Auckland-born Chris Gibb has been a broker for less than a year, but he already knows it’s the job for him, having found his feet at Aurora Insurance.
Having had no previous experience as a broker, Gibb has learnt everything he knows on the job and through three months of in-house training. A wish for greater flexibility and control over his work-week sparked the move into the insurance space.
Gibb, 26, said Aurora provided all the necessary training he needed, as well as the drive to progress thanks to a development plan.
“There is a clear path and I can look back on the 12 months and see how much I’ve grown as an adviser and as a manager,” he explained. “I was looking for a new challenge, and I wanted something that would be able to give me a bit more flexibility and a lifestyle. I wasn’t a fan of the 9-5 and the mentality of sitting at a desk all day. I wanted to go out and meet new people. I also wanted to run my own week, set my own calendar – manage my own time. I was looking at a lot of options, and this one popped up.
“The nature of the job is that you’re going to build a client base. You get to see clients in their own homes, and build your week around seeing clients.
“It is something I have thought a lot about and something I haven’t taken lightly. It isn’t something to fill the gap and I see myself building a career in insurance advice, not just seeing clients and building a client base, but building a business. And the opportunities from here are limitless.”
He has received a Bachelor of Commerce in Accounting and Finance, and a Bachelor of Psychology from Otago University in 2013 – the latter serving him particularly well.
“It has helped me immensely,” he explained. “Obviously you don’t need a degree in psychology to be a good insurance adviser, but it’s definitely helped me with people, and with talking to them on the level about some pretty sensitive stuff and personal matters. And we get that a lot, having to talk to people about things that are very private and personal, and that’s why we see them in their own home.”
Gibb said his advice for young people looking to join the industry would be to focus on who you’re working for, and to do your homework on who to cut your teeth with.
“It’s more about who you’re with rather than what you’re doing,” he said. “At Aurora, the culture is important and your career path is set out. It makes it worthwhile, and makes it target driven and goal driven.”
He said he and Aurora were focused on giving high quality advice, that’s going to stick around long term and pay-out at claim time.
“We want to give advice within a family’s budget that’s going to last long term. We want to be able to have a long term relationship with our clients,” Gibb said.
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