Industry changes are tough no matter what you do. If you’re a military veteran, you may not see a clear connection between the skills you learned during your service and a position in the civilian workforce.
However, the non-technical skills you developed over your time in the armed services— leadership, accountability and integrity — are the same skills that insurance agents need to build successful businesses. The experience you gained during your service could help you connect with your community and solve problems. Let’s take a closer look at how military experience develops key skills needed to work in insurance.
1. Leadership
Some military members are natural leaders, while others learned to lead during their time in the service. Insurance agents must step up as leaders, too, becoming a trusted and respected resource who clients rely on to advise them on decisions that affect their livelihoods.
2. Accountability
As a service member, individual accountability was integral to the success of the greater team. As an insurance agent, accountability is vital, too. Clients rely on their agent to provide measured, straight-forward direction during some of the most vulnerable times in their lives. Agents need to help their clients work through stressful situations and find the best solutions. A veteran’s ability to stay calm and make choices that serve the greater good – even in less-than-ideal circumstances – makes them successful agents.
3. Adaptability
During your military service, you had to think on your feet, adapt to new surroundings and learn skills on the fly. In fact, that variety may be one thing you miss if you’ve already transitioned into the civilian workforce. That’s a major draw of working as an insurance agent. No two days are the same, just as no two clients are the same. Agents encounter new challenges day after day and are always learning.
4. Integrity
Honor, loyalty and integrity are fundamental to any service member. Whether these are innate qualities that drew you into military service or they are values you developed during your service, these virtues are part of who you are. Every day agents are helping people make decisions that could have a significant impact on their futures – things like determining life insurance amounts or assisting in setting up college savings plans. Not only do agents need to provide advice that will best serve their clients, they also need to keep client information confidential.
5. Dedication
Dedication and the commitment to service sticks with a person well beyond active military duty. Insurance agents often need to step up in times of crises to serve their community. When a derecho ripped through the Midwest in 2020, taking down phone lines and power poles, throwing trees across roads and leaving clients scrambling to recover, Farm Bureau agents found ways to get to their clients and immediately begin processing claims. That dedication to helping their clients and their communities is a quality that veterans embody.
The Resources You Need to Succeed
Do you have an entrepreneurial spirit and a desire to make a difference in your community? Add the skills that you developed during your military service, and you are on your way to finding success as a Farm Bureau agent.
Connect with a District Manager in your area to learn more about the support we provide to new agents and the opportunities you have as a veteran.