Preparing for insurance job interviews takes time and research, so it’s worth putting in the effort to avoid making mistakes at this crucial stage.
Finding opportunities is the first step; succeeding in securing them is where you want to ultimately land.
It’s important for candidates seeking new opportunities in this evolving sector to realise that one simple slip-up or vague response can scupper their chances of achieving this.
Read on to discover seven of the most common mistakes candidates make during interviews – and how you can avoid them.
The top 7 mistakes to avoid during insurance job interviews
Let’s examine the top seven traps professionals can fall into during the interview process.
1. Mismatching your skills to the role on offer
For modern insurance roles, you will need to possess a variety of skills, from risk awareness and analytical abilities to regulatory understanding and digital readiness.
Showcasing this broad range of skills is now vital, given the need for upskilling within the insurance sector to maintain pace with industry transformation.
To make an impression in this context, you must speak about your unique skillset in terms of how it will apply to the job on offer. If your aptitudes do not apply to the role, not only will your answers lack impact, but you are in danger of wasting everyone’s time, including your own.
2. Showing uncertainty about the hiring company
One of the most important exercises at the preparation stage is learning about the hiring company. This means researching who they are, what they do, and how their team operates.
If, during the interview, an employer detects a note of uncertainty when the line of questioning places focus on their company, they will immediately lose interest in you.
To avoid this, you need to prepare responses on how you’ll add value to their business, what you think about their recent efforts in the context of industry developments, and why you feel their company is the place for you.
3. Avoiding the topic of company culture
Understanding the company culture of a hiring business also plays a large part in understanding how the business operates on the whole.
Not only does it provide an insight into how the team is treated, but it also informs how you, as a candidate, will fit in and communicate with your colleagues and superiors should you succeed in landing the role.
Employers are also highly aware that they must adapt their workplace culture to attract the best talent. They will therefore seek out candidates who understand the importance of culture and have the ability to prove this during the interview with relevant, insightful questions.
4. Providing generic answers during insurance job interviews
Interviews often involve obvious questions like “Why do you want to work in insurance?”
A big blunder occurs when a candidate delivers a generic answer about being “interested” in the profession or discussing job stability, both responses that hold little weight with employers.
Instead, it would stand in your favour to specifically articulate your motivation for working in the sector.
For example, you could mention your interest in overcoming regulatory challenges – a current hot topic.
Employers want people who understand compliance, ethics, and who show an awareness of regulatory and governance issues. By voluntarily bringing up this topic, you will touch on a major part of what insurance firms care about.
5. Giving weak behavioural examples
Interviewers often use behavioural and competency questions to decipher how you handled specific risks or challenges in past insurance roles.
Giving vague responses to these questions, or failing to structure your answer, is another big mistake.
Without concrete examples, you appear unprepared, so to avoid this, use the STAR method (Situation, Task, Action, Result) to ensure your examples meet the employer’s expectations.
6. Overuse of technical jargon and interview “buzzwords”
While showing you know your stuff is important, going too deep into technical detail or using heavy jargon can backfire – especially if the interviewer is not a specialist.
Similarly, the use of corporate buzzwords, such as “team player”, “best practices” and “think outside the box”, can often hamper communication by coming across as trite or insincere.
The key to avoiding this is to clearly explain how your experience links to business outcomes, and to answer questions with honesty and integrity.
7. Not asking insightful questions
An interview is a two-way process: while you’re being assessed, you’re also assessing the employer.
A common mistake is not asking insightful questions about your potential future employer, or, worse still, not asking any questions at all.
Avoid superficial queries surrounding salary or annual leave, and instead focus on questions about the company’s ethos and their views on continuous candidate development, which will portray you as a serious contender.
How 360 Search can help you prepare for insurance job interviews
At 360 Search, we work with candidates in the insurance, life and pensions, asset management, compliance and finance sectors across Ireland. If you’re preparing for your next interview, we can give you insights into the insurance market, current trends and what hiring managers are really looking for.
Through our extensive service offering, we will not only help you to find the right role, but we can also support you with interview preparation to ensure you avoid critical mistakes and highlight what employers in the sector are seeking to find.
Contact our team today to discover how you can avoid the most common interview pitfalls and increase your chances of recruitment success.
