How to write an insurance advisor CV (With example)

Updated 6 September 2023

Insurance advisors help customers and clients find the right insurance policy for their requirements and offer recommendations. This can be a good role for those who have good customer service and problem-solving skills. If you're going to apply to be an insurance advisor, knowing how to write an effective CV is going to help you to get the job you want. In this article, we explain what an insurance advisor does, describe how to write an insurance advisor CV, provide a useful template and show you an example CV for this position.

What does an insurance advisor do?

An insurance advisor is a professional who uses their knowledge of the insurance market to recommend policies for customers. They typically work for an insurance firm or other company that offers insurance services. Advisors meet clients to discuss what they want and assess risks. They can then use their knowledge of the available cover or conduct research to find alternatives to make suggestions to their client. They can then arrange the new insurance policy, make any necessary alterations, renew old policies, ensure the validity of paperwork and offer advice to customers who want to make a claim.

In addition to their customer-centric work, insurance advisors might also prepare or compile reports for surveyors, insurance underwriters and others. Other names for this role include insurance broker and insurance agent.

How to write an insurance advisor CV

Here's a list of steps to follow if you want to write an insurance advisor CV:

1. Research the position and employer

A good first step is to conduct some research into the recruitment organisation and the role itself. Start by carefully reviewing the description in the job advertisement. Take note of any keywords and determine what the ideal skill set and experiences are in a candidate. You can then visit the website or social media pages of the recruitment organisation to learn more about it.

Try to find out who they like to recruit, what their company culture is like and what types of insurance policies they offer. This can be useful because job advertisements don't always contain this information. The information you gather is going to be useful for tailoring your CV.

2. Introduce yourself

The first part of your CV contains your full name, phone number, email address and home address. For the latter, you can just give the local area like a town rather than an exact street address. Below these details is your professional summary. This is like a written version of your elevator pitch and is key to getting the attention of a recruitment manager and quickly standing out from the other candidates. Using the information you've gathered about the role and organisation, select some details about yourself that you believe are going to be appealing.

For instance, if you're applying for a role that requires some experience, then stating your years of work experience is a good idea. This is particularly useful if you exceed the required amount. Use adjectives to describe yourself in a way that closely aligns with their ideal candidate and use keywords if you can.

3. Provide your education

The role of an insurance agent is often an entry-level one. You may have recently completed a degree, college course, apprenticeship or graduate programme. Your education and training are often going to be the most relevant aspect of your application, which is why you can include them right after your summary. List all of your relevant education and training in reverse chronological order, starting with the most recent. For each of these, give the name of the course or programme, the issuing organisation and the date of completion.

4. List your skills

Your skills are a contributor to your ability to perform as an insurance broker. For this position, you're going to benefit from a combination of knowledge of the insurance industry and key soft skills related to handling customers. Like other parts of your CV, refer to the information you gathered on the position and recruitment organisation. Identify the skills you possess that you also saw in the job advertisement and list these first. You can then add any other skills you possess that you believe are useful for the role.

Consider listing your skills horizontally with bars or commas between them. This gives your CV a cleaner look and reduces the amount of negative space. Here are some useful skills for insurance agents to consider:

verbal communication
active listening
research
knowledge of insurance
knowledge of finance
attention to detail
sound judgement
customer service
basic computer skills
sales and negotiation
persistence and patience
numeracy
ability to remain calm under pressure

5. Describe your work experience

Although an insurance agent is often a relatively entry-level role, you may already have some work experience. This is another opportunity to demonstrate your suitability for the role. If you're applying for a role that isn't entry-level and have more than a couple of years of experience, consider swapping this section with your education one. Like your education, list your work history in reverse chronological order, starting with the current or most recent.

For each entry, give your job title, the years worked, name of employer and location. You can then add two or three bullet points below each of these to describe your key responsibilities. For your current or most recent role, you can add a few more to provide additional detail. When describing your duties, try to align your selection with the requirements for the role. Even if you don't match them exactly, demonstrating transferrable skills is useful.

Insurance advisor CV template

Here's a template you can use to prepare your CV for an insurance advisor application:

[First name] [Last name], [Degree or certification if applicable]
[Phone number] | [Email address] | [City]

Professional Summary
[Two to three sentences that highlight years of experience, relevant skills, education or certifications and achievements as a professional].

Education
[Degree and subject], [Name of issuing institution]

Certifications
[Certification name], [Host organisation] - [Year completed or expiration date]

Experience
[Job Title] | [Employment dates]
[Company Name] | [City]

(Strong verb) + what you did (more detail) + reason, outcome or quantified results
[Job duty]
[Job duty]
[Job duty]
[Job duty]

[Job Title] | [Employment dates]
[Company Name] | [City]

(Strong verb) + what you did (more detail) + reason, outcome or quantified results
[Job duty]
[Job duty]

Insurance advisor CV example

Here's an example CV for an insurance agent position:

Rebecca Lewis, BSc Finance
0777 888 999 | rebeccalewis@email.co.uk | Leeds

Professional summary
Dedicated professional with a strong work ethic and excellent customer service skills. Recently completed a one-year graduate training scheme and looking for a role to expand and utilise my skills. Bachelor of finance graduate with upper second-class honours who also completed a CII certificate to become a trainee broker during training.

Education
Graduate Training Programme | Barnaby Insurance Ltd
Bachelors' Degree in Finance (2:1) | University of Northern England

Certifications
CII Level 3 Certficate in Insurance, CII – 2022

Skills
Excellent communicator | Customer service skills | Research | Report writing | Spreadsheets

Experience
Graduate Insurance Agent | July 2021–September 2022
Barnaby Insurance Ltd | Barton-upon-Humber

advised new customers about insurance products and answered questions
referred new customers to other brokers to finalise policies
conducted research and interviewed potential customers
learned about company insurance products and relevant regulations
shadowed a senior broker to learn about sales approaches

Please note that none of the companies, institutions or organisations mentioned in this article are affiliated with Indeed.

Disclaimer: The model shown is for illustration purposes only, and may require additional formatting to meet accepted standards.