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Life underwriter skills for your resume and career

Updated January 8, 2025

2 min read

Quoted experts

Janet Ruiz,

Robert Hoyt, Ph.D.

Below we've compiled a list of the most critical life underwriter skills. We ranked the top skills for life underwriters based on the percentage of resumes they appeared on. For example, 9.5% of life underwriter resumes contained underwriting decisions as a skill. Continue reading to find out what skills a life underwriter needs to be successful in the workplace.

15 life underwriter skills for your resume and career

1. Underwriting Decisions

Here's how life underwriters use underwriting decisions:

Demonstrate medically and financially sound objective and consistent judgment in underwriting decisions and assessments.
Provided feedback to agents regarding underwriting policies, practices and underwriting decisions.

2. Risk Selection

Here's how life underwriters use risk selection:

Determined underwriting risk selections based on all information received to price the policy correctly.
Reviewed new business application for underwriting risk selection decisions.

3. Health Insurance

Here's how life underwriters use health insurance:

Evaluate and handle all underwriting aspects of formal & informal individual life and health insurance applications.
Reviewed applications to assess proper rating of medical issues for life and health insurance.

4. Medical History

Here's how life underwriters use medical history:

Evaluated medical history, occupational/avocational hazards, financial background, foreign travel, insurable interest and other pertinent information.
Consulted with in-house medical staff regarding unusual medical history to assure appropriate pricing.

5. Strong Analytical

Here's how life underwriters use strong analytical:

Review financial documents to determine workout eligibility and negotiation skills as well as strong analytical and problem solving ability.
Underwrite conventional mortgages using strong analytical abilities, decision making skills and risk analysis tools.

6. EKG

Here's how life underwriters use ekg:

Completed formal training and certified to read EKG's.
Performed interpretation of resting EKG's.

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7. Life Underwriting

Here's how life underwriters use life underwriting:

Developed Life Underwriting Prepared documentation and communication for broker agency partners
Utilize Swiss Re and Metlife underwriting manuals.

8. Flmi

Here's how life underwriters use flmi:

Completed industry related courses obtaining both FALU and FLMI designations.

9. Brokerage

Brokerages act as intermediaries in various areas whose purpose is to connect individuals or groups who do not have direct access to each other and also to facilitate transactions such as obtaining loans, purchase of properties, investments, foreign exchanges, and many more.

Here's how life underwriters use brokerage:

Traveled as representative for ING to brokerage agency and industry conferences.
Received several letters of commendation from top producing brokerage agencies.

10. Life Insurance Applications

Here's how life underwriters use life insurance applications:

Reviewed individual life insurance applications for multiple clients evaluating degree of risk to determine acceptance of applications.
Review life insurance applications and render decisions on the acceptability of risks within established authority.

11. Group Life

Here's how life underwriters use group life:

Typed and issued all group life policies, voluntary group life policies, travel policies and individual whole life conversion policies.
Evaluated risk and pricing of employer group life and disability benefit plans.

12. Underwriting Guidelines

Underwriting guidelines are a set of rules and requirements an insurer provides to its agents and underwriters. The underwriter then uses these instructions to judge the prospective insured, whether to accept, modify or reject it. These guidelines help the insurers set the criteria for the customer and let them know the amount of money that should be offered to the client, or whether not to offer an insurance policy in the first place.

Here's how life underwriters use underwriting guidelines:

Demonstrated solid, consistent technical proficiency of underwriting guidelines and underlying risk management philosophy.
Review medical questionnaires and requested medical records against established underwriting guidelines.

13. Long-Term Care

Here's how life underwriters use long-term care:

Analyzed risk and made decisions for life, disability and long-term care applications.
Certified as a Level 3 long-term care underwriter.

14. Risk Factors

Here's how life underwriters use risk factors:

Handle complex cases with multiple risk factors.

15. Approval Authority

Here's how life underwriters use approval authority:

Risk assessment of policy changes, formal and informal life insurance cases with an approval authority of $3M.
Risk assessment of formal and informal life insurance cases with 2nd signature approval authority up to $5M.

5 Life Underwriter resume examples

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What skills help Life Underwriters find jobs?

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What type of skills will young life underwriters need?

Janet Ruiz

Director – Strategic Communication, Insurance Information Institute

The mathematical mind, meet the meaningful purpose (Liberty Mutual). Underwriters are the heart of the insurance process, gathering and researching pertinent information and then, using finely tuned analytical skills to evaluate the acceptability of business and institutional risk. Underwriters are more than just analysts - they are the core relationship builders with agents and clients. They are responsible for managing a profitable portfolio of business by distributing agents and brokers. An underwriting career includes a dynamic blend of analytical and marketing skills. Research, Analytics, Communications, Relationship Building, Marketing.

What technical skills for a life underwriter stand out to employers?

Robert Hoyt, Ph.D.

Department Head and Dudley L. Moore Jr. Chair of Insurance, University of Georgia

The ability to collect information, work with data, and translate this into insights and knowledge is key in insurance going forward. An important focus in our classes is helping students apply what they are learning to real business situations through projects that are often carried out in teams. The growth of digital strategies in insurance means that emerging graduates are excited by and embrace the use and application of such approaches. However, the ability to engage with people to assist them in managing their personal or business risks is what matters most in this business. At the end of the day, building relationships and trust are the key in insurance.

Do you want to know more?

List of life underwriter skills to add to your resume

The most important skills for a life underwriter resume and required skills for a life underwriter to have include:

Underwriting Decisions
Risk Selection
Health Insurance
Medical History
Strong Analytical
EKG
Life Underwriting
Flmi
Brokerage
Life Insurance Applications
Group Life
Underwriting Guidelines
Long-Term Care

Risk Factors
Approval Authority
Underwriting Process
Financial Risk
Insurance Coverage
ALU
Underwriting Policies
Inspection Reports
Risk Classification
Medical Knowledge
Insurance Laws
Policy Changes
MIB

APS
Lab Results
Medical Risk
Individual Life Insurance
Life Insurance Policies
Motor Vehicle
Underwriting Procedures
Financial Data
Annuities
Medical Exams
Business Applications

Updated January 8, 2025

Zippia Team

Editorial Staff

The Zippia Research Team has spent countless hours reviewing resumes, job postings, and government data to determine what goes into getting a job in each phase of life. Professional writers and data scientists comprise the Zippia Research Team.

Updated January 8, 2025

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