We sat down with Cachet’s Claims Specialist, Riina. She joined the team a few months ago and we wanted to dig into her experience, and get to know the person behind the job title.
Before we dive in, I heard outside of insurance, you've got a bit of a double life as a travel guide?
Great opportunities always find me somehow.
I’ve done a lot over the years, professionally and personally. But the amount of travelling is what stands out most to me. I sometimes work as a travel guide outside of my day job.
I counted the other day and realised I’ve visited over 50 countries. At least I stopped at 50 because I lost count at that point!
One thing I know for sure is that I’ve been to Thailand more than 70 times, because I love the place so much.
So, insurance wasn’t the first thing you started with was it?
I never had this great big plan to work in insurance. My career has just been a series of adventures that unfolded one step at a time - each one taking me deeper into the insurance world itself.
I studied law, then psychology, so naturally, I became an entrepreneur! Something that had nothing to do with either law or psychology.
Eventually I landed in insurance by chance after a friend didn’t get a job and they offered it to me instead.
A decade on, I’m still here. Make of that what you will.
So after a decade, what has your career looked like?
I’ve done a bit of everything, in insurance and outside of it but within the insurance industry alone, I’ve moved through a wide range of roles.
First, I sold insurance, then I wanted to try claims handling. I changed companies along the way and picked up different experiences with every step.
At one point, I was handling 11 different claim operations over several product lines all at once. People ask how and honestly, I still don’t know. I’ve got a curious mind, so when something interests me, I’m willing to learn a lot about it.
How was it to change from big insurance companies to a scaling startup?
It's a big change. After 10 years in traditional insurance companies, it was good to change the environment up again. Bringing all that experience to an InsurTech startup has been interesting.
First of all, I’m seeing a new side of insurance. I’m having a much steeper learning curve than if I’d changed to another traditional insurance company, where I’d just be learning yet another program.
At Cachet now I’ve learned about the technical side of things, because technology plays a big part of what we are offering in the industry to deliver value for our clients.
As well, we have Cachet Academy sessions that cover topics I wouldn’t otherwise engage with. On top of that, the working environment is all in English with a diverse culture, which I haven’t had before.
After working many years in insurance, do you see something changing in the industry?
Everything is digitalising and moving online. There’s not that many physical offices left, claims handling is all digital now, and people don’t want personal advice anymore, they want to find information quickly on a website.
That makes things harder for the people with less digital experience or capacity.
On top of that, the things we insure have changed too, since there’s more new equipment and the world is changing. Think drones, and the new insurance types that come with them, or the extra types of cover cars need now.
What advice would you have for a person joining the insurance industry?
Join Cachet! But seriously I would try out different things and not be afraid to take on new challenges. Insurance is a much more interesting world if you would think.
Want to join Cachet? See open roles here
