Who Has Done Their CII/DIP CII/ACII?

dranzer01

Looking to start this soon and was wondering who here has taken these qualifications? How were they? Are the CII multiple choice?

dunstonh

CII R01 to RO5 are multi-choice. R06 and the Jxx and AFx are written.

Spiderham

The Cert exams are multiple choice. Dip is mainly short questions and Adv Dip is longer questions. There's quite a bit of info on the CII website about them.

Spiderham

Looking through your other posts on here it looks like you've probably started a new jib recently so is your employer paying? If not I'm not sure how worth the money it is.

Also, what sort of insurance would you be focusing on? Are you working for a broker or insurer and in what function? This info may mean people can help more.

dranzer01

Im working for a broker... Ultimately I am looking to go down the underwriter route for an actual insurer... prob within the next 3 years maybe be fully qualified...

I will be paying for these exams myself for the time being...

I mean nowadays every company wants professional qualifications, so Im looking to take the LM1 & LM2 first, then move onto taking the CII exams, then onto the DIP etc...

Spiderham

dranzer01 wrote: »

Im working for a broker... Ultimately I am looking to go down the underwriter route for an actual insurer... prob within the next 3 years maybe be fully qualified...

I will be paying for these exams myself for the time being...

I mean nowadays every company wants professional qualifications, so Im looking to take the LM1 & LM2 first, then move onto taking the CII exams, then onto the DIP etc...

Based on this I'm going to guess you're working in the Lloyd's/London market as that is what LM is focused on. I did the old LLMIT a few years back and if you have experience working in the market it should hopefully make sense.

Again, there's a lot of info on http://www.cii.co.uk/media/5043457/cii_gi_cert_dip_ad_dip_in_insurance_2014_july_update_web.pdf

As I said, if you can get an employer to pay for them that is obviously better as it's £300 for the two LMs together and just over £200 a unit for the cert modules. Is not having Cert CII or the LM modules going to prevent you getting an underwriter role? Personally I doubt it, then any employer worth their salt will be willing to support you with appropriate professional development.

If you're looking at moving to underwriting it may be worth chatting to a specialist insurance recruiter who may be able to point you in right direction for jobs and give you an idea of how necessary the quals are to get a job.

A lot of the modules are very personal lines focused so many London Market insurers may be relying on their own internal training. I have quite a few friends working in Professional Indemnity insurance as underwriters and a notable number don't have CII qualifications.

dranzer01

Hmm, I find that quite strange as a lot of contacts and people I know in certain insurance companies/brokerages all have cert cii at the end of their names so I was just going down that route...

I mean I dont think it will harm me to go through that sequence of LM/CERT/DIP/ADVANCED?

starrystarry

Spiderham wrote: »

I have quite a few friends working in Professional Indemnity insurance as underwriters and a notable number don't have CII qualifications.

Yeah I'm a life & disability underwriter and quite a few of my colleagues don't have any CII qualifications. It's their experience that counts, though the qualifications definitely help. It's not easy to get your foot in the door without any experience though, unless a trainee role comes up.

dranzer01

Yeah thats quite true to be honest... Been applying quite a while for technician / broker back up roles in the city and no success... so im going to go full throttle with all the quaifications and re-apply in about 6 months to 12 when ive passed both lm1 +lm2...

My experience in insurance is quite minimal (less than 15 months) more telephone based.

Hopefully a change will come then.

bouncydog1

If. You are a graduate, might be worth looking at some of the major brokers graduate trainee schemes. They generally pay for qualifications and provide additional study support. Plus there are always colleagues on hand to help with questions. CII textbooks are not always the easiest to interpret!!

rs65

dranzer01 wrote: »

My experience in insurance is quite minimal (less than 15 months) more telephone based.

You might find you've picked up enough to get through exams like IF1 and IF2. You can get past papers from the CII, worth doing a couple and seeing how you score. The exams sittings are more frequent than the higher ones and your result is instant. You can do a few of these and they will count towards ACII.

Best if your employer pays but remember most employers will have a clawback clause in your contract if you leave within a certain period of exam funding being provided.