“A who?” is the typical response from anyone who has never heard of AHOU; The Association of Home Office Underwriters. If you happen to be in the life insurance industry, then you may have attended the Annual Conference which is held annually across North America. In 2018, the conference was in Chicago, and I was fortunate to be able to attend this four-day action packed conference. This was my first time attending AHOU, it was an exciting experience from which I was able to take away several expert insights to apply to my work.
It's Week 12 of our Underwriting Expert Series, and we are excited to be exploring an overview of Pharmacogenetics with Senior Underwriter, Garen Markarian. Make sure to subscribe to our blog to receive the latest expert series in your inbox.
For this edition of our Underwriting Expert Series, Senior Underwriter, Karen McLeod, provides a detailed overview of the importance of colon cancer for life underwriters. As the second leading cause of death from cancer in men and third leading cause in women, it is imperative that life underwriters learn how to recognize and insure this disease.
Has your team ever experienced a lull in energy? You know, that feeling of 'something' (whether it is motivation, inspiration or drive) just isn't present. And unfortunately is probably impacting team productivity or happiness. If you can relate, not to worry, it happens to the best of us. The good thing is, once you've hit this lull, the only way to go is up.
In this installment of our Underwriting Expert Series, Senior Underwriter, Karen McLeod continues the discussion on COPD. If you haven’t read part one, check it out for an overview of what life underwriters need to know about COPD. Then, read below to discover key information underwriters should consider when underwriting applicants with COPD.
In a recent article posted on HRM Canada, Koreen Pagano, the Product Management Director at D2L identified “seven major trends dictating the online learning space”. Naturally, we were intrigued not only to learn, but to shamelessly see how our Underwriting Training Program stacked up !
Before we delve into the seven online learning trends and rate ourselves (shamelessly, remember), it’s important to consider what type of learning we are discussing. Usually when we think of learning, we harken back to grade school (awkward), high school (totally not awkward acid-washed jeans), or post-secondary (Frisbee in the quad!!).
This type of learning is fundamentally the same as it’s been for 3000 years - the “sage on the stage” model. One expert/teacher/professor lecturing to students. The benefits of this style are well documented (it’s been around for over 3000 years for a reason!!), but it’s important to note how vastly different learning experiences have become with the advent of modern technology. In fact, most would argue we don’t even truly know how we all learn online given how relatively new we are to it.
Welcome back to our Underwriting Expert Series. Want to catch up on previous expert pieces? View them here! In this 2-part post, we will hear from Karen McLeod, Senior Underwriter, about Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) and how those living with the disease can be assessed accurately. First, we’ll go over the basics of COPD and what you need to know about the disease. In part 2, we’ll dive deeper into what underwriters need to know when assessing an application on those affected by the disease.
This is the eighth article in our Expert Underwriting Series. In a complex industry, understanding diverse health conditions and concerns can help you become more efficient and confident in your role as a life underwriter. Check out the full series to get an overview of longstanding and emerging trends in life underwriting and read on to hear from Garen Markarian, Senior Underwriter, on the impact and key considerations associated with epilepsy.
Whether you are a Chief Underwriter, Underwriting Manager or Director, you’ve likely enjoyed a career filled with learning, growth, and stability but, like most roles, some recurring challenges and rote tasks are also part of the picture. Many of which I have experienced myself, having been in an underwriting leadership role for over 15 years. Reflecting on my experience in the industry, I’ve compiled four of the top challenges we, as life underwriting leaders, encounter and outlined some simple ways you and your team can spend less time completing cumbersome, but necessary day-to-day tasks and more time focusing on new business.
Building your ideal team of life underwriters can be intimidating but with the right tools and partners who understand the unique considerations of the industry, it becomes a lot easier. Straightforward yet powerful tools like behavioral metrics are available for managers who are looking to support their team’s career development at the individual level while driving progress toward broader organizational goals. Behavioral metrics also offer actionable insights that can be leveraged to turn your ‘gut feeling’ during hiring or ‘best guess’ in leadership approaches into strategic decision-making and planning that is backed by data about your team members’ motivations, stressors, and communication styles.
