in the nation. For more information about who we are and what we do, contact us online or call 480-730-4920.