Business Students

So you’re a business major. Well, so is one of every five people graduating from college.

That can make it tough to stand out in the job market. But not if you know where to look for jobs.

Too many business majors overlook one of the best ways to make good money doing great work: risk management and insurance.

Insurance is really just a niche within the larger financial sector. Except, of course, it’s a pretty big niche, employing about 2.6 million people in the United States alone. When you add risk management, a career that can be found at all types of businesses, it becomes an even larger industry.

And it’s a rewarding gig – both for your pockets and your heartstrings. Because what doesn’t make the daily headlines are the millions of times a year when insurers do exactly what they’re supposed to: give people the financial ability to put their lives back together after a catastrophe. They help protect people's lives, homes, and property and provide peace of mind. That’s not something you can always find in business careers.

But back to the many risk management and insurance jobs you can get as a business student. Here are a few that line up perfectly with the knowledge and skill sets you’re developing in your business courses:

• Insurance agent
• Insurance broker
• Risk analyst
• Underwriter
• Claims professional

Some of these positions are specific to insurance firms, while others, like business analyst, exist at many different types of companies in many industries. And as the business landscape changes, new roles are being created and further defined all the time.

Why look for opportunities in these roles, as opposed to jobs in other industries? Risk management and insurance careers have a number of unique benefits, including:

• More open positions as older professionals retire in droves
• More room for advancement (for pretty much the same reason)
• Generous training programs to help employees advance their careers
• Traveling the world as insurance markets expand overseas
• The ability to do business while also helping people in times of need

How to Make It Happen

Business courses will already provide you with a solid foundation for all of these rewarding risk management and insurance jobs. To give yourself a better shot, make sure you really nail classes covering financial accounting, marketing and business management.

If possible, absolutely add a few risk management courses to your schedule. After all, they are really just more-focused business classes.

Finally, try to get an insurance or risk management-focused internship before you graduate. There’s no better way to see whether the industry is a good fit than by actually working side by side with insurance pros for a semester.

If you enjoy it, you might not even need to look anywhere else. Lots of people who intern in risk management and insurance receive job offers before they even begin their senior year.