Learning on the job–Netherlands

They also noted that risk managers are emerging from many different walks of life with their different backgrounds bringing valuable skill sets to an evolving profession. Risk managers attending a roundtable in Amsterdam said that formal education is the start of the journey towards becoming a professional risk manager and is not a prerequisite for success. They agreed that education has its place but experience and networking hold the key. Adri van der Waart, Insurance Manager at ARCADIS, said: “You have to know your business. There is some education and learning about insurance but you can’t learn your job at college, you have to get on the ground.”hideJacqueline Plessius, Global Insurance Manager at TNT, added: “A legal background can be of added value when evaluating the contractual liabilities the business is exposed to but of course you also look at risks from a financial and operational point of view.” Ronald de Vos, Insurance Manager and Legal Counsel at Nutreco, stressed that the risk manager role is changing. “While you might have a lot of knowledge about insurance, you need more than that—you need to know your own business. You have to understand the financials,” he said. He said it has been hard to attract young risk managers to the profession because many believed the role was purely about insurance buying. “Now it is getting better,” he argued. “The next challenge is that young people may have technical knowledge about insurance within a year or two but that does not necessarily make them a good insurance manager. You need to build up a network and also understand how the process works. You also need good social skills. One day you are addressing the board and the next day you are on the factory floor, and then the next day with a broker. You have to be a good communicator and you must learn through experience,” he suggested. Peter den Dekker, Insurance and Risk Manager at VimpelCom, agreed. “If I look at my own career I am not well educated, I learnt my communication and social skills working behind a bar. I knew nothing about aerospace, or oil and gas and now telecoms, but this job is what you make of it. It is a unique position.” “If you prove your added value by shaving something off the premium or settling a claim quickly then the perception of your added value may not add up to much. These are important but there is no amount of learning for taking you to the next stage—it has to come from within,” he added. Ms Plessius went on to say: “I think my colleagues in all areas within our company are now more eager to get advice and involve our specific risk management expertise early on. They want to talk to you, it is all about sharing and collaboration. And that is not something learnt from books.” “It is not something you can master from a book, it is something that evolves as you gain understanding and are able to network,” said Mr Den Dekker.

Learning on the job–Netherlands

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