If you have insurance or have applied for mortgages, your case has been forwarded to an underwriter. These individuals are the backbones of financial investment analysis across many industries. From loan lending and insurance industries to financial sectors, underwriters are the key to great success for many businesses. After all, these are the employees who defend businesses against fraudulent losses and enhance their profit.
To be hired as an underwriter means you need to be more than just a good analyzer. Strong analytical skills, precise financial and accounting skills, and in-depth knowledge of the market are some of the key attributes for underwriters in most sectors. Communication, marketing, and negotiation abilities are essential for a client-facing profession such as an underwriter in the insurance industry.
If you have all these skills yet find the job hunt difficult, your resume needs a makeover so it can speak on your behalf to all the recruiters. Let’s look into different underwriter resume examples and see what makes for an effective resume!
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In simple terms, the job of an underwriter is to do risk evaluation for a business. Creating risk reports, attentively studying cases, and applying business analysis models to them is what an underwriter is tasked to do. To perform this successfully, underwriters must have a strong analytical skill set that helps them make insightful and quantitative decisions.
Typically, to become an underwriter you need a bachelor’s degree in statistical subjects such as economics, math, business, or finance. Let’s look at this underwriter resume template to see what makes a great resume through a recruiter’s lens:
One way to impress recruiters is to show your impact in numerical figures. For example, mentioning that you improved investment performances by 25% and reduced the ratio of the fraudulent application processes by 40% will make your resume praise your analytical abilities on your behalf.
Rich job experience helps because it shows recruiters that you are knowledgeable about and effective in your profession. Promotions and honors from your previous employers further this effect by demonstrating steady career growth, which is valued in resumes! Examining applicants' complete credit histories is one example.
Loan underwriters, also known as loan officers, are specialized batch of underwriters. They evaluate loan applications and are responsible for accepting or rejecting these applications. Because loan underwriters have to evaluate these applications themselves, they will meet applicants and discuss personal and financial information that will help them make informed decisions.
Loan underwriters must have exceptional interpersonal skills to assist them to get all necessary information from applicants due to the nature of the position. They must also have the capacity to pay attention to even the smallest facts or statistics.
Here’s a loan underwriter resume template to help you get a head start!
Job-specific talents should be listed in a part of a loan underwriter's resume. Once more, the hard skills—like your technical proficiency—should be the main focus of this section. In simpler words, this section is where you mention your experience in analyzing, evaluating, researching, and making decisions regarding loan applications.
Always remember that a recruiter is waiting to read words that set you apart from other applicants. Use action verbs in resumes for loan underwriters that are pertinent to the collection, analysis, and processing of data.
As a commercial underwriter, your role revolves around assessing the risk factors of potential clients for financial services companies. It's a job with ever-changing responsibilities, where you'll be constantly learning and adapting to new policies or risk factors. Recently, there is an increasing demand for analytical skills due to the surge in data-driven decision making in organizations. When composing a resume for this role, it's essential to demonstrate your knowledge of risk assessment and regulatory standards, as well as your ability to handle a high volume of complex information.
In an increasingly digitized industry, commercial underwriters who demonstrate proficiency in using advanced underwriting software will stand out. Being able to accurately analyze and predict risk using technology is a crucial aspect of the job. Therefore, your resume should reflect your expertise in both risk assessment and the technology used to facilitate that process.
As a commercial underwriter, you constantly analyze complex data to make informed decisions. Therefore, your resume should demonstrate your ability to dissect and understand complicated information. You could do this by discussing specific examples of your analytical skills in action.
Given the rise of technology in the underwriting industry, it’s essential to show your familiarity with relevant software on your resume. Discuss the specific underwriting systems you've used, and how they've assisted you in assessing risk and making decisions.
Commercial underwriters conduct risk analyses on mortgage and insurance application forms to decide whether to approve or reject the insurance benefits. In addition to structuring payment contracts, commercial underwriters also check the accuracy of all the data on the application.
What will make you successful as a commercial underwriter is having a hawk's eye. To pursue a career in commercial underwriting, you must hold a bachelor's degree in addition to a strong set of hard and soft talents that will make you the greatest in your field. Check out this commercial underwriter resume template we offer if you want a resume that demonstrates these skills!
Specialized knowledge and abilities are needed for commercial underwriting. Highlight your prior expertise in the insurance industry, analytics, and other financial jobs on your resume to demonstrate why you are the best candidate for the job. Make sure to list hard skills in your skills section, such as risk management, investment analysis, and financial modeling.
As a Credit Underwriter, your job is an essential two-fold process - you're both an investigator and an analyzer. Your resume should reflect this blend, showcasing a meticulous attention to detail as well as a knack for making data-driven decisions. In light of recent trends, many companies are moving towards automating parts of the underwriting process. As a result, there's a higher demand for underwriters who are comfortable with data analytics and digital platforms, so you’ll want to highlight any relevant tech skills. Your resume needs to show that you can morph with the times while still offering the in-depth, individualized analysis that machines can't.
To stand out, rather than merely stating your responsibilities, you should quantify your achievements. How much money did you save the company? Did you help improve the loan approval process? If yes, by what percentage? The more specific, the better.
Underwriting is all about calculated risks. You should make sure to include any experience or training you have in risk assessment and mitigation. This could be anything from courses you've taken, to specific tools or strategies you've used to evaluate potential risks.
Have you ever applied for a loan to buy a car or pay student debt? Perhaps you know people who took out loans from the bank or other private companies. It is the credit underwriter who is reviewing paperwork and other documents for you to be able to access loans!
It is your responsibility as a credit underwriter to examine loan applications and, on occasion, run a credit history check on a loan applicant. Additionally, you can be requested to review proof of income and debt. Here’s what a successful resume for a credit underwriter looks like, highlighting all important aspects of value to a recruiter!
Credit underwriters must have a strong background in banking and finance, as well as know-how about credit systems. So make sure to utilize your resume well by mentioning that you specialize in underwriting for the banking sector! Make sure to mention it in the introduction and provide evidence of your success in the part about your experience.
If you’re an individual who has experience as a banker or financial expert rather than underwriting, don't be shy to talk more about it! A lot of these skills will be transferred into your credit underwriting career and will make you a more able candidate for the position.
As an entry-level job position, an assistant underwriter does not require a finance degree. But as with all underwriter positions, a strong analytical mind is a requirement in this profession. Your job as an assistant underwriter is to work alongside managers and underwriters to create portfolios by collecting information and doing basic data-entry tasks.
To make a great assistant, you should have administrative support skills as well as a resume that highlights your experience as an assistant in relevant fields. Here’s an example of an assistant underwriter's resume template.
It is advisable to highlight your strengths in assisting in your resume if you don't have a lot of experience to your name. These can involve highlighting your capacity for multitasking or communication as well as your sense of teamwork.
As a career coach and hiring manager who has worked with top companies like AIG, Chubb, and Travelers, I've seen countless underwriter resumes. The best ones always stand out because they showcase the candidate's unique skills and experience in a clear, compelling way. Here are some tips to help you create a strong underwriter resume that will catch the attention of hiring managers and help you land your dream job.
Underwriters need to be able to accurately assess risk and make sound decisions. Make sure your resume showcases your risk assessment skills, like this:
Avoid vague statements that don't give specific examples of your skills:
A resume summary for an Underwriter role is optional. It's a brief statement at the top of your resume that highlights your relevant experience, skills, and achievements. While it's not a must-have, it can be a useful addition if you're a career changer, have a lot of experience, or want to provide context that's not already in your resume.
However, avoid using an objective statement, which is outdated and focuses on what you want rather than what you can offer. Your resume is already a summary of your qualifications, so don't repeat information that's already covered elsewhere. Instead, use the summary to add details that enhance your fit for the role.
The work experience section is the heart of your resume. It's where you showcase your relevant experience and accomplishments to prove you're the best candidate for the job. In this section, we'll break down what you need to know to write a compelling work experience section that will catch the attention of hiring managers and help you land your next underwriter job.
Strong action verbs act like keywords that stand out in your resume application. It helps recruiters identify your analytical and statistical performance, making your resume effective. In our guide, we have added important action verbs related to the underwriting profession, such as “analyzed”, “evaluated” and “identified”.
For a full list of effective resume action verbs, visit Resume Action Verbs.
Having the right skills can make all the difference in your underwriting career. The profession relies on being analytical, keen on details, and making precise decisions that help companies avoid undue losses, and those are the skills that recruiters are looking for!
Skills can also mean your mathematical expertise, experience in the field along with software that can help you perform better. Soft skills such as interpersonal skills also make a difference by helping recruiters see both sides of a coin. Below mentioned are skills that you should add to your resume to impress recruiters:
You can include the above skills in a dedicated Skills section on your resume, or weave them in your experience. Here's how you might create your dedicated skills section:
This word cloud highlights the important keywords that appear on Underwriter job descriptions and resumes. The bigger the word, the more frequently it appears on job postings, and the more 'important' it is.
Thank you for the checklist! I realized I was making so many mistakes on my resume that I've now fixed. I'm much more confident in my resume now.
