Career Opportunities

There are many opportunities in the field of insurance and risk management that mirror the industry's recent diversification and growth. No longer is the role of insurance simply to protect against loss; instead, companies are offering a host of services to manage and assess corporate risk. In response to a more competitive market, insurers also are offering a greater variety of financial services such as pension planning, money management, and stock brokerage.

Countless opportunities exist for leadership in the fields of insurance and risk management, insurance company management, employee benefits management, actuarial science, and management consulting.

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Risk Management

A catastrophe or lawsuit could seriously jeopardize or even ruin a company. Organizations are becoming increasingly reliant on qualified professionals to develop appropriate financial strategies that will protect companies from pure risk or exposure to loss resulting from legal liabilities and destruction of assets. Career opportunities are available in corporations, risk management consulting firms, insurance brokerage firms, and special risk divisions of insurance companies.

Insurance Company Management

The management of insurance companies has taken on new meaning as the industry has grown more sophisticated in response to its rapidly changing environment-one in which increased competition, globalization of markets, and regulation have become commonplace. An insurance company's very survival today depends on its strategic mangement decisions: its ability to innovate, redesign products and services, and adapt to a changing marketplace. Career opportunities in organizational management are as diversified as the industry itself and include product design and marketing, financial planning and risk management, as well as international labor relations and human resource management.

Employee Benefits Management

Employee benefits represent as much as a third of compensation. They influence organizational productivity, efficiency, and stability. Today, employee benefits are taking an increasingly key role in global firms, so resourceful management of these programs has become pivotal to maintaining financial stability and competitiveness. The increasing importance and complexity of employee benefits in overall compensation demand college graduates who understand and can manage group insurance plans, pension and profit-sharing plans, and deferred compensation arrangements. Career opportunities are available in corporate benefits management, benefits consulting, bank trust departments, and insurance companies.

Actuarial Science

In many ways, actuaries are an insurance company's lifeline. A company's financial solvency depends to a large extent on the actuary's calculations and judgment of corporate risk. According to the U.S. Department of Labor, the demand for qualified actuaries will outpace supply well into the next decade. Career opportunities are exceptional and exist in virtually every sector of the industry, including life and health or property and liability insurance companies, actuarial consulting firms, health services organizations, insurance rating bureaus, corporations, and the federal and state governments. The Wall Street Journal's ranking of jobs consistently places the profession of actuary as the best or second-best job in America.

Management Consulting

Opportunities in this field are diverse, encompassing all of the categories above, as well as insurance company investment and econometric modeling of insurance company formations and acquisitions. In addition, many of the world's premier investment banking firms have established insurance services groups which provide a high level of techinical and investment expertise, including asset/liability management, to their insurance industry clients.