Theodore Roosevelt once said that "Risk is like fire: If controlled it will help you; if uncontrolled it will rise up and destroy you." Risk managers are individuals that help protect a firm against the dangers of risk, especially when it could be uncontrolled. Risk management is the process of identifying, analyzing, and accepting or rejecting an investment based on the associated risks. There is usually a two-step process which helps determine the risks that exist in an investment and then uses the best possible method to reduce the organization's risk.
Skills of Successful Risk Managers
If you decide to pursue higher education in a field like risk management, you should have some important basic skills that will help make your learning experience more rich and rewarding. Communicate effectively-risk managers are immersed in both insurance and risk assessments in the financial world. Therefore, they need to be able to effectively communicate issues in both areas. They must be able express their ideas to all departments of the company at which they work.
Be flexible-while many risk managers instinctually say 'no', you must try to be flexible in your thinking and spread your risk over varying financial interests.
Challenge traditional thinking-the days of risk managers as strict suits are long gone, now risk managers are no longer caught in their traditional roles and may develop diverse views of their interests.
Be an ambitious thinker-risk managers are typically seen as the 'safety nets' of the whole company due to their protection of the firm's assets. This may seem like an ambitious task, but risk managers have to be the ones to take it on.
Admission Requirements
If you think that a career in risk management is the right path for you then earning a master in risk management degree might be the next step for you.
The admission requirements are:
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A completed application form
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GMAT or GRE score and code
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Official transcripts of high school and bachelor's degree grades
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Letters of reference
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Statement of professional plans and goals (Personal statement)
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Some professional experience in the financial or insurance sector
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Current resume
A master's degree in risk management program may be taken full time or part time.
Curriculum
The Master's program is a practical based degree that consists of a varied curriculum ranging from courses to seminars.
The most common courses taken in the risk management master's degree program are:
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Risk Management and Ethics
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Managing Risk with a Complex Organization
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Financial Metrics of Risk Management
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Controlling Risk in the Twenty First Century
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Enterprise Risk Management
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Reinsurance Practices and Principles
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Risk Management and the Law
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Strategic Risk Management
As a student of risk management you may also want to specialize in the fields of:
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Management
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Finance
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Marketing
All of which will require a specific specialized elective track of study. The specializations may also require some research work to be done related to the discipline. In the words of Soichiro Honda, "Success is 99 percent failure" and risk management is what helps an organization survive the failures when making investments. You could be a part of this by pursuing a risk management master's degree.