What are Risk Management Careers?


Risk management careers for individuals with a master’s degree are in many sectors including healthcare and insurance. is one that asks a simple question about a complex field.

What is Risk Management?

What is risk management about? Risk management is an analytical role that identifies, examines, evaluates, and rates risk according to their threat level. Jobs in risk management are found in almost every industry with insurance and financial markets being the largest employer of people with risk management degrees and experience.

When taking a look at just what is risk management about, you’ll find it’s a very nuanced role that requires analytical thinking skills, the ability to read and comprehend complex laws, and technical documents and engaging in higher math skills. The role of a risk manager is to protect an organization from the worst-case scenario, steer the direction of an organization away from a risky path or undertaking, ensure the organization is complying with laws at all levels, and provide a plan of action that keeps the organization out of trouble.

What Do Jobs in Risk Management Involve?

The driving force behind the risk management role is one of preventing an organization from losing money or closing its doors altogether. It could be said that it’s what risk management is all about. However, the duties of the job are not as simple as that. Jobs in risk management require the risk manager have working knowledge of the industry, familiarity with the laws that govern said industry, and business management skills to make sure the organization stays on track.

If you’ve ever heard about a business that went under for a simple reason, you can be sure that they didn’t have a risk manager, or their risk manager failed at their job duties. There are many careers related to risk management. Following is a look at some of the aspects and roles of jobs in risk management.

What is Enterprise Risk Management?

Understanding what is enterprise risk management helps you understand how a business runs from the top down. The core goals of the job are the same in that the enterprise risk manager has to minimize the effects of risk on the organization. The difference with enterprise risk management involves working at the top or executive level and providing guidance for every division of the company.

An enterprise risk manager has the duty to identify risks in all aspects of the organization and help top-level managers avoid an identified risk during their daily operations. Jobs in enterprise risk management can be a complex positions due to the need to understand the various aspects of a given organization.

What is Risk Management Planning?

Risk management planning involves predicting risks, estimating the impacts of any given risk on the organization, and how to respond to risk when it materializes. When looking at what is risk management planning, you’ll find that the planning itself is theoretical in nature, yet based on very real threats and risks.

A risk manager needs to have the ability to look at known risks, identify potential risks, calculate their impact on the business, and create a plan of response to a risk that may or may not happen.

What is Healthcare Risk Management?

Risk management jobs in healthcare focus on reducing the risk of harm to both employees and patients. For example, a hospital is experiencing an increase in nurses reporting back injuries. The risk manager has the job of determining why the hospital is reporting an increase in back injuries among staff.

In order to determine the cause of the issue, the risk manager has to investigate to uncover the cause, determine if the equipment to lift patients is inadequate, or if nurses have stopped using equipment and why, and find out if the increase in injuries is an anomaly or has a root cause. The risk manager then has to determine how to fix the cause or create a plan of action to change the internal working culture at the hospital.

Jobs in Insurance and Risk Management

Jobs in risk management and insurance are excellent fields for someone to find entry-level jobs in risk management. Insurance companies want to minimize or avoid risk in order to minimize the amount they pay out for claims. In order to do so, they hire risk managers in large numbers along with actuaries. This makes the jobs in insurance and risk management an excellent place to start a career.

Entry-level jobs in risk management help a graduate learn more about their chosen career while earning an income and gaining valuable experience that looks good on a resume. There may also be an opportunity to learn about being an actuary while employed and add that experience to the resume as well.

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