General insurance refers to insurance that does not cover life, but covers several other types of losses, such as losses arising from thefts, accidents, natural calamities, breakdowns, diseases, errors, debt default, omissions, cargo losses in transit, liabilities from road and workplace accidents, liabilities from aircraft accidents, health problems etc.

Some of the general insurances are also mandatory. The two common examples of these are third party liability insurance of Motor Vehicles Act, and workmen’s compensation. Many professions necessitate such insurances. These include professions of physicians, surgeons, lawyers, and finance professions. Recent addition to this list of almost mandatory insurances is the retirement planning products. Insurance companies have diversified into such products, which are often linked to equity or debt markets. There are tax benefits offered to people who contribute to such retirement plans, which are a form of insurance. Such retirement plans or policies are available with or without link to life.

The products that do not have link to life insurance come under general insurance category. Tax benefits are also available for medical insurances. In this context, it is necessary to know how much would be the claim receivable by the insured. Insured may receive a percentage of the value that is insured. Therefore, it makes sense to insure for full value of the property, or take higher health insurances, or opt for higher cover for professional liabilities, or even accidents, though the relevant premiums seem quite high. Many people are under mistaken impression that if they take two policies they will be able to claim from both, and therefore, not be at a loss. This, however, is not true. The terms of the respective general insurance policies determine how much would be receivable by the insured under each policy, and if there are areas of common coverage, the two insurance providers pay proportionately.

Unlike life insurances, general insurances are valid only for one year, and therefore, they need to be renewed promptly, that too in advance. This is because if any such events occur between the day on which the policy lapses, and the day it is renewed, the insurance provider will not be liable to pay any claims. A large variety of general insurance products covering different risks are available in the market. Specific type of insurance cover can also be obtained from general insurance providers.


General insurance jobs require thorough knowledge of products that are being offered by the general insurance provider. Most of the jobs in this sector involve sales and marketing of the product. The person marketing such products should be a good communicator, and inclined to maintain relations with the client because such insurances are renewable each year. Being conversant in the local language, apart from an international language like English, helps the insurance agent perform better. One of the tasks involved is valuation of properties that are being insured, both at the time of insurance, as well as the time of claims. When claims relate to health policies, then the insurance personnel should be aware of the required supporting documents that form the basis for releasing the amounts. Some investigative skills are also necessary to assess whether indeed the insured was responsible for the accident. It may happen that the other party is responsible for the accident, and therefore the insurance provider at this end is not liable! Apart from sales and marketing jobs in this section of insurance industry, there are functions like analyzing delinquent debts, or possibility of delinquency, for which finance professionals may be taken on board. These professionals are also required for assessing investment avenues.

Basic concept of insurance is pooling of some amounts from several persons towards some common set of risks, and using part of it to pay any claims, and carrying forward part of the balance towards next set of claims that are likely to arise in next year. This concept works in international markets as well. Therefore, insurance providers in any part of the world whether in Singapore or Dubai, or the United States of America, or India, - all look for the same kind of qualifications and similar factors. But specific insurances are required in specific regions. For example in Middle Eastern nations, oil and gas is explored, and extracted. These are highly inflammable commodities, and losses could be huge if something went wrong. Similarly, exploration of oil and gas does not always guarantee positive results. But huge sums of monies are spent on exploration. Therefore general insurance jobs in Dubai, Qatar, and Kuwait, may relate to these. These countries also export oil, and therefore, applicants for general insurance jobs in Kuwait, Qatar, and Dubai are expected to be aware of shipping risks, foreign exchange fluctuation risks, storage risks, and other International market risks. Taking an insurance tailor-made for the purpose can mitigate some of the losses. Tornados, and Hurricanes affect many states in the United States, but are non-existent in countries like India. Therefore, American general insurance jobs may go to an applicant who is aware of the probabilities of such natural disasters in a region and associated costs, both to the person seeking insurance, as well as insurance providers. Cyclones, tsunamis, and earthquakes are common in the eastern parts of the world. Because of this, general insurance jobs in India, and other cyclone prone regions entail understanding the kind of damage that such cyclones bring and associated costs. Within the country as well there may be variations in types of risks. Therefore, when considering applications for general insurance jobs in Shillong, a city in the hilly region of India, the insurance provider would look for the person’s knowledge about regional lifestyles and associated diseases, as well as hazards of landslides. In contrast, the same general insurance provider would look for an entirely different set of attributes in applicant looking for general insurance jobs in Chennai. In so far as livestocks are concerned, dangers of mad cow diseases, or bird flu are risk factors. When such diseases erupt, the entire livestock has to be culled. Therefore, such business enterprises need to insure against business losses that may arise because of these diseases. General insurance agents working for insurance companies covering such specific risks should be aware about the associated factors.