Thomas’ plan to study sports at college was kicked into touch when he decided that getting started on a career was a better goal. Six years later he is working with wealthy clients to help them when disaster strikes.
After his GCSEs, Thomas was planning on going to college but decided that he wanted to get started on his career so went to work for an insurance company. “I don’t know why I always has a liking for insurance” said Thomas, and he started working in claims as the first port of call when things went wrong. “I was always very curious about what happened next in the process once an accident had happened, that sense of wanting to find out more is a really useful skill in claims which is combination of being a detective and a counsellor”.
After working with several firms in different areas, Thomas joined WTW – an insurance broker, looking after their private clients from the Ipswich office. “This is a really rewarding area to work in. Of course, there is a fun factor of dealing with people you may have heard of, but you are also helping them at a time that is super stressful”. For most of us, the loss of a watch worth tens of thousands of pounds, or damage to expensive bathroom tiles is the stuff of a very different world.
But for Thomas these are people just having a very bad time who need his help. He explains that there are two parts to the job, the first is helping to keep them safe and the second is putting things right. “I make sure my clients understand what things are worth. The values of cars, watches, jewellery etc. will go up and down – you don’t want to lose your watch and find it was under insured. When something has gone wrong it’s about being a people person, empathetic, calm and finding a way through. It about knowledge and expertise”.
As with many things in life, building up experience makes the process easier. “Claims is a career that like wine, gets better with age and experience. We are literally delivering what the client has been paying for” says Thomas. “Clients can be stressed and cross, but we can make it better and, when they say thank you, that means a lot”.