Insurance Sales Agents
Sell life, property, casualty, health, automotive, or other types of insurance. May refer clients to independent brokers, work as an independent broker, or be employed by an insurance company.
Most important skills
- Reading Comprehension
- Active Listening
- Speaking
- Critical Thinking
- Writing
- Persuasion
- Time Management
- Service Orientation
Key knowledge
- Customer and Personal Service
- Sales and Marketing
- English Language
- Mathematics
- Law and Government
- Transportation
- Administration and Management
- Education and Training
What the work involves
- Call on policyholders to deliver and explain policy, to analyze insurance program and suggest additions or changes, or to change beneficiaries.
- Calculate premiums and establish payment method.
- 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.
- 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.
- Seek out new clients and develop clientele by networking to find new customers and generate lists of prospective clients.
- Explain features, advantages, and disadvantages of various policies to promote sale of insurance plans.
- Contact underwriter and submit forms to obtain binder coverage.
Strongest interest areas (O*NET): Enterprising, Conventional, Social.
Qualifications and licensing
- Most common education
- Bachelor's Degree (39.5% of respondents)
- Related experience
- None (43.2%)
- On-the-job training
- Over 6 months, up to and including 1 year (37.2%)
- Preparation level
- O*NET job zone 4: Job Zone Four: Considerable Preparation Needed
- Licensing
- Not yet verified. Check your state licensing board.
Check before planning
- Licensing for Insurance Sales Agents is not yet verified for any state: check the state licensing board before planning.
Limits
- Distributions show what current workers or occupational experts report, not legal minimums.
- Requirements vary by employer and state; time to qualify is not estimated.
Source: O*NET 31.0 Database (USDOL/ETA, CC BY 4.0); BLS Employment Projections · dataset 2026.10.8 · method e3-qualification-1.0.0
Work environment
How the typical conditions of this occupation compare with 911 occupations in O*NET (very low = the lowest fifth).
Levels are relative. Most occupations involve a lot of contact with people, for example, so “very low” can still mean regular contact; the last column shows what workers actually reported.
| Condition | Level | Compared with other occupations | Most common answer (O*NET survey) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Contact with others | High | Higher on contact with others than 79% of occupations compared | 73% of surveyed respondents chose “Constant contact with others” |
| Dealing with the public | Very high | Higher on dealing with the public than 99% of occupations compared | 99% of surveyed respondents chose “Extremely important” |
| Teamwork | Very low | Lower on teamwork than 86% of occupations compared | 33% of surveyed respondents chose “Extremely important” |
| Freedom to make decisions | Low | Lower on freedom to make decisions than 72% of occupations compared | — |
| Time pressure | Very high | Higher on time pressure than 91% of occupations compared | 52% of surveyed respondents chose “Every day” |
| Conflict situations | Very high | Higher on conflict situations than 84% of occupations compared | 33% of surveyed respondents chose “Every day” |
| Dealing with unpleasant or angry people | High | Higher on dealing with unpleasant or angry people than 68% of occupations compared | 33% of surveyed respondents chose “Once a year or more but not every month” |
| Consequence of error | Moderate | Higher on consequence of error than 50% of occupations compared | 32% of surveyed respondents chose “Serious” |
Work-pressure profile
- Time pressure: very high
- Conflict situations: very high
- Dealing with unpleasant or angry people: high
- Consequence of error: moderate
Each part is shown on its own. There is no combined stress score, and conditions vary by employer and role.
Full answer distributions
Contact with others
- No contact with others: 0%
- Occasional contact with others: 0%
- Contact with others about half the time: 0.21%
- Contact with others most of the time: 26.43%
- Constant contact with others: 73.36%
n = 18, Incumbent 08/2018
Dealing with the public
- Not important at all: 0.82%
- Fairly important: 0%
- Important: 0%
- Very important: 0.21%
- Extremely important: 98.97%
n = 18, Incumbent 08/2018
Teamwork
- Not important at all: 12.83%
- Fairly important: 0%
- Important: 27.34%
- Very important: 26.61%
- Extremely important: 33.22%
n = 18, Incumbent 08/2018
Freedom to make decisions
- No freedom: 12.83%
- Very little freedom: 0%
- Limited freedom: 13.99%
- Some freedom: 32.61%
- A lot of freedom: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
n = 18, Incumbent 08/2018
Time pressure
- Never: 0%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 0%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 0%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 47.57%
- Every day: 52.43%
n = 18, Incumbent 08/2018
Conflict situations
- Never: 6.7%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 27.42%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 13.32%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 19.56%
- Every day: 33%
n = 18, Incumbent 08/2018
Dealing with unpleasant or angry people
- Never: 0%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 33.36%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 32.82%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 20.56%
- Every day: 13.26%
n = 18, Incumbent 08/2018
Consequence of error
- Not serious at all: 27.67%
- Fairly serious: 6.58%
- Serious: 32.41%
- Very serious: 6.7%
- Extremely serious: 26.64%
n = 18, Incumbent 08/2018
Is this career right for me? Find jobs with conditions you prefer
Where people with this background could move
- Analyze
Loan Officers
Closeness 94/100
- Analyze
Insurance Underwriters
Closeness 93/100
- Analyze
Customer Service Representatives
Closeness 93/100 · job zone -2
- Analyze
New Accounts Clerks
Closeness 92/100 · job zone -1
- Analyze
Sales Representatives, Wholesale and Manufacturing, Technical and Scientific Products
Closeness 92/100
- Analyze
Human Resources Specialists
Closeness 92/100
Find more alternativesCompare skills with another job
O*NET-SOC 41-3021.00 · SOC 41-3021 (exact, high confidence) · dataset 2026.10.8