10 Insurance Resume Examples & Free Templates

An insurance resume is a formal document that job applicants use to apply for the insurance agent position.

They are used to highlight the applicant’s skills, qualifications, experience, and suitability for the role of an agent. A well-written resume highlighting your skills and abilities over other applicants is crucial. The insurance industry is competitive; therefore, having a good resume increases your chances of getting a job.

When writing your resume, it is essential to highlight your most relevant skills and qualifications in a simplified manner. The recruiter assesses how you have expressed yourself in the resume to determine whether you are suited for the job. While it is good to highlight your skills, it is also necessary to ensure your resume is easy to read by using simple language and good formatting. This article discusses what you need to include in your resume and how to craft an effective insurance agent resume.

It may be challenging to write the perfect resume, especially if you are applying for your first job; to ease this process, you should use a template. A template guides you through what you need to include in your resume and helps you understand the best format to highlight your skills. They also help you when applying for different jobs because they are editable. We have provided free-to-download and editable insurance resume templates for your ease.

What are the Duties of an Insurance Agent?

An insurance agent’s main role is negotiating and selling insurance policies to potential clients. They represent their employers to their clients. As the representatives, they ought to understand their duties and align their values with company policies to ensure they work for the benefit of the client and the company. Through agents, the company establishes a client base and network. Insurance agents must have excellent interpersonal and negotiation skills to perform their tasks properly. They need to be aggressive but courteous to their clients.

Insurance agents also evaluate policies to adjust them to fit customers’ needs. They maintain documents and confidential company and client files in their care. Some companies may require agents to perform tasks such as maintaining bookkeeping systems and databases. Agents are also required to monitor policies and ensure client claims are evaluated and settled appropriately.

Your resume should provide the recruiter with the relevant information according to the job posting. It should highlight your skills and qualifications effectively and be tailored to the duties you are expected to fulfil in the position you seek.

The following information can guide you in writing an effective insurance agent resume:

Step 1: Open with an appealing summary or resume objective

The resume summary or objective is the first section after your contact information. It is a pitch containing a summary of your career qualifications. It should be brief but informative, allowing the recruiter to understand what to expect from the rest of your resume. The resume summary is recommended for applicants with work experience, while the objective is best for applicants with little to no working experience.

For example:

Resume Summary:
“Fluent and articulate insurance professional with 5-year hands-on experience working in the insurance industry. I offer quality customer service and client care.”

Resume objective:
“Recent graduate with a bachelor’s Degree in Finance and Marketing looking to begin a career in customer service, underwriting, and claims processing. I am creative and a fast learner.”

Step 2: Include all the relevant past experiences

You should state your relevant work experience beginning with the most recent and working backwards. In this section, you should say the name of the employer, the position you held, and the duration of employment. State your duties and responsibilities in bullet points. It is advisable to use action verbs when describing your roles. The roles should be tailored to the vacancy to show how fit you are for the position.

For example:

Sonfolk Insurance Ltd. – Brookhurst, IL
Insurance Agent, April 2017- Present
–Onboard new clients and provide the best insurance plans for them.
–Create customized insurance packages for investors and businesses.
–Evaluate and monitor client packages and follow up on settling of claims.
–Directed and supervised webinars on the utilization of the company’s software systems.

Tip: If you are applying for an agent position for the first time, you should include experience from customer service and sales positions to show your transferrable skills.

Step 3: List all educational achievements

You should list your educational achievements to show you are formally qualified. When highlighting your qualifications, align them with the skills relevant to the job. Academic achievements boost your resume, especially if you are applying for your first job. You should mention if you had a more than-average GPA (3.5 or more).

Most people in the insurance industry have qualifications in business-oriented courses like commerce, finance, and marketing. As such, these qualifications should be included in the resume. Where you have no degree but a lesser qualification like a certificate, it is advisable to include it in the education section.

For example:

“Bachelor of Arts in Marketing,
Southwestern University,
June 2014 – December 2017
MBA- Accounting,
Temple University,
January 2018 – December 2021”

Tip: Where you do not have work experience, you may title your education section as the ‘relevant experience’ section. You can then list relevant experience, including internships and volunteer activities.

Step 4: Highlight your best skills on the resume

Your skills help the recruiter understand how much you know about the industry and your ability to perform the tasks assigned to you. You may have many skills, but you should only list the most relevant ones. List both hard and soft skills in bullet form. Bullet points are preferred because they are brief and easier to read. Do not list more than eight skills, as this will take up more space than necessary.

Some soft and hard skills you may list in your resume include:

Step 5: Feature your insurance license and qualifications

Most job descriptions specify the required licenses and qualifications where the job is specific to the performance of particular roles. Even when the licenses are not explicitly required, you should state them to let the recruiter know your specializations. Licenses also increase your value as an applicant and employee, as you will likely benefit the employer more with your qualifications. When listing the license, you should state its name, the department that issued it, the location where it applies, and the date the license was issued.

For example:

Certified Insurance Counselor, Los Angeles
January 2020
Certified Risk Manager, California
January 2018
Accredited Adviser in Insurance, Los Angeles
June 2017

Step 6: Additional sections

Once you have written all the other sections, you may have different interests that are relevant to the job but do not fit the stated sections. You may add them as additional sections. Like the other sections, the additional sections should express interests relevant to the job and show transferrable skills you have gained from those activities. They include volunteer work, awards, and honours.

For example:

Languages
–French -spoken fluently
–English- spoken fluently
–Spanish- spoken fluently

Interests
–Volunteering
–Reading and writing educational blogs
–Running
–Hiking

Format, Design, and Other Important Considerations

There are different resume formats you could use when preparing your resume. The reverse chronological resume format for insurance applications is the most convenient. In this format, the applicant should list their work experience, beginning with their most recent job and working backwards.

Your resume should be organized and straightforward. You should keep your margins to one inch and use at most two dark colours. Your fonts should be professional and between 11-13 points in size. Fonts like Times New Roman, Cambria, and Georgia are preferred. Job duties and responsibilities should be described in bullet points to ensure the document appears readable.

You should avoid using images or attaching photographs as they are deemed unprofessional. The preferred resume length is an A4-sized page; this is appropriate because most recruiters find it easier to scan and understand your most relevant qualifications. Because of the length preference, it is advisable to include the most relevant and current information. Your resume should show the recruiter that you are organized and can express yourself.

An excellent resume should be tailored to the job description’s requirements and be up to date on market trends. You could use the following tips to prepare an effective resume:

Tailor your work experience section to a specific role

Just like your cover letter, your resume should be tailored to the role you are applying to. Address the roles in your duties to the expectations in the job description.

Quantify your achievements

Quantifying your achievements allows the recruiter to understand your contributions and experiences. Quantifying also expresses your expertise in the role. By giving metrics and numbers, you distinguish yourself from other applicants. You can also show the recruiter how much money you have acquired for your employer. You may include; the number of clients you have acquired and handled over a particular period, the number of policies you have sold, and the percentage monetary contribution you have made to the company as part of its annual profit.

Bring attention to your resume using resume vocabulary

Resume vocabulary is essential in ensuring your resume is ATS compliant. Most recruiters use ATS systems to vet resumes; having a compliant resume increases your chance of getting the job. Further, action verbs make your resume engaging. You should utilize these action words when describing your roles, duties, and achievements in the work experience section. Buzzwords like ‘insurance policies, customer service, client care, and premiums’ inform the recruiter that you are knowledgeable in the profession.

Some action verbs you can include in your resume are:

Proofread your resume

Proofreading your resume helps you edit out grammatical and spelling errors. You may ask another person to proofread your resume as they may identify mistakes you have not seen.

Your resume should complement your cover letter. It should expound on the skills and qualifications stated in the cover letter and provide valuable information on your suitability for the job to the recruiter. Your resume’s overall presentation and tone should be formal, simple, and easy to read. Most recruiters prefer a one-page resume they can scan through quickly; writing only the most vital information is essential. An effective resume should exemplify your qualifications as close to the job description as possible to boost your chances of getting the job.