Author: Kim Loader

Tips for writing a cover letter

When you are applying for an insurance role through us, you won’t often have to write a cover letter. Some employers will ask for one and they do have their place for some positions. Here are some tips you might need:

• Make sure your letter has the relevant address details of the job you’re applying for. When I receive a letter addressed to the last organisation where you applied for a job, it negates your entire document.

• If specific instructions are given, such as ‘please confirm your insurance qualifications’, follow those instructions. Ignoring instructions will get your application put to the bottom of the pile. There are always some people who completely disregard what’s required.

• If instructions are not given, you need to identify the criteria to address. Check the advert – you’re looking for statements such as ‘must have’ or ‘highly regarded’, also take note of the information given about the company or the team to ascertain what else may be important.

• Highlight your experience and how that is relevant to the vacancy. Provide evidence when you make statements. For example, ‘I am a quick learner, in my current role I was able to use Winbeat confidently within the first week’; or ‘I am committed to excellent service and have received complimentary letters from clients’. Make sure you are absolutely truthful and prepared to answer questions about your statements at interview.

The basics for setting out your cover letter

• Use a mainstream font in a normal size;
• Stick to 3 or 4 paragraphs, no more than a page;
• Use a positive tone and show your interest in the job;
• Be concise;
• Provide information that is not apparent in your CV (ie. Do not copy and paste from your CV). The next point is an exception.
• Include your contact details, even if they’re on your CV or submitted online.

I hope this helps with your insurance application, feel free to make contact if you need any more help.

Your resume, or CV has one purpose – to get you an interview.

The first page, and particularly the first half of the page is prime real estate. Put your most important information in this section – contact info, insurance qualifications, and your current job.

Contact details:
Your name
Contact number
Email address

Relevant Qualifications: If you have Tier 1 for Insurance Broking, put it here. Do not list every training course you’ve ever been on. List your education here too.

Your employment history: Start with the current job and work backwards. Bullet point responsibilities, 8 – 10 for each role. Do not generalise, this is where you want your key words such as ‘ISR, business packages, commercial motor, marine etc’ or ‘renewals, endorsements, new business etc’. You can summarise your early career, but don’t ‘cut off’ your CV to shorten it – when you list your first job as ‘State Manager’ it’s obvious something is missing. Better to say 1975-1995 – underwriting and management roles.

Some people like to list their qualities under a separate heading. Things like ‘hardworking’ or ‘ethical’. If you must do this, put it at the end of the CV, before listing referee details. Personally, I believe an interview is where you can discuss these qualities.

Referee Details: List 2 people who have directly managed you. These people are asked in depth questions about your on the job capability and work behaviours. Peers, family friends and clients are not particularly relevant. They can perhaps give an additional view, but someone you’ve reported to is considered to be in the best position to give a complete evaluation.

How do you know the Account Exec or Broker assistant you’re about to employ is as good as you hope they are?

Do they really have the insurance knowledge you expect? Holding a Tier 1 or 2 certificate is not a guarantee.

Can they do the core basics of the job? You probably want to find out what they mean by having ‘worked on commercial’. Can they ask the right questions to quote a business pack or have they only processed renewals?

Will they get along with the team? They seem ok at interview but are they just on their best behaviour?

How will they treat your clients when 30 June is approaching, everyone is pushed for time and they haven’t had a break since the last round of storms?

Are they going to commit to the travel between their home and your office? Some people will happily commute for an hour each way, every week of the year indefinitely. Others won’t last.

You will likely have some other important questions you need answered. We know you can never make a 100% prediction about a human being’s behaviour, but there are some things you can do to get some increased confidence in your decision.

1. Think about what attitudes and values will fit with your office, assuming you’re happy with the current culture. If things need a shake-up, what type of person would be a positive influence? (Be prepared to be honest with that person and your team, then actively support them.
2. Define the position. Ask us for a Position Description template if you don’t have one.
3. Plan your interviews and ask direct questions based on the core competencies of the job.
4. Reference check thoroughly. There is an art to getting the crucial information you need.
5. Consider skills testing and/ or psychometric testing. Current testing available can be quite sophisticated, making it difficult to ‘cheat the system’.
6. Listen to your gut feel. Sometimes a niggle means you need more information, other times you’ll decide to move on.

Feel free to talk to us about how we might help next time you need to recruit. We specialise in general insurance recruitment and can talk to you about any of the above issues or would be happy to talk you through the process of working with us.

I’ll give you a few reasons.

1. You value your time.

If you run a brokerage, you’ve got enough to do running the business, servicing your own clients and perhaps getting out sourcing new business. If you’re an underwriting manager, I know you get pulled into various meetings, there’s interstate conferences, broker visits if you can escape the office and somewhere along the way, getting your work done. How many hours each day can you put into recruiting from scratch?

2. Job boards don’t deliver

Unless someone is really anxious for the next job, they are not looking at every job that goes up onto the job boards. Your ad gets a fleeting moment to be seen by the right person. Recruiters are sourcing candidates every day, that’s the job. Some are ready to move now, others will be ready to move when they hear about the right job. Our candidates get personal contact from us when they are suitable for the job you have asked us to work on. We have their attention and that’s our opportunity to tell them about the job and your company.

3. Speed

If the person leaving has given you 2 weeks’ notice, you need to identify their replacement quick smart. The new person probably has a notice period of 2 – 4 weeks before they can start, assuming they don’t want a break before coming on board. How long will it take you to go through the whole process on your own?

4. Access to hidden talent

Last week I placed a candidate who was referred to me by another candidate. She and I had been talking for about 6 months. At first, she wasn’t ready to even meet with me, she was gently testing the water. After a few more conversations, she was ready to let me have her CV. After that she was comfortable coming for an interview. I told her about a few roles, they didn’t feel right to her, she was waiting for something specific. A few weeks later, when my client (a broker) asked who I knew for a vacancy in the exact field my candidate was waiting for, I knew who to recommend. That’s just one of the candidates in our database.

5. Successful negotiation at offer

Sometimes a good candidate rejects your offer. They will never have discussed any concerns or hesitations with you. However a recruiter will stay close to the candidate and can head off some of these concerns early on, before they become a deal breaker. A recruiter can mediate the negotiation of salary and benefits so both parties are satisfied. If you don’t do that every day it can be clunky and you can risk losing your ideal candidate.

If you don’t want to go it alone, give us a call. We’d love to help.

What do you ask when reference checking? Lots of people call a referee and simply ask for their opinion.  Open ended questions will get you some nice (neutral/safe) information for most candidates. While it is good to include open ended questions, you risk not getting to valuable information that will help make the right decision about whether to make an offer.

Here are some things to remember if you’re doing your own reference checking:

1. Speak to the right person

The best referee is someone who has directly managed the candidate for a reasonable period of time. Ask the candidate for the referee’s title as well as name and contact number. Check this with the referee and double check the length of time they worked together.

2. Structure your questions.

You will get better information if you structure your questions before calling and be prepared to spend between 10 to 40 minutes on this call, the average is about 10 – 15 minutes. Some referees are concise and power through their answers; some want to tell you everything there is to know.

3. Listen for any underlying concerns

When you’re working through your questions listen carefully to the referee’s tone of voice. Also try to notice if they seem to answer any questions in a different style to the previous questions. Do you get the feeling there is something else they’re not saying? Managers are usually aware of their staff’s weaknesses, but if there are things that were never addressed with the employee, that person may not be comfortable bringing it up during a reference check. We tread carefully in this instance, and recommend still going in to ask follow up questions, but with respect and patience. It may take 2 or 3 further questions and you might get the information you’re after in stages, rather than the referee coming right out with the issue.

4. Remember that references are only part of the evaluation process

References can certainly give valuable information. With that information you can choose to make an offer, or not make an offer. A 3rd option is to conduct a further interview with the applicant so you can investigate any concerns that came out of the reference process. Something that was an issue in one environment may not be such a big deal in another environment. This could depend on the things you value vs the things the referee values, just something to be aware of. If you choose to reinterview, plan your questions to address the topic of concern, but not the individual example a referee might have given. This is because you would ordinarily speak with a referee on a confidential basis, with the understanding the candidate will not be privy to the answers provided.

We hope this helps next time you need to reference check an applicant. Our service includes reference checks when your work with us to find your next insurance employee. Let us know if you would like to ask us about the process.