Insurance jobs – Working as a Broker
Looking for interesting Insurance jobs on Job Mail? Today the team takes a closer look at what an Insurance Broker is, what they do and the type of qualifications you will need in order to qualify for Insurance positions.
What is a Broker?
An Insurance Broker is a job similar to other Brokers, but unlike other Brokers, an Insurance Broker works for the customer as opposed to the insurance company. Brokers in this space use their expertise to give you proper advice on what insurance option to take based on your current and future needs.
This insurance professional will also evaluate the costs of the property you wish to insure in order to get a proper and unbiased understanding of how much insurance you need to take out for your property.
Since there is a number of different insurance options, Brokers normally specialise in a particular type of insurance or industry. If you want to work in this insurance field, you will need to look at the different types of insurance and decide which insurance option you are interested in working in.
Job Description of an Insurance Broker
As a Broker you can expect your job description to center around finding suitable insurance options for your clients. Insurance jobs will generally require you to be able to work well with people. Depending on the size of the company you are working for you could be working in retail insurance, providing insurance for property, motor vehicle and even pets.
Your day to day duties will include duties such as:
- attending and scheduling meetings with new and current clients,
- researching new insurance policies and products,
- collecting insurance premiums from your clients,
- preparing reports for insurance underwriters and discussing and
- assessing your clients’ current and future needs and interests.
You can also expect to carry out quite a bit of admin duties. Admin will be necessary to maintain client documentation, deleting old files and following up on your clients to make sure they meet with you when you schedule meetings with them.
Education and regulation of Insurance jobs
When it comes to education there are a few options you may want to consider if you want to get Insurance jobs. In order to become a Broker one education path you can take is completing your matric and pursuing a bachelor’s degree in Insurance, Finance or Economics.
These bachelor programs will give you the basic knowledge you will need to succeed in working as a Broker. Normally, after pursuing these programs you will probably need to get licensed to operate as an Insurance Broker.
An alternative path you can take is getting the entry level qualification of a National Certificate or relevant NQF Level 4 qualification. You will have to get these qualifications from a recognised institution or pursue 6 years supervised learning.
In South Africa the career of working as an Insurance Broker is regulated by the Financial Advisory and Intermediary Services Act. According to this legal statute the Financial Services Board requires that you meet its minimum standards before being allowed to legally operate as an Insurance Broker.
One interesting requirement you will have to meet before being registered is the ‘fit and proper’ standard. Before becoming a Broker the FSB will require that you meet the requirement of being a fit and proper person during the period in which you are working under supervision. This means that you will want to avoid getting a criminal record or getting into any legal trouble that may endanger this standard.
Skills needed for Insurance jobs
In order to get Insurance jobs you will have to have certain skills that will allow you to succeed.
You will firstly have to be a technical person who understands insurance inside and out- this obviously means that you will have to have a genuine interest in insurance and the insurance options available.
To succeed as a Broker you will need to be good at dealing with clients- this means that you will have to be able to create good rapport with people fairly easily.
Needless to say, you will also need to have good sales skills. This is possibly one of the most important skills you need as your job will center around selling products to customers on a regular basis.
Lastly, you will have to be a professional individual who keeps time and is reliable enough to not miss client meetings. As a Broker you can expect to earn an average salary of R200 000 per annum.
Qualified and accredited? Find great opportunities and Insurance jobs on Job Mail. Simply register your CV on www.JobMail.co.za and start applying for vacancies today!


I have a Certificate of Proficiency from Insurance Institute of Zimbabwe.