Advisory Column for Insurance Company Interviews

Bank exams and interviews are now almost over – I know we still have the IBPS Clerical Interviews left – but it’s sort of over. What is coming up all fresh and new in 2015’s employment calendar is the Insurance Companies and recruitment!

LIC, New India Assurance, National Insurance Company, General Insurance Corporation of India, United India Insurance are already out with their recruitment notices and some have already started the selection process with interviews scheduled in February!


So – what is it gonna take to get into an Insurance Company?!

Since, this is +BankExamsToday  – I’m going out on a limb and guessing most of my readers are bank job aspirants – but have been giving other recruitment exams on the side to keep their options open.

Well, excellent!

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I give you 5 reasons why insurance jobs are as good as any other PSU job:-

1. Insurance companies are core commerce related industry – which also utilize professional services of CAs/ MBAs and lawyers – engineers – and recruit them as specialists – so you do what you love to do – specifically!
   
   
2. Salaries are comparable to Bank PO – which is under revision since 2012 as all the recruitment ads will tell you!
   
   Plus they also have the same perks and allowances – they have gratuity, leave travel concession, pension etc.
   
   
3. You join as an Administrative Officer Scale 1. Self explanatory!
   
   Probationary period is for a year – which can get extended to a maximum of another year – so max is 2 years.
   
   
4. The transfers are not as frequent as in Banks. Plus – you also do not have ‘mandatory rural posting’!
   
   
5. It is all government undertakings! You get a PSU job.
   
   

 I know a senior officer in one of the insurance companies I mentioned above – who’s been associated with the company for more than 20 years – recommends the industry to me very earnestly – and is almost always part of interview panels of banks and insurance companies! So have it from someone on the inside – it is good!

Now – how to deal with the written exams?

1. If you’ve applied for generalist – it’s the same as bank exams – Quantitative aptitude, Reasoning, Computers, General Awareness and English.
   
   You need no advises here – you’re the pro!
   
   
2. If you’ve applied for specialist’s post – legal, finance, engineering – you need to be VERY THOROUGH in your own subjects.
   
   The questions asked in the written exam are of extremely high ‘quality’ – they’ll check various aspects of your specializations and in detail.
   
   
3. And the age old advice – attempt as much as you can – maximize your maximum attempt – but don’t do guesswork!
   

Then, you’ll have the interviews – what to do for interviews?

1. General Awareness about the insurance industry – what is currently going on in the insurance sector?
   
   We tend to always ignore the insurance sector don’t we? Give it a thought!
   
   
2. You’ll need to know about how the industry works.
   
   You pay premiums for something to fall back on in future if something bad happens– you meet with something unfortunate – you raise a claim with your insurance company – and they … … … harass a little … accept some claims … reject most of them …
   
   Unfortunately this is what most of us have in our minds – unknowingly – movies, real experiences of the worst kind have created this negative idea in our minds.
   
   We need to clean that up with actually knowing how this particular industry works – the whole nine yards!
   
   Know the terms – the meaning of the terms – the reach of this particular service in the whole of service sector etc.
   
   
3. For Generalists – knowing about the industry, the particular insurance company and general knowledge and about ‘personal questions’ should be ‘ok’ – if not foolproof preparation.
   
   No one has quite figured out what ‘foolproof interview’ preparation is anyway!
   
   It goes differently for all – it does not depend on any set protocols or parameters – so …
   
   
   
4. For specialists – industry, self awareness, insurance company’s knowledge, general awareness is obviously required.
   
   But since your are being chosen for your ‘specialization’ – knowing your subjects here is even more important than the written exams – because here they see and hear you answer – and they’ll mark you up on how confident you are with ‘your’ knowledge.
   
   Friends, it is very important therefore to be up your game to beat the competition – your knowledge and nothing else – the more you know the better you are.
   
   
5. You’ll need to show a genuine interest and earnestness in answering the question, “Why insurance company job?”
   
   This is not a trick question – they genuinely want to know what you think about the job/industry.
   
   If you’re not seriously considering insurance jobs – but appearing for the exams and interviews for keeping busy – they’ll be able to catch that in your tone – the way you answer.
   
   And they’ll give the job to someone who’s actually in all seriousness wanting to do a job in the insurance company. It is only fair.
   
   
   
6. Most importantly – beggars can’t be choosers – if you have landed an insurance company interview in the same effort you could not get bank interview calls – does not mean these are easy – it just means not many people have applied.
   
   So use this knowledge to your benefit – and take this as seriously as you would have taken the bank interviews.
   
   Nothing to lose here – and if successful you gain a very good job position in a PSU – in a core industry which is expected to grow to the size of US$ 350-400 billion by 2020!
   
   
   There you go friends – I hope today’s advisory column helps you in getting into the zone for 2015’s exams and interviews!
   

Any queries, feedback – leave ‘em in the comments below.

Have a good day!