There are a wide variety of careers available for graduates in the pensions and insurance sector and, with recent regulatory changes and government legislation in the area of financial services, the number of jobs is set to increase. Changes to company pensions, for instance, will mean that businesses require more advisors and consultants.

Graduates working in insurance can choose one of two core areas - insurance policy work or sales. Policy work could involve assessing insurance claims, surveying risk and underwriting policies. Loss adjusters work in the industry as independent specialists and are often called upon to investigate complex or difficult claims after damage or destruction to property. They often examine the scene of an incident to establish the causes and decide whether or not it is covered by the insurance policy. Loss adjusters deal with everything from factories destroyed by fires to financial theft or fraud so the job is very varied and offers an interesting career path. The Chartered Institute of Loss Adjusters (CILA) is a good source of professional information.

For graduates interested in a career in pensions, it is possible to secure an entry-level role as a pensions administrator or consultant. Pensions administrators look after group and personal pension plans in a variety of settings. They may work on an in-house company pensions scheme or for an insurance company, administration service or consultancy, or they could be employed by a public sector pensions provider or a bank or building society. Consultants offer pensions services and solutions to businesses and, in light of recent legislative changes, they are in higher demand than ever. More information is available from the Pensions Management Institute (PMI).

Insurance and pensions professionals tend to work normal weekday hours in an office environment, depending on the type of role. There may be a significant amount of time spent visiting clients and policyholders to broker policies and assess claims and long hours are not uncommon in this sector. The investigative nature of loss adjusting means that professionals working in this area often spend a significant amount of time out of the office, travelling to and visiting incident scenes. Loss adjusters have to be ready to respond to emergencies, so some evening and weekend work is possible and international travel may be necessary.