“It finds you, you don’t find it.”
Those are the words of the new executive director of
ProRisk, Hamish McDonald Nye, when asked about careers in insurance. However, in his case, that was not exactly true.
McDonald Nye studied economics at Monash University and travelled to the UK before he decided what career path to choose and said he came to insurance following several conversations with those already in the industry.
While at university, McDonald Nye enjoyed several subjects that related to insurance and soon found that “there aren’t a lot of jobs for economists”, before he made his way into this profession.
Browse and compare specialty insurance products from ProRisk here
“I was pretty lost,” McDonald Nye told Insurance Business. “I took a rational approach to it and I approached a couple of people I was connected with and one of them was in the insurance industry.
“They spoke really glowingly about what the industry was and would be and my opportunity within it and that, along with my areas of interest in my undergraduate degree, led me to believe it was a great place to look and a hidden sector.”
With an insurance career as a goal, McDonald Nye took a different approach to finding work as he decided to market himself rather than apply for positions.
“I wrote and called up about 60 potential employers and got a pretty good response rate of about 20% and the result of that was I ended up getting a number of job offers,” he explained.
McDonald Nye chose a position with Blackburn Insurance Brokers before moving on to Freeman McMurrick and
Aon before he took a positon with DUAL. Earlier this month, he was announced as the new executive director at ProRisk and will start with the firm later this year.
McDonald Nye said that, when he first joined the industry, it was mentioned that the industry was in transition and this proven true over the last decade.
“There is a professionalism that has come into the industry which you can see,” he noted. “There have been significant generational trends, and not just the type of generational trends that happen through normal passage of time but through a real shift.”
With a long and successful career behind him, McDonald Nye said that he hopes his career highlights are still in front of him.
“In real reflection the things that I value, the things I’ve gotten out of the industry, I’ve got from working with good people,” he said.
Hamish McDonald Nye
Related stories:
ProRisk appoints new exec director
Australian first system available for brokers
.jpg)
