8:40 a.m. Glen Gardner is on the SkyTrain to downtown Vancouver. A phone text flashes: We’re looking for someone. Interested? Meet us in 20 minutes. Rapidly Gardner shifts his morning schedule around. Jumping out at Granville station, he races to Scotia Tower, aces the job interview and gets hired.
It’s an urgent, no-second-to-spare scenario straight out of Mission Impossible. But Gardner isn’t a spy. The interview was real-life and he’s now an outside claims professional for Travelers.
That’s right. Gardner is in insurance – the field stereotyped as dry and dull. In fact, the problem-solving and variety of challenges and locations make it anything but, says Gardner, a recent graduate of the British Columbia Institute of Technology (BCIT) School of Business’ two-year General Insurance and Risk Management program.
“Most of the time I’m on the road. I go to numerous places during the week and evaluate and estimate damages. I settle, I cut cheques, I deal with contractors. I wear many different hats and it keeps me on my toes and I love it. And I’m still learning. I’m being challenged on a daily basis. For my personal fulfilment, I need that. I like always moving forward and progressing.”
Part of the vitality, the constant sense of immediacy, derives from the sheer importance of insurance, says Shaun Sinclair, head of the BCIT Business program. “If the insurance world shut down, so would banking and the economy. Anything you think of out there, except for maybe a small, home-based business, insurance backs up. No credit would occur in our economy without insurance. No bank is going to give you a mortgage, no bank is going to give you a loan on a car, unless they know that asset is protected by insurance.”
The BCIT program is intense – it has to be, says Sinclair. Many decisions that grads will eventually make as insurance professionals will determine people’s lives and livelihoods. Sinclair has colleagues who have worked with clients after disasters like the Fort McMurray fire and the recent Florida hurricane. The grim lesson of such catastrophes – that insured businesses survive while non-insured ones fail either immediately or within 18 to 25 months – means increasing demand for top-tier insurance and risk management grads. Every year, 100% of General Insurance and Risk Management program graduates are hired; thanks to networking events, many offers come in before convocation.
CIP and CRM requirements unique to BCIT
BCIT Business is the only insurance/risk management school in Canada that requires students to obtain eight out of 10 Chartered Insurance Professional (CIP) credits (the employer will often pay for new BCIT hires to obtain the other two). And, as part of taking the Canadian Risk Management (CRM) program, students must pass the three national CRM exams in addition to the in-class exams.
The CRM and CIP advantages make BCIT grads attractive hires for Josie Carlstrom, BFL Canada’s vice-president, administration. And those aren’t the only pluses, Carlstrom notes. “BCIT grads come in with a good understanding of how the industry works, insurance products and policy wordings. They are also appealing because they have chosen insurance as their long-term career and have a strong desire to be successful in this industry.”
Carlstrom counters another part of the insurance stereotype: a supposed focus on money as opposed to people. “At BFL the ability of all our employees to put clients first is paramount to enjoying a successful career. Being empathetic toward teammates is also key. We look for candidates with a spark that will add a positive energy to our culture.”
Wherever they go to work, BCIT grads can opt to become: a broker, who helps clients assess their needs and find the right provider; an underwriter, who evaluates potential clients; or a claims adjuster, who investigates a claim. Grads can start out in one role, then switch to another. Gardner began as a broker; he realized his interests lay more in the claims area.
The field accommodates all personalities, says Gardner: from introverts who may feel comfortable in-office as an underwriter, to extroverts who like going out on claims and dealing with people of all kinds and backgrounds.
Whatever your personality, the program will build your confidence, he says. The courses involve presentations in class, at competitions and to potential employers – and this transformed Gardner from being timid about public speaking to enjoying it. Of the Mission Impossible-like timing for his Travelers appointment, Gardner comments, “I certainly would have thought twice about it had I not had from BCIT the confidence, education and pedigree to rock that interview.”
Find out more about BCIT’s General Insurance and Risk Management program.
