What does a Insurance Sales Agent do?

Sell life, property, casualty, health, automotive, or other types of insurance. Day to day that includes work like customize insurance programs to suit individual customers, often covering a variety of risks and Sell various types of insurance policies to businesses and individuals on behalf of insurance companies, including automobile, fire, life, property, medical and dental insurance, or specialized policies, such as marine, farm/crop, and medical malpractice.

What skills should a Insurance Sales Agent put on a resume?

O*NET rates Reading Comprehension, Active Listening, Speaking, Critical Thinking, and Persuasion among the most important skills for this occupation. Name the ones that are genuinely yours and show where you used them. A resume that lists skills you do not have is weaker than one that lists fewer.

What software should a Insurance Sales Agent list?

Software recorded for this occupation includes Adobe After Effects, Advantage Information Systems The Agency Advantage, Agency management software, Agency Master, and Agency Software AgencyPro. Applicant tracking systems match on the exact product name, so write the tool as the posting writes it rather than describing it in general terms.

What other job titles cover Insurance Sales Agent work?

O*NET records 40 titles for this occupation, including Insurance Agent, Insurance Broker, Sales Agent, and Sales Representative. Searching only your own job title hides most of the openings you could apply to.

What qualifications does a Insurance Sales Agent need?

In O*NET's survey of people doing this job, 39% reported their level of education as "Bachelor's Degree". That is what current postholders reported, not a requirement any single employer sets.

Will this resume pass an ATS for a Insurance Sales Agent role?

No tool outside an employer can tell you how that employer's system is configured, including ours. What you can control is that the resume parses cleanly, names the work in the words the posting uses, and does not claim anything you cannot back up.

Insurance Sales Agent resume example

A resume for a Insurance Sales Agent needs to show the work itself: sell life, property, casualty, health, automotive, or other types of insurance. Day to day that means work like this: customize insurance programs to suit individual customers, often covering a variety of risks; sell various types of insurance policies to businesses and individuals on behalf of insurance companies, including automobile, fire, life, property, medical and dental insurance, or specialized policies, such as marine, farm/crop, and medical malpractice. Recruiters and applicant tracking systems both read for the tasks and tools this role actually involves, so the strongest resume names them in your own experience rather than describing the job in the abstract. Below are the tasks O*NET records for this occupation, the software and tools it uses, the titles it is advertised under, and the skills worth naming if they are genuinely yours.

Also advertised as

The same job is posted under many titles. Searching only your own job title hides most of the openings you could apply to.

Insurance Agent
Insurance Broker
Sales Agent
Sales Representative
Sales Associate
Underwriting Sales Representative
Insurance Sales Rep
Account Representative
Account Specialist
Bond Writer
Burial Agent
Compensation Agent
Cyber Insurance Policy Specialist
Debit Agent
District Agent
Enrollment Specialist
Estate Planner
Field Marketing Representative

O*NET records 40 titles for this occupation in total.

What this work actually involves

Tasks recorded for this occupation, in O*NET's words. If your experience covers one of these, it belongs on your resume in your own words.

Customize insurance programs to suit individual customers, often covering a variety of risks.
Sell various types of insurance policies to businesses and individuals on behalf of insurance companies, including automobile, fire, life, property, medical and dental insurance, or specialized policies, such as marine, farm/crop, and medical malpractice.
Explain features, advantages, and disadvantages of various policies to promote sale of insurance plans.
Perform administrative tasks, such as maintaining records and handling policy renewals.
Seek out new clients and develop clientele by networking to find new customers and generate lists of prospective clients.
Call on policyholders to deliver and explain policy, to analyze insurance program and suggest additions or changes, or to change beneficiaries.
Confer with clients to obtain and provide information when claims are made on a policy.
Interview prospective clients to obtain data about their financial resources and needs, the physical condition of the person or property to be insured, and to discuss any existing coverage.
Contact underwriter and submit forms to obtain binder coverage.
Select company that offers type of coverage requested by client to underwrite policy.
Ensure that policy requirements are fulfilled, including any necessary medical examinations and the completion of appropriate forms.
Develop marketing strategies to compete with other individuals or companies who sell insurance.

19 tasks are recorded in total; these are the most central.

Example bullets for this role

Built from this occupation's own tasks. The brackets stay empty on purpose: we will not invent a number for you, and a fabricated metric is the fastest way to lose an interview you had already won.

Customize insurance programs to suit individual customers, often covering a variety of risks, for [who or what it served], at [what volume].
Sell various types of insurance policies to businesses and individuals on behalf of insurance companies, including automobile, fire, life, property, medical and dental insurance, or specialized policies, such as marine, farm/crop, and medical malpractice, for [who or what it served], at [what volume].
Explain features, advantages, and disadvantages of various policies to promote sale of insurance plans, for [who or what it served], at [what volume].
Perform administrative tasks, such as maintaining records and handling policy renewals, for [who or what it served], at [what volume].

Software used in this role

Recorded for this occupation by O*NET. An applicant tracking system matches the exact product name, so write the tool the way the posting writes it.

Adobe After Effects
Advantage Information Systems The Agency Advantage
Agency management software
Agency Master
Agency Software AgencyPro
Allied Financial Software Act4Advisors
Allstar Software Systems Kofax
AMS Services AMS 360
AMS Services AMS Sagitta
Apple Final Cut Pro
Applied Systems The Agency Manager
Applied Systems Vision
Benefits Technology Group SalesLogix
CoVirt VirtGate

67 software entries are recorded in total.

Tools and equipment

The physical equipment this occupation is recorded as using. Worth naming when a posting asks for it by name.

Desktop computers
Digital cameras
Laptop computers
Laser facsimile machines
Laser printers
Notebook computers
Pen-based computers
Personal computers
Postage meters

What this job rates as most important

O*NET rates every skill for importance to this occupation. These are the highest rated, in order.

01Reading Comprehension
02Active Listening
03Speaking
04Critical Thinking
05Persuasion
06Writing
07Time Management
08Service Orientation
09Negotiation
10Social Perceptiveness

Knowledge areas

The subject knowledge this occupation draws on, rated by importance.

Customer and Personal Service
Sales and Marketing
English Language
Mathematics
Law and Government
Transportation
Administration and Management
Education and Training

What qualifications people in this job have

From O*NET's survey of people doing this work. This is what postholders reported, not a requirement any single employer sets.

39%Bachelor's Degree
16%Associate's Degree
15%High School Diploma, or the equivalent

What level this role is pitched at

O*NET places this occupation in “Considerable Preparation Needed”. Most of these occupations require a four-year bachelor's degree, but some do not.

A considerable amount of work-related skill, knowledge, or experience is needed for these occupations. For example, an accountant must complete four years of college and work for several years in accounting to be considered qualified.

Common questions

What does a Insurance Sales Agent do?: Sell life, property, casualty, health, automotive, or other types of insurance. Day to day that includes work like customize insurance programs to suit individual customers, often covering a variety of risks and Sell various types of insurance policies to businesses and individuals on behalf of insurance companies, including automobile, fire, life, property, medical and dental insurance, or specialized policies, such as marine, farm/crop, and medical malpractice.
What skills should a Insurance Sales Agent put on a resume?: O*NET rates Reading Comprehension, Active Listening, Speaking, Critical Thinking, and Persuasion among the most important skills for this occupation. Name the ones that are genuinely yours and show where you used them. A resume that lists skills you do not have is weaker than one that lists fewer.
What software should a Insurance Sales Agent list?: Software recorded for this occupation includes Adobe After Effects, Advantage Information Systems The Agency Advantage, Agency management software, Agency Master, and Agency Software AgencyPro. Applicant tracking systems match on the exact product name, so write the tool as the posting writes it rather than describing it in general terms.
What other job titles cover Insurance Sales Agent work?: O*NET records 40 titles for this occupation, including Insurance Agent, Insurance Broker, Sales Agent, and Sales Representative. Searching only your own job title hides most of the openings you could apply to.
What qualifications does a Insurance Sales Agent need?: In O*NET's survey of people doing this job, 39% reported their level of education as "Bachelor's Degree". That is what current postholders reported, not a requirement any single employer sets.
Will this resume pass an ATS for a Insurance Sales Agent role?: No tool outside an employer can tell you how that employer's system is configured, including ours. What you can control is that the resume parses cleanly, names the work in the words the posting uses, and does not claim anything you cannot back up.

Related roles

Occupations O*NET records as closest to this one, and worth looking at if this search is not moving.

What this page cannot tell you

No tool outside an employer can tell you how that employer’s ATS is configured, including ours.
This page makes no claim about pay, demand or how many people hold this job. O*NET does not publish that here and we will not estimate it.
Keyword overlap is one input to a resume’s score, not a verdict on you. A resume that names skills you do not have is worse than one that names fewer.

If this is the job you are aiming at, the guide to tailoring a resume covers how to aim one posting properly, and building and exporting a resume here is free.

Occupation data from the O*NET 29.1 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA), used under CC BY 4.0. O*NET is a trademark of USDOL/ETA. SpartanResume is not endorsed by USDOL/ETA.