Wakam Inside: Camille Bosch

We sat down with Camille Bosch who join Wakam 4 years ago. Passionate about her job and the insurance sector, she tells us about her daily life at Wakam and tells us a little more about herself, her dream of opening a riding therapy center, and her love for coffee!

Hello, could you introduce yourself?

Hi, my name is Camille. I am working in the “Claims” Squad and I handle certain bodily injury claims of our insureds.

I have an unusual background: I did 4 years in law school followed by a bachelor’s degree in insurance at the IFPASS and I finally did one more year studying “Insurance Manager” to reach a master’s degree.

Why did you quit law school?

Because I discovered insurance law, which I was absolutely passionate about, and I said to myself “ok, I absolutely want to work in this sector”. I even helped all my friends to review their exams! (laughs) 

Even though I don’t practice insurance law today, I enjoy what I do, and my legal knowledge is very useful to me on a daily basis.

You are “Bodily Claims Injury Manager but what does it mean exactly? 

When an insured has an accident, he/she reports it to his/her broker who then reports the accident to us if there is any bodily injury. This is where I step in. I will ask him/her for his/her medical documents, set up expertise with the doctors, send money if the conditions allow it. I always stay in contact with the insured if he/she has the slightest problem.

So, you actually spend your day on the phone getting yelled at?

(Laughs) Yes exactly! But I always have to remain as cordial as possible. To be honest it wasn’t easy at first. But with time you gain experience and you learn to have more repartee. The files always take time because there are a lot of stakeholders to deal with.

We have to remain as available as possible to appease the policyholders and show them that we are always there for them. 

We are not there to scam them even if “insurer = scammer” comes back very often on the phone…

If you had to explain your job to a three years old child?

If someone has a booboo, I sent him/her money.

When did you join Wakam?

Four years ago, in 2016. I did two years on student contract and 2 years in a full-time job.

Why did you join Wakam?

In fact, I was lucky because it’s Wakam which wanted to meet me. It is the former Director of Wakam’s Claims Department who was a professor at the IFPASS. He saw my profile on the school directrices’ desk and wanted to meet me.

When I met the people and saw the offices I immediately wanted to work here. I really thought “it sounds fantastic” and the interview went really well!

After my first year of work-study, I wasn’t sure to continue my studies but Wakam was looking for a work-study student. They were agreed to keep me if I found a final year of work-study. I knew the company and they knew how I worked, so it was a win-win situation for both of us! After this last year, they open a permanent position and I stayed.

What do you think about the insurance sector?

This is a very interesting sector.  There are a lot of different opportunities. One day you could be settling claims, the next day you could be working on product development, and then you could be working in IT. In addition, you work with a multitude of people (policyholders, partners, brokers, etc.).

But I really think it’s a shame that the sector has a very bad press. When I see after containment what happened to some insurers who didn’t want to pay for business interruption. People have focused too much on that.

Whereas insurance is something everyone needs today, and without insurance, there are many projects that would not be done because we need to be insured. It’s true that sometimes insurers do a bad job with overly complicated conditions or the famous little lines in the contracts! But in spite of everything I think this is changing.

What is a typical day for you at Wakam?

When I arrive in the morning, I handle the new accident reports. Usually, I arrive early so I have some time to work on other subjects before the phone starts ringing.
Then, I have to juggle between the daily management of files, the new ones that arrive every day, the calls from the insured… We have a lot of things to do and they are often all urgent! So, you have to manage to organize yourself well.

Do you deal with a lot of claims?

We each have about a hundred mails waiting to be processed, knowing that we have about 30 mails coming in a day. We have to be able to sort through the most urgent ones.

Here for example I have 81 files waiting to be processed. Sometimes, it takes about two months to process a file, which is not much in the insurance sector, except that we are not on the same timeline as the insured who is waiting for compensation.

Something you’re super proud of that you did at Wakam?

I worked a lot on the “Claims” page of our Sharepoint(our intranet) and I’m pretty proud of what we did!

If you could add one thing in the office?

Remove the bars on our windows! (Laughs) That’s so sad! But I think it’s because we’re on the first floor too. But otherwise, I love the offices, so I won’t change anything.
On the third floor, we have a table/swing with lots of little chairs hanging around it.

In one word, how would you describe life at Wakam?

Dynamic. I think you hear that a lot when you ask the question! But this is really the first word that came up.

If you could change jobs, what would you be? 

So, I have two jobs that I would like to do. One more “reasoned” and another if I have a lot of money! The first one would be to work for the IT department and “hack on a computer” (laughs).  I need to do a training to learn how to code but I have to find the time to do it.

And if you had a lot of money?

I like horses very much and I would love to open a riding therapy center. It’s an equestrian center where people learn to live better with their disability through contact with horses.
It’s very complicated to set up because you need accreditations, training, and above all a lot of money to open a riding school. It’s a bit of a dream but you never know…

If you could switch places with someone for a day?

This is not an easy question… My colleagues will hate me for speaking about horses all day long, but I would love to take the place of one of the great famous riders. But that doesn’t speak much to people in general…

To be honest I’m a little afraid of horses…

(Laughs) Precisely, there are often two reactions when I talk about “horses” with people: “I did it once when I was six years old” or “I’m afraid of horses…”! It makes me laugh a lot.

If you had a piece of advice to give to be more efficient at the office?

To do a job you love! If you get up in the morning loving your job you will be much more efficient! It’s also important to have passions outside work to be able to think about something else.

What is the first thing you do when you arrive at the office?

I am drinking coffee.

Your favorite restaurant next door?

Elgi just in front of the office! I eat here every day.

A final word?

Enjoy your coffee!

But it’s 4.15 pm… It’s too late to drink coffee no?

Oh no, I drink coffee all day long, I can even drink it at 8 pm, it won’t stop me from sleeping!