Our Claims and Insurance Support team shed some light on what they find different (and fun) about working at Open in Part 1 of our Inside Claims & Insurance Support blog, so for Part 2 they shared their backgrounds, what led them to their roles at Open and the opportunities they’ve had to grow and progress along the way.
Claims and Insurance Support sit within our Operations team - and come from a whole variety of backgrounds. From team members who are brand new to the world of insurance and tech, to those that know insurance inside-out, our team bring with them a weath of experience and expertise. Lucky for us, since they handle any and every customer request that comes their way and deliver the incredible service we’re known for, looking after customers from when they first lodge their claim, all the way through to claim completion.
Have a read of our team members’ journeys and the progression they’ve made since joining Open!
What’s your background and how did you progress to the role you’re currently in?
Alana - Lead Claims Specialist
Before Open, I was working for an insurance builder, so the other side of what I currently do. The reason why I applied for Open was purely based on being a B Corp, community initiatives and just the general vibe and culture.
I started with sales, so I was on the phone for a couple of weeks doing sales initially. Then I moved into the claims space and have been in claims ever since, being promoted from an advisor to a senior Home Claims Specialist.
Jamie - Claims Manager
My career started in New Zealand, I held various sales service and retention roles earlier on. I'm from Christchurch so there was a lot of insurance work that popped up through 2010s. I moved into that area, starting with admin, then moving into claim management.
I started my own business within the building industry in New Zealand before moving to Australia and joining Open. I started in our insurance support team. So I was there for a few weeks before moving over to claims. Over the last three and a half years I’ve moved into a team lead role within the claims team and had exposure to both car, home and travel products.
I had the opportunity to step up to claims manager and more recently focus on building our home department. So that's been really exciting.
Lewis - Claims Specialist
I was in hospitality for the last four years. I really enjoyed talking to people, dealing with people and customer service. At a point it became time to face a new challenge and to do something a bit different.
The opportunity with Open came up on online and I thought it looked pretty interesting so I put in an application. Then I did a phone interview with Andrew. What stuck out to me about that phone call was rather than just asking me questions, was him describing the benefits of working for the business. It wasn't something I was used to from previous job searches. It was really a ‘here's what we can offer to you, we're looking for the best people’.
It was really exciting when I got offered my role. I started in April this year and went through about four weeks of training with my training group, getting the rundown of how insurance works and then went on the floors and started doing claim lodgements and getting to learn the systems. And from there I’ve built up a claim portfolio. The last four months has just flown by, it's gone really quick.
Robinson - Claims Specialist
I was a financial planner with a big bank for 21 years. The business got made redundant so it was an opportunity for me to start doing something brand new.
Insurance, money and protection were all familiar to me. The fact that I could work with an employer that was close to home, that was new and growing, that was exciting. So I got into a claims role. There were some changes going on and I had to learn really quickly. But what I liked was I liked the fact that the team was super supportive, it was very much hands on.
Jasmine - Motor Claims Team Lead
Prior to Open I worked for five years for a medical foods distribution company. I started as a junior admin person there then became the go-to for whatever the company needed. I learned a lot about everything from logistics to customer service, accounts and even marketing and rebranding.
Then I wanted to grow my career and learn more, because I had young kids who had started getting to the age where I could have a career for myself. I ended up going back to TAFE and doing a certificate in business while I was looking for what I wanted to do..
I came across Open and applied for the insurance support team. I went through the interview process and was really impressed with the opportunities and the growth that they were working towards, but also the communication and the relationship they showed throughout interview process.
I joined Open and one of my biggest things I wanted to have training and opportunity to learn. My team leader was super keen to support me and provide the training that I needed. After about two and a half months of been in insurance support I got asked if I'd like to take on a role in claims. A couple of months later I got a promotion to a senior role. Then I got the opportunity to take a temporary role as a team lead.
Now I'm in a team lead role, after being at Open nearly a year. I appreciate my coaches and my whole team, helping me with the growth I've been able to achieve.
What training and development have you had at Open?
Alana
Since the company has matured the training that I've received has been awesome. I went from car to home claims, which are totally different products, the training I received was from another home claims team member, with side by side coaching, ongoing support and helping answering all my questions.
My more recent training would be for the New Zealand launch, learning a different country and legislation. Open has exposed me to different countries, different legislation and ways of applying insurance.
Jamie
I've been really fortunate to have some pretty incredible leaders at Open - both directly and indirectly as well.
Some of the learnings that we've had over the last few years is our people definitely want more development, so that's become a massive priority for us - having the resources available and allow the capacity for us to make that a focus. We provide opportunities to develop our staff, whether that's on the job or things like leadership resources that we've been able to tap into as well, which has been really awesome.
Jasmine - Motor Claims Team Lead
The fact that Open have monthly reviews and six monthly reviews in place is huge. It means we can identify gaps and put a plan in place on how we're going to improve and get to the next step. I think that kind of training and coaching is so valuable.
The agents are so supportive of each other. We all help each other, if we have a question, we can sit there and talk about it and help each other out so that we can get the best outcome for our customers. We've got the training systems in place that have been developed and growing. But it’s also the ongoing support from everybody creates that coaching and training to a better standard.
Lewis - Claim Specialist
I didn’t know too much about insurance before I started here, so you get a crash course on the product that we sell, as well as more formal training in terms on industry requirements, like getting your general insurance code of practice.
You get to learn a lot, especially about how insurance works generally, but also how we deal with it. It's been really refreshing having a lot of the leaders in my team show a lot of commitment towards our personal development. From getting weekly 1-on-1s to the regular check-ins of ‘how are you feeling and how are things going this week’ and just your managers being aware of what's happening in your life and in your in your workspace.
We also have more formal 1-on-1s every month, just to say - okay, you're doing really well here, you could improve here - it’s the commitment to development the leaders in the company have.
Robinson - Claim Specialist
We have training every week. We have our car claims meetings at least twice a week where we talk about what's working, what's not working, what we need to focus on and work out the best way to support one another.
We're always learning - everyday you learn something new. You can just be sitting there doing your own thing, but you can hear another agent having a conversation with a client. And if they discover something, they'll share it on Slack, so we share what we've discovered and how it can benefit the team.
We’re hiring at Open! From Operations and Claims roles to Engineering and Partnerships, we’re looking for people who want to build the future of insurance with one of the world’s leading FinTech companies. Learn more ›
.png)
