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Time is Running Out: Dealing with the Skills Surplus Left by the Canterbury Earthquake
The 2011 Canterbury Earthquakes created a huge, yet obviously temporary demand for Claims Officers, Loss Assessors, Loss Adjusters, and various other roles within the sector. Many of the candidates needed to meet this demand had to be sourced from other industries such as accounting or construction, with firms hoping that their transferable knowledge and skills were transferable enough. This created a situation where many of the people hired to manage this tragic crisis had very little, if any, experience in the insurance industry, and yet were getting paid 30% to 50% more than what they would have been had there been no earthquake to contend with. To compound issues, a large percentage of these hires were on fixed term contracts.