Boost your career - top tips to get ahead in your career in Claims

Consider yourself to be a professional

There are lots of relevant professional bodies aligned with different areas of the industry such as the Chartered Insurance Institute (CII), The Chartered Institute of Loss Adjusting (CILA) and The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) to name but a few. Getting qualified with the relevant bodies will improve your knowledge as well as your career prospects. Joining the most relevant professional body and attending their local and regional events is a great way to learn and to network. And, don’t forget when you obtain a new membership designation, add it and your designatory letters to your email signature, business card and/or LinkedIn profile.

Get involved

Attending and networking at professional, trade body and third-party events and conferences is a great way not just to connect with your industry peers but to deepen your understanding of specific topics that are important in the industry. There are lots to choose from so a good place to start is to contact your marketing team and see what events your company currently attends and sponsors as those are likely to be the most relevant.

Another good way to get started is volunteering with your professional body on any regional subsidiaries or main committees such as your local Insurance Institute council. If you are feeling more confident, then you can also volunteer to speak at local events or join panels.

For more specific or technical areas of the industry it is worth finding out about other bodies such as Insurance Fraud Investigators Group (IFIG), CILA Special Interest Groups, The London Business Interruption Association (LBIA), The Managing General Agents Association (MGAA), The Subsidence Forum and lots more!

If you are ready for a new challenge, to take the next step and really elevate your profile and knowledge, then find out about and apply to join (usually free) industry-orientated development programmes e.g. CII New Generation Group, Insurance Post Claims Apprentice, MGAA Next Gen. These not only provide training but great opportunity to build a personal business network.                                                                                         

Learn from your peers

Seek out a mentor, ideally someone from outside your department or even your company. Mentors are a great way to help develop personally and professionally and it’s a mutually rewarding experience. If you don’t have someone in mind or are not sure how to ask, then bodies like the CII can help pair you up with someone suitable. CII’s Connect is a digital platform which facilitates the establishment of mentoring relationships and enables members to search for and connect with one another. Once members are matched in accordance with specific criteria, such as skills, experience and sector, they can then engage in mentoring sessions to share their collective knowledge and experience.

Check out Connect here.

Expand your interests

Getting involved with local community projects and charities is not only a great way to share your knowledge in a different setting but can be extremely rewarding.

You can choose charities that are close to your heart or slightly connected to your specialism. For example, if you handle heritage claims then National Trust or English Heritage, if you work in Motor Claims then a charity like BRAKE, or for if you have experience in Fraud then perhaps a charity that helps victims of crime and Fraud.

One of the charities I work with is the Alzheimer’s Society and Insurance United about Dementia. This is a charity close to my heart as my granny had dementia but the Dementia Friends course that I have been able to provide across my company has been really helpful when people are dealing with vulnerable customers who may be in the early stages of Dementia.

Understand the trade media

To gain a macro view of the industry and understand what topics are of most interest to your competitors and that insurers are talking about then there is no better place than the CII Journal and trade press; Insurance Post, Insurance Times, Insurance Age, Insurance Business, Claims Mag. Although much of this sits behind a subscription paywall it is worth seeing if you can get a licence.

Many sites offer accredited learning tools to earn reading minutes towards your CPD requirements for example: https://www.postonline.co.uk/post-learning

Get social

First build a well-rounded LinkedIn profile and make sure all your information is up to date.

Build your network by connecting with colleagues past and present and with people you meet at networking events. You can also join industry specific groups and follow organisations such as the CII or trade press.

Be active engaging with posts by liking, commenting and sharing. Don’t be afraid to be yourself as more and more people are posting personal, humanising content on LinkedIn, but do check your company’s social media policy for guidelines on how to interact.

So, what’s next?

To round off, here are some useful next steps you can take to make the most of your CII membership that’s aligned with the topics that I have touched on in this article:

• Follow the CII on LinkedIn
• Join the LinkedIn professional community for claims professionals
• Register on Connect – the CII’s mentoring platform
• Check out your nearest local institute and how you can get involved.