Commercial Underwriters. What do they do?

[el_fefes]

Hello I applied for Recent Grad position that will train one to become a Commercial Lines Underwriter with an insurance company...

Anyway, I have a phone interview coming up and would like to know what they do. Any of you in this line of work?

Also what are the pay and hours like?

Thanks!

[Masked Bandit]

PM Dave P. That's exactly what he does.

[tom_9109]

Hope you like numbers. And Cubicles.

[Masked Bandit]

Ya, I forgot about the cube farms. I don't know of an underwriter that has their own office. Even the senior ones are in the cubes.

Now a broker on the other hand...

I guess I should ask the OP, what's the draw to underwriting? Is it more of a "right now" type opening or is underwriting something you actually want to get into? If it's the insurance industry in general that you are interested there are actually quite a few of us on this board who work in all different areas of the business.

[sabad66]

.

[Speed_69]

I am a fairly new Commercial Lines Underwriter, although I have been in the insurance industry for about 4 years now. Like others have said, you sit in cubes and deal with numbers a lot. It's basically a lot of pushing paper. You make decisions about property and liability risks such as assessing price and accepting/rejecting/negotiating terms on risks. You provide quotes for new business to your company and also renewals. You also respond to broker inquiries and develop relationships with them as they are your clients. I know my explanation is very broad but dealing with insurance isn't exactly the most exciting career.

In my own opinion, if you don't plan on staying in insurance, don't get in. I find that once you get into it, you never get out haha

Pay for a Junior underwriter pretty much starts at ~40k +
Hours of work are normally 8am to 4pm or 9am to 5pm

[el_fefes]

Originally posted by Masked Bandit

I guess I should ask the OP, what's the draw to underwriting? Is it more of a "right now" type opening or is underwriting something you actually want to get into? If it's the insurance industry in general that you are interested there are actually quite a few of us on this board who work in all different areas of the business.



Originally posted by Speed_69

In my own opinion, if you don't plan on staying in insurance, don't get in. I find that once you get into it, you never get out haha

Pay for a Junior underwriter pretty much starts at ~40k +
Hours of work are normally 8am to 4pm or 9am to 5pm

Thanks for the input guys. This is more of a right now thing for me... I recently graduated with an ECON degree from UofC and I'm looking to get some "professional" experience.

I wouldn't mind doing this for a while if it could lead to better things... maybe as you said a broker.

What could be some positions that this could lead to? I've read on a site that the possibilities for advancement being an underwriter are not great.

You guys make this sound extremely boring hahaha the shitty thing is that I cannot be picky right now regarding jobs so I'm guessing I will take the job if they offer it to me. :(

[el_fefes]

To add to the above, ideally I'd like to work in the Energy industry. I took the applied energy concentration under the Econ degree, so that is what I am interested in. I do need experience tho.

[Masked Bandit]

Originally posted by el_fefes
To add to the above, ideally I'd like to work in the Energy industry. I took the applied energy concentration under the Econ degree, so that is what I am interested in. I do need experience tho.

I don't think a job in insurance is going to be of any benefit with regards to getting into the energy sector but a job is a job right. There's a lot worse things you could be doing for a living. I also find that the insurance industry is slanted towards the female gender. Meaning in your average office it's probably 70/10 chicks to dudes. And if the company is downtown, that makes the scenery that much better!