Careers in the Age of COVID-19

Great Insurance Jobs’ Cofounder Roger Lear is here to help you overcome obstacles to your career and job search. This month, he tackles job hunting during a pandemic.

Q: I just moved to Atlanta and I’m having a hard time getting a claims job. Is anyone hiring during COVID-19? 

A: Every city is different, but many insurance companies are hiring. In fact, just a quick glance at our listings showed over 100 companies hiring right now. The challenge is many job seekers are getting caught up in all the negative news about hiring. Keep in mind, the insurance industry unemployment rate just went up to 3.1 percent, far lower than the national unemployment rate that was around 20 percent at press time. In Atlanta, if you look at various job sites, you will find over 40 claims jobs open right now—but the job boards are just a starting point. You also should identify all of the companies in Atlanta that house your job and directly visit those companies’ career portals. Many of those jobs are never on the major job boards.

Finally, COVID-19 has created tons of virtual meetings. Google words like “claims associations” in Atlanta and see if you can start attending some of their meetings. Once in, let them all know you are looking for a job. That will be impressive!

Q. I am sending resumes to posted positions but I never get any feedback or interviews. What’s going on?

A. If this is happening to you, then most likely your resume is not optimized. Each job opening today is receiving twice as many resumes as they were just three months ago. An optimized resume gets you on top of the “pile,” whether examined by a human or robot. Visit the CLM webinar series “Optimizing Your Insurance Industry Job Search Process During COVID-19 and Beyond!” at theclm.org/webinars. This presentation will explain how an optimized resume will get you that interview.

Q. How are insurance employers hiring during COVID-19, since most are working remotely?

A. What they are doing today may not be what they will be doing tomorrow. Of course, most of the interviews are being conducted with video, a topic I addressed in the May 2020 issue of CLM Magazine. Video interviewing is so popular that, even after COVID-19, I think most initial interviews will be done this way. Once applicants are selected, companies are onboarding online, as well, with many companies assigning new employees a virtual work buddy to help them navigate the first few months. Word of caution: Employers are being flexible, and the job seekers who are getting hired also have to be flexible. If you are looking for a job today and can’t show during the interview that you will embrace change, then you will not get hired. The longer COVID-19 hangs around, the more pivots a company will have to make.

The best advice I can give job seekers right now is to use all the resources they can find in their cities to discover the companies that reside there, including those that you never even knew existed.

Use your LinkedIn connections to identify people within these companies. Instead of emails or InMail, try using the phone—the person on the other end who may be able to hire you is most likely sitting at home waiting on your call.

Got a question for Roger? Email him at Roger@GreatInsuranceJobs.com.