Insurance remains a buoyant sector in Scotland

Recent talk of redundancies at Direct Line  may make the Scottish insurance jobs market look a little shaky, but compared to banking it's a sea of tranquillity, say recruiters.

"The insurance jobs market in Scotland is stable compared to the banking sector, but there are steady areas of demand," says Marc O'Donnell, Glasgow-based UK-wide insurance specialist at Change Recruitment.

Brokers are always looking for good account execs and handlers, O'Donnell says, but their attitude to recruitment has changed in the last year.

"They tended to recruited business developers almost solely on the strength of the book of business they bring with them. Now they have realised that trying to 'buy' customers by bringing in developers does not breed much employee loyalty," he says.

Now brokers have returned to tempting candidates with promises of longer term career development, he says.

Packages are appearing that emphasise the basic salary at the expense of commissions and bonuses. Most developer jobs pay a basic of £30-£35k, plus car allowance for those with at least two years experience, with commission and bonus adding up to £15k. However, O'Donnell has recently seen the emergence of jobs paying £50k with no bonus or commission.

"I expect to see more of this in future, driven by regulation and the urge to underwrite better quality business," says O'Donnell.

Claims handlers specialising in employers' liability and public liability (EL/PL) are always in demand. "A couple of organisations in Glasgow really want candidates with this experience but it is very rare in Scotland, so it could be time for these specialists to move up here," says O'Donnell. Companies such as Aviva, E-sure, Direct Line and Zurich employ EL/PL specialists.

It may be possible for paralegals with injury or liability experience to transfer in to these roles, but mainly companies are seeking candidates who are an exact fit.

Pay rates, at £18-£25k, are not very inspiring, though they may be rising - a senior liability claims handler role recently offered £35k.

The other areas of demand are in actuarial, IT and risk skills.

Robert Bainbridge, head of financial services at Harvey Nash in Edinburgh says: "There's some buoyancy in the mid-range actuarial, IT and risk consultancy market where permanent jobs for candidates with five years experience command £40,000-£60,000 and contractors day rates are around £250-£350.”

The most senior end of the contracting market for software and actuarial skills shows rates of up to £750 a day.

There is a trend towards companies reducing the number of contractors and offering permanent roles instead, says Bainbridge.

Actuaries are the biggest area of demand, according to Andrew Crawford, recruitment consultant at Huxley Associates in Edinburgh, who recently did a review of the Scottish insurance market.

"Actuaries with two years-plus experience should get their CVs out to insurance companies. With six to eight years experience, include the Big Four business services firms, as they look for actuarial consultants," says Crawford.

Junior actuaries can earn £20-£25k while seniors can make up to £150k.

Royal London is regularly recruiting (Bright Grey, Scottish Life and Scottish Provident are part of the Royal London Group) and Aviva, Axa and Standard Life are sometimes in the market for actuaries.

Axa and Royal London also look for graduate trainees.

Scotland is also seeing the rise of the insurance apprentice. Aviva announced this week that it is looking for underwriting and actuarial A-level apprentices across the UK. Three of the underwriting roles are in Glasgow. Pay starts at £14.5k, plus a £500 welcome bonus.