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Insurance Industry Employers Tell You Why You DIDN’T Get That Insurance Job!

Written by: Roger Lear
Published on: Apr 29, 2015

We survey insurance industry employers each year and ask them to share why they don’t hire job seekers who apply to positions at their companies.  (Download the 2015 Insurance Industry Employment Outlook

inside story

Many of you will apply to jobs at an insurance company and wonder why you didn’t get hired.  Complicating matters even more is you may never get any feedback from the employer (the infamous “black hole”.  Hopefully this list that comes directly from insurance employers will help you understand some of the reasons that you didn’t get hired.

1.  Your resume is horrible.  

Employers can’t guess what you do.  If you are a property claims adjuster and the person reading the resume can’t determine that in five seconds, your resume needs help.  Your job title is your resume headline and your experience backs up the headline.  

2.  When applying online, pay attention to details.  

Many applicant tracking systems don’t have spell check and ask for a lot of information that may take time to submit.  Don’t take this lightly.  Also, many ATS systems do not have spell check.

3.  Job seekers are not reading the insurance job description thoroughly.

In other words, applying to any job if you “think” you qualify.  

4.  Do some research before the interview!

If you don’t know how the job you are applying to at an insurance company is part of the bigger picture and the profitability of that company, you are not prepared for the interview.  Do research and find out the company’s history, number of employees, service lines (do they specialize in loss control, workers compensation, large line commercial, etc.).

5.  Poor email correspondence.

You may be contacted by an insurance employer by email that asks you questions about a clarification on your resume or interview times.  What you write back is a first impression.  Employers want to see the answers to their questions only in a well written, short and precise email.  Grammar and spelling count.  Don’t take this lightly.

6.  Honesty on resumes and social profiles.

Making your insurance resume squeaky clean (closing gaps in employment, not putting short stay jobs, etc.) is not going to make the cut.  Employers have technology to do employment checks and many good candidates are disqualified because their resumes don’t match up.  Make sure your LinkedIn profile matches the resumes you submit to insurance companies. 

7.  Enthusiasm.  

A few surveyed insurance employers said that in some cases, once an interview is scheduled, the candidate lacked energy and enthusiasm during the interview.  

 

Most of you are not professional job seekers. Many of you knock yourself out of contention by not taking some of these items seriously.  Since this list comes directly from employers, it is a check list when going through a job search and interview process.