Insurance Agent Resume Example

After reading this guide, you'll know what it takes to create a resume that really stands out from other insurance agent applicants. You'll find useful insights on constructing a resume that makes the most of your unique skills, experience and strengths. You'll also learn how to tailor your resume according to the job description, and depending on your experience levels. Continue reading to find expert tips and advice from Jobseeker that will help you with your insurance agent resume.

Key sections for an insurance agent resume

It's essential to include a few core sections in your insurance agent resume, while there are also a few optional sections you can make use of to strengthen your application. If you're a candidate without much experience, you may wish to present your resume in a way that draws attention to your most valuable skills. These might not be in traditional work settings, so sections like education, projects, hobbies and skills can be more prominent.

How you choose to present your resume is up to you. There are plenty of options for a professional resume layout and format, but every application should include the following:

Header and Personal Information

A insurance agent resume header contains your name and contact information. Add your first and last name, your phone number and your email address. Include your address or location, but avoid adding any other personal information. If you have a LinkedIn profile, you can add the URL to your header so the hiring manager can get a better understanding of your work history and experience. Keep your header clear and concise, with only the most necessary information included. Opt for a stylish, professional design that creates a strong first impression.

Make sure the email address you list in your header is professional-looking and doesn't contain any inappropriate content such as nicknames or unsuitable language. Opt for an email address based on your name or profession, or a combination of both. Finally, check your contact details before sending your resume, to ensure everything's up-to-date.

Resume Summary

Following your resume header, write a resume summary to introduce yourself and showcase some of your key skills and achievements. Alternative names for this section are 'resume objective' and 'personal profile'. While a resume summary focuses on your career experience, a resume objective covers your ambitions and career plans. Furthermore, when writing your profile, focus on two or three key skills and achievements that showcase your suitability for insurance agent roles.

Alternatively, write a paragraph that concentrates on your career objectives and how this role fits with your wider ambitions and progression.

A strong resume summary focuses on two or three key skills and achievements that showcase your suitability for insurance agent roles in a clear, quantifiable way. It also gives an insight into your personal qualities, to help the reader understand why you're a suitable candidate. You can see some positive examples of a resume summary for insurance agent jobs below.

Alternatively, a poor resume summary would include bland, generic information that does little to prove your suitability for the role, while failing to provide any useful insights on you as a person or as a candidate. See above for some examples of things to avoid when writing your insurance agent resume summary.

Hard and Soft Skills

Listing your key skills can help to prove your suitability for insurance agent jobs. These could be financial product knowledge, CRM software proficiency or various other relevant skills. Again, refer to the insurance agent job description for an indication of the types of skills the employer is looking for, and make sure your skills section reflects these.

Listing hard skills on your insurance agent resume

Hard skills are specific skills related to the job you're applying for. They include particular abilities, technical skills and industry knowledge that relate directly to jobs as an insurance agent. Furthermore, your hard skills list helps to show employers how competent and experienced you are at key insurance agent duties and responsibilities. It's best to aim for four or five key hard skills that match the job description. These can really showcase your suitability for the job.

Your resume hard skills list should reflect your unique and specific industry expertise and experience, while also fulfilling the requirements listed in the job description. See the examples below for an idea of what an effective insurance agent resume hard skills list looks like.

Adding soft skills to your insurance agent resume

In your list of soft skills, add any personal strengths, qualities or transferable skills that make you a good fit for the job. Soft skills are often less specific to different industries, but that doesn't make them any less important. In fact, as technology develops, soft skills are growing in importance for recruiters and employers, so be sure to add several of these to your resume. Think of your best soft skills and add up to five that match the requirements of the job description.

Your soft skills section should make the most of your unique personal qualities and strengths, while also reflecting the requirements laid out in the job description. See below for some examples of useful soft skills for an insurance agent resume.

Education

The education section provides space to list your highest and most recent academic achievements that are relevant to working as an insurance agent.

To work as an insurance agent, employers tend to require candidates to have a specialist degree, such as a Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) in Finance. If you have this degree, focus on it in your education section, while also mentioning any educational achievements that show your financial product knowledge or customer relationship management.

For each entry in this section, add the name and level of your qualification, the institution you studied at, its location and your dates of study. You can also add some bullet points outlining any high grades, awards you won or specialist subjects you studied. Adding this information will show the employer your dedication to learning and your areas of specialist knowledge.

If you organized or participated in any clubs or societies while at university, or you took part in any voluntary work, you could also mention these here.

Relevant Certifications and Licenses

Under this section, list any relevant certifications or licenses that are relevant to insurance agent jobs. Add any official certifications or accreditations that increase your level of qualification and suitability for working as an insurance agent. Therefore, add any professional licenses or certifications, along with valid dates that show they're still valid.

Take a look at some example certifications for an insurance agent resume below:

Work Experience

In the next section, list your employment history focusing on the most relevant previous roles and achievements that showcase your insurance agent skills. List each relevant role in reverse-chronological order starting with your current or most recent role. Add your job title, the organization name, its location and the dates you worked there.

Under each job entry, add several bullet points highlighting your responsibilities and achievements. Consult the job description for a list of the key requirements for the role and make sure your work experience section showcases how you meet these requirements.

An effective resume work experience section is one that constantly echoes the skills and experience listed in the job description, and shows how you used your skills to positive effect in each job. Each bullet point should be carefully crafted to showcase a particular skill or achievement relevant to insurance agent jobs, with evidence to show the value you added. See the examples below for some ideas of what a great resume work experience looks like.

In the graphic above, you'll see some examples of less effective resume work experience sections. A bad resume work experience section might fail to address skills and achievements that relate directly to the job description. Falling back on clichés, vague descriptions and basic responsibilities, rather than showing the impact you made, is likely to disengage the reader.

Optional Resume Sections

To provide further information on your suitability for the role, you could add some optional sections to an insurance agent resume. Choose any optional sections that showcase essential or desirable skills or experience for insurance agent jobs.

Hobbies and Interests

Hobbies and interests can be a useful way of showing your skills and experience beyond your work and education. Hobbies can help you show different sides of your personality and make your resume more memorable to hiring managers. They're ideal to include if you're a junior candidate who might lack real world insurance agent experience. Just make sure any hobbies and interests you include in your resume add genuine insight into your personality, in ways other sections of the resume can't.

Volunteering

Adding voluntary roles can be a useful way of showing relevant experience and skills for insurance agent roles beyond your main employment history. List your volunteer job title, the organization you volunteered for, its location and the dates of your involvement, alongside a brief explanation of your responsibilities in the role.

References

Standard insurance agent resumes don't tend to include references, but you might find them requested occasionally. Check the job advert to see if you'll need to add references to your resume. Before adding any referees to your resume, ask them for their assistance and prepare them for contact by the employer.

Best strong verbs for your an insurance agent resume

Add strong verbs to your work experience section to show the hiring manager the impact you made in your previous roles. Add strong verbs from the list below to create a greater impact with your work experience section.

Jobseeker's resume templates were created by careers experts to help you produce a professional resume in minutes. You can also find cover letter templates to complete an eye-catching job application that gets you noticed.

Example of an insurance agent resume

Using each of the sections above, we've created this example insurance agent resume, to help guide you when creating your own:

Tips on creating an ATS-optimized resume

Applicant tracking systems (ATS) are increasingly taking responsibility for the management and processing of job applications, helping hiring practices to become more efficient. This can include screening resumes by scanning and ranking each application according to how closely it matches the job description. When you're writing your insurance agent resume, there are several things you can do to make sure your resume stands the best chance of passing the ATS stage.

Follow these guidelines to create the best ATS-friendly resume:

• Choose a resume structure that matches the traditional, reverse-chronological layout or alternatively, the functional resume structure. This should make your resume more readable for ATS applications.
• Add keywords that match the job description throughout your resume, as ATS applications scan for these and well-placed, considered use can help your resume rank more highly.
• Using clear, simple headings makes it easier for an ATS application to scan your resume, as it can easily identify what's in each section of your document.
• Utilize a clean, clear resume design that helps make your content more readable. Use simple fonts and subtle color accents and design elements that don't detract from the written content.
• Use concise language to keep the length of your resume to between one and two pages. This will make it easier to scan for ATS applications.

Takeaways for a winning insurance agent resume

An effective resume is a concise, professional summary of your relevant skills and career achievements, showcased through a chronology of your career history. Use a suitable resume format and tailor your resume for every application you submit.

Remember, Jobseeker resume templates and other tools make it easy to create a resume and cover letter that leaves a positive impression on hiring managers. Sign up now to start building your perfect resume. A stylish, professional cover letter can make all the difference to your job prospects. See Jobseeker's cover letter examples, written by careers experts, to help you craft an eye-catching application.

Sources:

(1) Writing a Resume, California Department of Human Resources: https://www.calhr.ca.gov/employees/Pages/resume-tips.aspx

(2) Resumes, Cover Letters and Job Applications, New York State Department of Labor: https://dol.ny.gov/resumes-cover-letters-and-job-applications