If you have the grace of a gazelle on ice or the agility of a giraffe on a bouncy castle, you’ll understand that accidents happen.

The embarrassment of landing face first in a flowerbed can be forgotten . . . eventually.

And even the bashes or breaks will heal along with a bruised ego.

But claiming for a mishap on an insurance policy can become a complex, lengthy and ultimately stressful process.

That is if it’s handled badly.

Thank goodness then for the sterling work of the personal injury claims adviser.

This specialist position is only for those who want to enjoy a multi-tasking, often challenging yet ultimately rewarding role in insurance.

Essentially, you’ll be dealing with the everyday claims folks make on their policies, though often focussing on a particular area, such as motoring, travel or life insurance.

These claims could involve building blunders, motoring mishaps or medical muck-ups and this means often you’ll be working with third parties in order to proceed with any settlement.

First the easy part: for your more common and straightforward cases, which usually fall within an agreed pay-out bracket, you’ll have no need to become involved in terribly complicated paperwork.

Now the more difficult bit: not all personal injury claimants will be telling the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.

This is when you put on your Sherlock Holmes deerstalker and get to work looking for clues that can determine whether a claim is valid or not.

It goes without saying that your communication skills will have to be top notch – especially in those instances when you have to explain why your company won’t be paying out – whether because there’s no case or the claimant has not fulfilled the conditions of their policy.

Be direct with clients but also be patient and understanding, pragmatic not preachy.

Employers have differing views on the qualifications you must bring to the job but, even if you’re completely new to insurance, previous experience in a call or contact centre or customer service will help your application.

Promotion prospects in this area are good: prove you can work well for both claimants and company and you could find yourself climbing the ladder to Senior Claims Handler.