Taking my compliance training from the insurance industry to ...somewhere else

January 17, 2008 12:23 PM

So I accepted this compliance job in the life insurance/annuities industry. I'm happy I've done it but I want to know about my expected career trajectory.

I think it's a good first start for me as I've been floundering for awhile, but I'm wondering if I have to continue doing compliance work in the insurance industry or might I use the skills and training to do similar work in other industries? Specifically, I'm interested in international trade compliance. I know there's other certification necessary to do that job (U.S. Customs Broker's license, ETAR, etc.) but would it be possible to move from one industry to another?

If I stay in insurance, at most I think I can rise to being the director of compliance for a certain company ... not bad money, seems challenging enough, satisfies my desire to have a life, but I'd like to know my other options.

posted by notjustfoxybrown to Work & Money (2 answers total)

I think you should definitely work to pass the Arizona bar if you haven't already.
posted by parmanparman at 1:15 PM on January 17, 2008

Heh. I'm not really sure there's a whole lot of overlap between securities/insurance compliance and trade compliance, and as a not-quite-total-outsider, I don't think it's an easy switch. If you want to someday work in the private sector in trade compliance, though, the two biggest public firms are Intertek and SGS. Maybe try LinkedIn or something else to see if you can find a way to make some contacts.
posted by Kwantsar at 7:35 PM on January 17, 2008