Insurance Corporations
Assistant Administrative Officers(AAO) Entry
Recruitment at the Class I level is undertaken at the Central Office level. AAO’s are recruited either from promotion from Class II and Class III levels or directly through a competitive examination held at the all India level. Recruitment of AAO’s is done directly by the LIC Central office at Mumbai.
Eligibility - Graduation/post graduation from a recognised university in any subject with a minimum of 50% marks. Chartered Accountants and Cost Accountants can also apply. Age should not be less than 21 years or more than 28 years.
Recruitment exam (AAO)- The AAO’s recruitment exam is like many other objective type tests, which test intelligence and quickness of response rather than just memory. For the quantitative aptitude test, quick calculations, general knowledge of basic Maths is essential. Logical reasoning, General Knowledge of current politics, events and happenings, political issues to cultural events are tested. Both the LIC and GIC examinations have 2 papers. Paper I is objective type as described here and Paper II is of the essay type - a test of English.
Interview is conducted by a Board. The interviews are held at different centres all over the country. The centres are generally located in one of the divisional headquarters.
Tips for the aspirant - Brush up Maths and Social Sciences of Class X, work on English vocabulary, practice maths problems and develop efficiency on speed, read current news magazines and newspapers. The test is a test of the candidates’ fundamentals and basics.
Selected candidates are trained at training centres located in the zonal offices. Class I officers can rise to the corporate management levels in the LIC through promotion.
Development officer
Entry to Class II post - The Divisional Office looks after recruitment of staff in Class IV, assistant in Class III and as development officer in Class II level. At the end of each financial year, the concerned Zonal Officer makes an assessment of the cadre strength and vacancies in the various Divisions in each rank and sends this assessment to the various Divisional Offices under it. The Divisional Offices formulate their recruitment policy for the next financial year on this basis. Advertisements for vacancies in the LIC are circulated through leading newspapers and the local employment exchanges. The minimum educational qualification for applicants for the class II posts of Development Officers is graduation. Candidates should be between the ages of 21 and 26 years. Candidates are put through written tests in English and mathematics and then interviewed by a Board. After selection they are trained at Patna. All apprentice development officers are required to serve as apprentice for a period of one year. During the period they are provided training. There is theoretical training for 2 months, rural training for 1 month and field training for 9 months.
Class III and IV Entry- For class III and IV levels the recruitment tests are held at venues selected by the Divisional Office, usually in the Divisional Headquarters itself. The candidates for the posts are put through written tests in English and Maths and interview. The examiners in these tests and interviewees are officers of the LIC specially selected for the purpose. There are reservations for posts in the LIC for SCs/STs and ex-servicemen as per the guidelines of their Central Office. Among class III posts there is a quota for handicapped persons also since it is a desk job. The age requirement for class III Class IV posts is 18 years to 25 years.
For class III level recruitment, school leavers and graduates are considered. Class III can be promoted to the rank of higher grade assistants.
Agents Entry - To recruit agents the Corporation advertises in leading newspapers. A written examination is held to test personality, language and mathematical ability. Interview follows the test.
A successful career agent is sociable, articulate and outgoing. He has the capacity to convince and sell a policy. The age for recruitment is 21 years to 35 years. Graduates are preferred. 3 years of training follows the selection under the sales personnel in the organization. A monthly stipend is given in addition to the earnings through commissions. Agents get 25-32% of the premium amount in the first year of the policy. In the second and third year they get 7.5% and in the fourth and fifth year they get about 5 percent of the premium. After 4 years of good performance, an agent may be entitled to office facilities, and perks such as housing loan, car etc.
Each trainee is given a target of the amount of business he has to procure annually and the performance is reviewed quarterly. The LIC provides its agents with various facilities to enhance their efficiency. Allowances for vehicles, telephones and office infrastructure are provided by the organisation but these are linked to performance.
Surveyors Entry
A surveyor needs to hold a licence. To get a licence he must fulfill one of the following qualifications:
-- Fellowship or Associateship through exam by the Institute of Insurance surveyors and
Adjusters (‘IISA’), Bombay
-- A Degree or Diploma in Architecture of a recognised university or institute
-- Fellowships or Associateship of the Institute of Chartered Accountants or Costs and
Works Accountants
-- A Degree or Diploma of a recognised institute of engineering
-- A Degree or Diploma in Naval Architecture
Surveyors are not on the pay roll of insurance companies. They are independent professionals. After acquiring the licence to work as a surveyor and loss assessor, a person has to get himself enrolled with insurance companies to begin settling claims on their behalf for the jobs assigned to him. Surveyors also work with large surveyor firms beginning as an apprentice after clearing the associateship exam and obtaining the licence.
Address for reference - Institute of Insurance Surveyors, Assurance Building, 232, Dadabhai Naoroji Road, Mumbai 400 001.
Actuary
To qualify as an actuary you need to be a Fellow member of the Actuarial Society of India. This will need passing an examination conducted by ASI. For further growth Actuaries may get a certification from the Institute of Actuaries, London
Eligibility for student members -Age minimum18 years
Educational qualifications --10+2 in any stream with 85% marks in Maths/ Statistics.
--Graduate or post graduate with 55% marks in mathematics/ economics/ statistics/ econometrics / computer science and Engineers in any discipline or equivalent
- CA/CS/CWA/MBA (Finance)/ MCA
- Fully qualified members of ICWAI/ Institute of Financial Analysts of India/ The Insurance Institute of India.
- Student members of Actuarial bodies Institute of Actuaries , London/ Faculty of Actuaries in Scotland/ Institute of Actuaries of Australia.
-Societies of Actuaries, USA or casualty Actuarial Society USA( provided at least one subject has been passed from the society)
Membership
ASI grants the following memberships
Student membership - as per eligibility given above
Associate membership - Student members who clear subjects of 100 and 200 series
Fellow Membership- Student members are eligible for fellowship who clears all subjects of 100,200, 300 and 400 series and those who have attended three days seminars on India specific legislation issues practice and professionalism.
An affiliate member is one who has had one year of residence experience as well education on India specific issues as mentioned above
Certificate- Certificate in Actuarial Techniques(CAT) can be obtained by a student member by passing 100 series examination.
Course
The study course of ASI is divided into 4 stages.
Core technical Stage- This consists of 8 compulsory subjects each with one paper of 100 marks.
Core application stage- This consists of 2 compulsory subjects CA1 consists of 2 papers and CA2 and CA3 have one paper each.
Specialised technical stage - This stage consists of 6 papers and candidates have to choose any two. Specialist Application stage- This too consists of 6 papers and candidates have to choose any one.
Students good in Maths are ideally suited for this course.
Examination is held twice a year in May/June and Oct/Nov.
Address for contact - Actuarial Society of India, Jeevan Udyog, Dr. D N Road, Mumbai-400001 www.actuariesindia.org
Trump & Gates www.trumpandgates.com provide coaching .
Apprenticeship for Actuaries with LIC
On the job training as apprentices is given by LIC for those who are keen on becoming an actuary. This is a 3 year apprenticeship and the student is expected to clear the examination of the Actuarial society. On passing 3 subjects of this examination appointment can be made to the post of Actuarial assistant. The post is regularised on clearing of 4 papers. The time period allowed for clearing the exam is 3 years. Actuarial assistants can be promoted to the post of Assistant Administrative officer . During the apprenticeship period a stipend is offered to the assistants.
Export Credit Guarantee Corporation Of India Ltd.
ECGC, a Government Company established in 1957 to promote India’s exports, functions under the administrative control of the Ministry of Commerce & Industry and has its Head Office at Mumbai. It has offices in all the metros and major export centres spread out in India. ECGC provides credit insurance and overseas investment insurance support to Indian exporters and credit guarantee covers to their bankers.
Eligibility Age Minimum 21 years maximum 30 years as on 1st July of the year of applying. Relaxation by 5 yrs. for SC/ST and Ex-Serviceman and 3 yrs. for OBC.
Educational Qualifications- A degree from any recognised University or any equivalent qualification recognised by the Government of India. Hands-on-knowledge of computer operations.
Selection- The selection process comprises of competitive written examination, computer literacy and skill test, group exercises and interviews. Selection is made on the basis of overall performance in the written examination, group exercises and interview, Computer literacy and skill test are of qualifying nature and are not considered for the purpose of ranking. Computer literacy and skill test, group exercises and interview are held only at Mumbai.
Written Examination
Paper 1 is objective and has Reasoning ,Quantitative Aptitude, General Awareness and English Language. Paper II is Descriptive and consists of short comprehension questions on a given situation. Paper 1 (a), (b) and (c) and Paper II can be taken in Hindi or English.
Paper II is of qualifying nature and marks obtained in this paper are not reckoned for ranking. This test paper is evaluated only of short-listed candidates on the basis of their marks scored in each part of Paper 1 and total.
Selected candidates are required to give an undertaking to serve the Corporation for a minimum period of five years, including the period of probation or to pay in lieu thereof as liquidated damages.
Addresses for reference
Corporate HRD, Cambatta Building, 2nd Floor, (Eros Cinema Building), Churchgate, Mumbai-400 020.
Northern Regional Office - NBCC Place, ‘B’ Wing, South Tower, 4th Floor, Pragati Vihar, Bhishma Pitamaha Road, New Delhi-110 003.
Southern Regional Office-I, Spencer Towers, 7th Floor, Anna Salai, Chennai-
600 001.
Eastern Regional Office: AC Market Complex, 9th Floor, 1, Shakespeare Sarani, Kolkata-
700 071.
Training for the private sector
Certification for Agents : To sell insurance certification is needed. This is acquired on appearing for the pre-recruitment examination for insurance agents, after under-going 100 hours of training. For those who reside in a place with a population of 5000, the minimum qualification is passing Class XII examination and those residing in another place need to clear Class X examination in order to take the prerecruitment exam.There are currently 47 IRDA approved institutes that offer training for the examination conducted by the Insurance Institute of India.
Brokers- Insurance brokers unlike agents are subject to stricter regulations and entry barriers-- Minimum capital being 50 lakhs, annual fee linked to business volumes, professional liability, qualified staff, infrastructure for practice, claims handling abilities etc.as well as code of conduct.
Reinsurance brokers are intermediaries between domestic insurance companies and reinsurers .
Underwriters - Institute of Insurance and Risk Management, International School of Actuarial Sciences,1149,Road 57, Jubilee Hills, Hyderabad-500033 www.iirmworld.org.in conducts a
Cologne Reinsurance company conducts a training programme called COMET for underwriters of all the insurance companies. It focuses on the training needs of medical underwriters. The course provides underwriters with correspondence-based education in conjunction with workshops, which are held periodically. It is designed as an on-going programme in continuing education, every month throughout the year, providing underwriters with the opportunity to enhance their medical knowledge, and more importantly, to apply this to medical underwriting.
The programme consists of three inter-linking components-review, research and workshops. The programme focuses on the common day-to-day medical impairments encountered by underwriters in the Asia Pacific region.
Training for LIC /GIC
The following are Institutes which give practical training to employees of LIC and GIC:
-- Officers Training College at Mumbai
-- LIC Zonal Training Centres at Agra, Mumbai, Calcutta, Delhi and Chennai
-- National Insurance Academy
-- Federation of Insurance Institutions, Mumbai
PG diploma in Actuarial science Duration- 2 years full time Eligibility- Graduates of any discipline with 60% with Maths and Statistics as a main subject. Should be eligible as student members of the Institute of Actuaries of India, Mumbai www.actuariesindia.org
Selection is made through a written test and interview.The Institute has accreditation from The Chartered Insurance Institute, London.
