How to Fulfill Agent Continuing Education Requirements

Continuing education (CE) is a fact of life for all agents and brokers. Since states require CE credits, the reality can be a continuous and often repetitive obligation — a career-long commitment of time and attention for as long as one intends to keep a insurance license in force. Yet that is a fairly ominous way to look at CE, a proverbial “the glass is half empty” view.

Fortunately, the glass can be half full. There are several positive ways to look at CE. There are different options for meeting CE requirements that are relatively easy and painless.

For some, CE may seem an imposition compared to “the good old days.” In 1980, the requirements for a property and casualty agent/broker license were almost ludicrous: three month’s industry experience, the endorsement of a currently licensed agency or brokerage principal and zero classroom requirement. To underscore the lax entry requirements, all pre-licensing courses offered by independent vendors focused entirely on how to pass the 100-question, multiple-choice test, while stressing there was no intent to teach a thing about insurance.

That was the state of the industry then, and it perhaps explains the origin of the notion that “anyone can do insurance.” Certainly, the relative lack of academic prequalification in the insurance industry, when compared to other professions (e.g., legal, medical, engineering), had the unfortunate but understandable effect of subordinating the insurance profession when juxtaposed with other professions. Yet that is why CE is so beneficial: It gives insurance professionals far more credibility in the eyes of customers and the public.

While I do not know whether the benefits of CE are scientifically quantifiable, I sense that CE has had a major impact on raising the bar of public perception about insurance. Internally, CE certainly has served the dual purpose of offering opportunities for intellectual growth to all licensees, while serving “… to weed out all non-hackers who do not pack the gear to serve in my beloved (insurance industry).” In other words, CE has helped separate the wheat from the chafe. For those who have earned and maintain their licenses, that can only be a good thing.

How best to complete the CE requirement? There are at least three primary methods:

1. Correspondence courses, which provide textbook and/or study materials, and which use mail-in examinations;
2. Online courses, including the examination process; and
3. Classroom settings with a “live” teacher are perhaps the most common method. Live courses can be conducted in a variety of venues, and classes are frequently offered at most larger local, regional and national industry conventions. Many classes are offered by carriers to their agent and broker-customers. Many for-profit vendors provide CE classes for a fee, which is especially popular with employers with larger employee populations.

Each of the three CE methods has its advantages and will appeal on an individual basis. The choice may sometimes be based on timing needs.

Self-study correspondence courses appeal to organized individuals who plan ahead, who wish to take their time, and who enjoy the serenity of individual study at a time and place of their choosing. Studying and test-taking is self-paced, and can be done in an environment that the student controls. If time is not of the essence and human interaction not a necessity, self-study is a great way to go.

Internet courses appeal to those who enjoy accomplishing things with their computers. They are also a good way to expedite the fulfillment of CE requirements when up against a looming license expiration. One colleague tells the story of discovering, only a day before his license expired, that he needed 30 hours of CE credit. Being a specialist in directors, officers and corporate liability, he quickly pulled up and registered for an online 30-hour class in D&O. He just skipped right to the test — reasoning that if he couldn’t pass the test then and there, he had no right to be in the business — and in 45 minutes, he had passed the test and successfully completed his requirement. There was nothing improper; his methodology was aboveboard and in conformance with “the rules.”

The classroom venue is the most popular, perhaps because it takes the path of least resistance. In theory, a student really doesn’t have to do anything other than show up (on time, please). Naturally, CE instructors discourage that attitude because when the class is filled with people who are just showing up, the class becomes more of a boring chore for everybody, rather than something much better.

The “much better” experience refers to when the audience is prepared to at least listen with an open mind and with a willingness to consider, even if passively, the material being presented. Additionally, the much better involves an attempt to assimilate the information by listening to the instructor; to participate by asking questions; and to offer individual insight and ideas. In other words, the ideal scenario is when the audience gets into the subject matter. It’s really a case of “you get out of it what you put into it.”

If instructors have an expectation of an attentive audience, they in turn have an obligation to try not to be boring, while presenting the material completely. The very best classes — the ones that seem to fly by — are the ones where participants are engaged. Fortunately, the brokerage and agency community is not short of extroverts, so few classes devolve into tedious torture sessions.

Of the three CE venues, the classroom method probably delivers the best bang for the buck, and the best prospects for getting the most back. If the course material is presented in at least a semi-lively and compelling manner by a reasonably informed instructor, then the prospects for learning something new, meeting new and perhaps influential people, renewing old acquaintances, and generally “seeing and being seen” among professional peers, all while snagging CE credits, makes this method potentially the most beneficial.

But each method works effectively, based on individual appeal. All CE benefits all licensees and our industry as a whole.

Topics Agencies Training Development