Traditionally, insurance has not boasted the raciest reputation on the jobs market. Until recently, when the Chartered Insurance Institute (CII) decided to rebrand the sector to job-hunters, renaming it 'risk'. Think of Ben Stiller's character in the movie Along Came Polly and you'll get the general picture.
The CII's new Discover Risk website promotes insurance as a top careers choice, offering a wealth of opportunities for graduates and school leavers alike, while an accompanying outreach programme has been touring a risk-based game around schools that gives that old family board-game a run for its money.
Talking of money, starting salaries in insurance are competitive, ranging from £17,250 for a call-centre operative to £28,500 for a graduate actuary. Senior managers in reinsurance and underwriting can earn up to £100,000.
What's more, the sector is actively hiring. Only last week here on Guardian Careers, we reported the Saga Group is creating 800 jobs at its new centre in Hastings. Meanwhile, a range of leading insurance companies have opened their grad schemes to applications for another year.
The CII slogan suggests: "A career in insurance is a risk worth taking". Find out more from our panel about the industry and what it can offer you in our live Q&A on 30 November at 1pm.
Panelists include:
Caspar Bartington is the CII's relationship manager for education. Caspar manages the Discover Risk campaign and has delivered over 100 sessions on insurance and financial planning careers at universities across the UK since 2008.
Becky Goodwin is Graduate Recruitment & Development Adviser at Lloyds. She is responsible for the recruitment of talented graduates into Lloyd's and the management of the programme, including induction, integration into the business and development.
Natalya Spendelow has worked in graduate recruitment for seven years, predominantly in investment banking but most recently in insurance broking. Her current role involves managing the UK and international graduate programmes at Willis, one of the largest global insurance brokers. Her role spans the marketing, recruitment and training of the programme.
Faye Sadler is resource and training coordinator at Allianz Retail. She manages the sales, marketing and business graduate scheme (currently recruiting for 2011) as well as Allianz Routes to Success, an internal development programme for staff with management potential. She joined Allianz in 2007 as a corporate management graduate trainee.
Michelle Peters is the Business Services team leader for Allianz Commercial Woking. Michelle joined Allianz in 2008 on their Corporate Management Scheme. She now manages a team of underwriters who look after existing business renewals.
Geoff Kinsella, represents the National Skills Academy for Financial Services (NSAFS), the independent employer-led body for training and development in the financial services industry. He is also business development director at Cooper Gay & Co Ltd, one of the world's largest privately owned Insurance and Reinsurance Broking Groups.
The discussion is open for advance questions, so get posting!
