Serkan, Head of Insurance Product – Getsafe People
Serkan has done something not many others ever will: He's convinced the people around him that working in insurance is fun!
Hi Serkan! You’re Getsafe’s Head of Insurance Product – what does that actually mean?
Hi, yes, that is correct. I’m responsible for all insurance products by Getsafe, meaning I’m in charge of product management, development and optimization. International market observation as well as analyses are a part of that as well!
How did you get into this field?
Why insurance? Doesn’t sound like a dream job, I know, but I have felt strangely connected to this field very early on. Throughout the first few months of my traineeship, my boss put me in insurance product development, which was very unusual for someone at my level. And it really feels like I’ve found my calling! However, I hate that insurance gets a bad reputation and we want to change that at Getsafe. No one likes insurance, but everyone needs it. It’s my mission to explain insurance in a way that is easier to understand, so that people can see how important this topic is. I was excited to join Getsafe because the insurance license was already underway, and we knew we’d be able to go live with our own insurance carrier – which, of course, we have done in the meantime!
So ever since the license, things have really only begun…
Exactly! We have full responsibility for the customer, wie develop und calculate everything ourselves, we handle the claims, we report to the authorities. It’s been awesome launching our very own Getsafe products and it makes me proud, because they turned out great.
How can an insurance product ‘turn out great’, what’s the criteria?
Said plainly: It’s there for you when you need it. We want our customers to trust us with the things most important to them. That’s why all documents, all legal forms, all conditions are presented in a transparent and customer-friendly way. There are no hidden deductibles. We want to be there for people for when it really counts.
What’s your favorite insurance product?
That’s a hard one (laughs). I don’t have a favorite product per se, I like all insurance products that make sense to have. One such policy would be private liability insurance. It’s affordable, it’s a product that can help you all the time in your daily life, and you can live carefree. That is a great investment.
What’s your favorite part of a normal work day?
It’s always fun to work on new products and to get creative. We sit together with multiple people from different teams and brainstorm what we could do. Getting creative here means to think about things in an unprecedented way. We want to focus on our customers and on solving their pain points. We do a lot of testing and surveys, and then we adapt our products. But I do enjoy the fact that this can’t be considered a “normal” work day, because I really don’t have one. There are always new things to do, new questions to ask, and new problems to solve.
Moving into the weekend: Are there hobbies or interests of yours that you’ve enjoyed since childhood? At the same time, have you discovered any new passions since the pandemic?
Football and music have accompanied me my entire life. I don’t play football actively anymore, but I’ve always followed it as a sport. I also used to play more music, but I’m set on starting again. Ever since Covid, I’ve found that I enjoy cooking! It’s a lot of fun to try new things and develop my cooking skills further.
What does a perfect Friday night look like to you?
A good foundation for a great Friday night would be that I have achieved all my goals for the week. When there’s nothing to catch up on, I can go into the weekend relaxed and carefree with my loved ones. Other than that, I love going on long walks with my dog or cooking a great meal with family and friends.
What’s the nerdiest or geekiest thing about you?
For everyone who doesn’t have anything to do with insurance, it would probably be my job (laughs). But I can think of something else: I basically know all different kinds of dog breeds by heart and can tell them apart. That’s pretty geeky considering there are more than 500 different breeds.
Lastly, if you had a planet of your own, how would you design it?
People tend to destroy stuff. My planet should be designed for sustainability so that humans can’t exploit it and so that animals can live in peace. Basically according to the motto: Learning from the past and not repeating past mistakes.
Do you want to work with Serkan on the next insurance product? Check out our career page:
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