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This post originated from our 1000,000th FLMI celebration that took place in 2015. In honor of Life Insurance Awareness Month this year, we'd like to share this story with you. 

We hear stories from people who change jobs or whose career paths change around them, and who find themselves forging a trail in the insurance industry. To succeed beyond the basics, insurance-specific knowledge is required; some decide to take up the challenge. Here are two cases we’d like to pass along, and we thank them for sharing with us.

I came into the insurance industry from the military and medical areas. I was an Air Force nurse before coming into the insurance industry to work on Utilization Review for a new medical product. Then 18 months later, the company decided to focus on their core product. Having several insurance industry courses behind me, I was able to stay and find another role within the company. I just celebrated my 25th year with the same company.

I feel that industry education assists you to get a big picture of what your company does — all the pieces that make up the face of that organization. For me, FLMI was essential in attaining my current position.

Hilary L Doncaster PMP FLMI FLHC
Project Manager II, Enterprise Finance Technology

On February 14, 2005 I walked into a new career in an industry completely unrelated to anything that I had ever worked in before. In the weeks prior, I somehow was able to woo the interview team into taking a chance on me to fill an Associate Claims Consultant role in the Individual Disability division of The Guardian Life Insurance Company of America. This was a far cry from the manufacturing industry that I had worked in throughout my career to that point. Entering the building on my first day, knowing I had minimal knowledge of the insurance industry, I knew I would need to take advantage of every opportunity that was presented to me to learn in order to be successful in my career.

It was during my training that I was first introduced to the LOMA curriculum and encouraged to pursue industry designations. After 4 months in my new career and having completed the formal training provided by Guardian Life, I took and passed my first LOMA examination in June of 2005. Not only did the curriculum reinforce topics and themes that were taught to me throughout my training but it provided me with a broader view of the insurance industry as a whole. I took and passed my second examination in July of 2005, and began to realize the knowledge I was gaining and how it would position me for future growth in my career. It was then that I understood the value of the program and made the decision to pursue the FLMI designation. Being the competitive person that I am, I wanted to set an aggressive goal for myself and attain the designation within the first year of my new career. Although I fell short of my goal by 3 months, having attained it in June of 2006, the span of knowledge that I obtained through the curriculum has proven to be invaluable to my ability to better service our clients and my personal professional growth.

To this day, as I complete my 10th year in the industry, I know that the LOMA curriculum played an important part in the knowledge I gained early on in my career by contributing to the foundational skills and knowledge that has driven the success that I have experienced throughout. It is because of this that I continue to promote the LOMA curriculum and strongly encourage those who I train and manage to pursue the designation for themselves.

The FLMI designation is one that is extremely challenging and requires a strong commitment to your professional development to attain. However, what you take away from it is invaluable. And it is for these reasons that I am proud to be one of the 100,000. Thank you for allowing me to share my story.

Rob G. Cowdrey, FLHC, FLMI
Manager, Claims, Guardian Life Insurance Company of America

Have an FLMI story of your own? Email us with your thoughts, memories, and experiences.

• Email shareyourstory@loma.org