Top 12 Claim Analyst Skills to Put on Your Resume

In today's job market, a sharp resume does more than list duties. For a claims analyst, it telegraphs judgment, precision, and calm control under messy facts. Lead with the skills that show how you dissect data, weigh risk, and move claims from foggy to finished. That’s what gets attention—and interviews.

Claim Analyst Skills

1. Data Analysis
2. Excel
3. SQL
4. Tableau
5. Risk Assessment
6. Claims Processing
7. SAS
8. Python
9. Critical Thinking
10. Negotiation
11. Customer Service
12. Regulatory Compliance

1. Data Analysis

For a Claims Analyst, data analysis means sifting through raw claim details, extracts, and histories to spot patterns, outliers, and causation. It’s the discipline of turning scattered facts into defensible decisions about liability, reserves, and resolution.

Why It's Important

It drives accuracy. You catch anomalies, surface trends, flag fraud risk, and prioritize effort. Better analysis shortens cycle times and improves outcomes. Less noise, more signal.

How to Improve Data Analysis Skills

1. Strengthen statistics: Probability, distributions, sampling, hypothesis tests, and regression. You don’t need to be a statistician, but you must know what “significant” actually means.

2. Level up with tools: Excel for quick slices; SQL for large, relational data; Python or R for deeper modeling and automation.

3. Visualize with intent: Use clean charts, not decoration. Pick visuals that answer a question—trend, comparison, distribution, composition.

4. Know the claims lifecycle: Coverage triggers, policy limits, subrogation, salvage, reserves, and fraud indicators. Context sharpens analysis.

5. Build repeatable checks: Create standard queries and quality rules for duplicates, missing fields, and inconsistent codes.

6. Iterate: Prototype, test, refine. Show findings, invite challenges, adjust.

Do this consistently and your decisions get faster, sturdier, and easier to defend.

How to Display Data Analysis Skills on Your Resume

2. Excel

Excel is your quick-turn lab for organizing claims data, running calculations, building summaries, and presenting insights. With the modern stack—XLOOKUP, dynamic arrays, Power Query, and the Data Model—it scales farther than most people think.

Why It's Important

Rapid analysis, clean reporting, and fewer manual mishaps. Pivot what matters, catch errors fast, and create repeatable processes that don’t crumble under pressure.

How to Improve Excel Skills

1. Use modern lookups: Prefer XLOOKUP and INDEX/MATCH over VLOOKUP/HLOOKUP. More flexible, fewer surprises.

2. Own PivotTables: Group, filter, and drill. Add slicers and timelines for speed.

3. Power Query (Get & Transform): Automate data cleaning and reshaping. Refresh, don’t rework.

4. Data Model and DAX basics: Build relationships, write simple measures, handle bigger datasets.

5. Conditional formatting and data validation: Make errors glow and inputs behave.

6. Macros/VBA when it saves time: Automate repetitive steps with clear, documented routines.

7. Chart with restraint: Labels clear, axes honest, colors meaningful.

How to Display Excel Skills on Your Resume

3. SQL

SQL is the language of relational data. It lets a Claims Analyst extract, join, filter, and aggregate large datasets to answer real questions—fast and reproducibly.

Why It's Important

Claims systems live in databases. SQL gets you exactly the slice you need, keeps lineage clear, and scales as volumes grow. Essential for fraud analysis, trends, and operational reporting.

How to Improve SQL Skills

1. Get fluent with fundamentals: SELECT, WHERE, GROUP BY, HAVING, ORDER BY, and basic aggregates.

2. Join with confidence: INNER, LEFT, and anti-joins for exclusions. Understand cardinality and duplicates.

3. Window functions: ROW_NUMBER, RANK, LAG/LEAD, running totals—power tools for claims timelines.

4. CTEs and subqueries: Build readable, stepwise logic instead of tangled monsters.

5. Index and optimize: Read query plans, add the right indexes, avoid SELECT * in production queries.

6. Quality checks: Validate counts, nulls, and referential integrity before trusting results.

7. Version queries: Save scripts, comment assumptions, and parameterize dates/ranges.

How to Display SQL Skills on Your Resume

4. Tableau

Tableau turns raw data into interactive dashboards that spotlight trends, anomalies, and bottlenecks. For claims work, it’s a lens—fast to explore, easy to share.

Why It's Important

Good visuals cut through complexity. You spot patterns, leaders make quicker calls, and teams align on what the data is actually saying.

How to Improve Tableau Skills

1. Design for questions: Start with the decisions users need, not the charts you like. Keep clutter out.

2. Master LOD expressions and parameters: Fine-grained control over calculations without messy workarounds.

3. Prep your data: Clean joins, consistent grain, tidy fields. Tableau Prep or upstream ETL helps.

4. Tell a story: Use actions, highlights, and guided navigation. One screen, one purpose.

5. Performance matters: Minimize quick filters, extract when reasonable, aggregate before you visualize.

6. Validate: Cross-check numbers with SQL/Excel and document how metrics are defined.

How to Display Tableau Skills on Your Resume

5. Risk Assessment

Risk assessment gauges likelihood and impact. In claims, that means coverage exposure, severity, recovery options, and red flags that might swell costs or signal fraud.

Why It's Important

Accurate risk reads lead to proper reserves, smarter investigation, and fewer surprises. You protect margins while staying fair to policyholders.

How to Improve Risk Assessment Skills

1. Use historical data: Build profiles by line of business, peril, geography, and claimant attributes. Compare new claims to known patterns.

2. Segment ruthlessly: Triage by complexity and potential severity; route high-risk claims to specialized handling early.

3. Model scenarios: Apply simple probability models or loss distributions to estimate ranges, not single-point guesses.

4. Track leading indicators: Inconsistent narratives, late FNOL, prior losses, provider anomalies—document and monitor.

5. Close feedback loops: Review reserve accuracy and outcome variance. Adjust assumptions; don’t let old heuristics calcify.

6. Stay current: Regulations, litigation trends, and emerging risks (cyber, weather volatility) shift the baseline.

How to Display Risk Assessment Skills on Your Resume

6. Claims Processing

Claims processing is the end-to-end flow: intake, coverage validation, investigation, evaluation, settlement, and closure. The analyst keeps it accurate, timely, and well-documented.

Why It's Important

It shapes customer trust and financial results. Clean processes pay valid claims quickly and block leakage and fraud without needless friction.

How to Improve Claims Processing Skills

1. Standardize intake: Structured data capture, required fields, and clear checklists reduce rework.

2. Automate the routine: Use rules engines, templates, and RPA/OCR where appropriate. Save humans for judgment calls.

3. Build data checks: Duplicates, out-of-range values, missing documentation—flag early, fix once.

4. Triage and prioritize: Severity, complexity, and fraud risk drive work queues. Shorten cycle time by focusing attention.

5. Communicate proactively: Plain language, expected timelines, and status updates prevent confusion and complaints.

6. Measure relentlessly: Track cycle time, touch count, reopen rate, leakage, and NPS/CSAT. Improve what you can see.

How to Display Claims Processing Skills on Your Resume

7. SAS

SAS is a powerhouse for data management and analytics. In claims, it shines when you need repeatable pipelines, reliable reporting, and robust statistical work at scale.

Why It's Important

Large, regulated datasets demand traceability and consistency. SAS offers both—plus rich procedures for modeling and fraud detection.

How to Improve SAS Skills

1. Solidify core syntax: DATA steps, PROC SQL, and common PROCs (FREQ, MEANS, SUMMARY) for profiling claims data.

2. Automate with macros: Parameterize processes, reduce manual edits, and standardize outputs.

3. Dive into modeling: Start with logistic regression and decision trees for propensity and fraud scoring.

4. Reporting that sticks: Produce clear, scheduled outputs. Document assumptions and data lineage.

5. Explore SAS Viya (if available): Modern, scalable analytics and easier collaboration across teams.

6. Govern your code: Version control, code reviews, and naming standards keep projects maintainable.

How to Display SAS Skills on Your Resume

8. Python

Python is the Swiss Army knife for analysis and automation. With libraries like pandas, NumPy, and scikit-learn—and notebooks for exploration—it speeds up everything from data cleaning to modeling.

Why It's Important

It reduces manual toil, scales beyond spreadsheets, and opens the door to advanced analytics. Fewer clicks, more insight.

How to Improve Python Skills

1. Nail the basics: Data types, control flow, functions, and modules. Write readable code with docstrings and type hints.

2. Data wrangling: pandas for joins, groupby, reshaping, and time series; consider Polars for speed with larger datasets.

3. Visualization: Matplotlib and Seaborn for clean plots; focus on clarity over flair.

4. Automation: Batch file handling, API calls, scheduled jobs. Turn recurring tasks into scripts.

5. Model responsibly: Start simple. Train/validate/test splits, baseline models, and clear metrics before complexity.

6. Packaging and reproducibility: Virtual environments, requirements files, and version control so others can run your work.

How to Display Python Skills on Your Resume

9. Critical Thinking

Critical thinking is disciplined judgment. You test claims against evidence, separate signal from noise, and avoid glib conclusions.

Why It's Important

Claims are messy. Clear thinking prevents bias, catches contradictions, and leads to fair, defensible outcomes.

How to Improve Critical Thinking Skills

1. Interrogate assumptions: What must be true for this claim to hold? What would disprove it?

2. Structure problems: Map facts, unknowns, and decision criteria. Use simple frameworks to avoid wandering.

3. Trace logic: Follow cause-effect chains and look for leaps. Demand evidence for each step.

4. Hunt bias: Confirmation, anchoring, availability. Name them when you feel them.

5. Compare alternatives: Develop at least one plausible counter-explanation before deciding.

6. Reflect: After resolution, review the path taken. What would you change next time?

How to Display Critical Thinking Skills on Your Resume

10. Negotiation

Negotiation is the craft of reaching resolution that’s fair, timely, and aligned with policy and facts. You balance empathy with firmness.

Why It's Important

It controls costs, reduces disputes, and preserves relationships. The right tone and structure can turn conflict into closure.

How to Improve Negotiation Skills

1. Prepare like a pro: Facts, policy terms, comparable settlements, and a clear mandate. Know your BATNA and limits.

2. Listen actively: Surface interests behind positions. People want to be heard before they can agree.

3. Frame clearly: Use plain language and summarize often. Anchor with rationale, not just numbers.

4. Trade, don’t concede: Link movement to reciprocal gains—documentation, timelines, releases.

5. Manage emotions: Stay steady. Acknowledge frustration without escalating it.

6. Document: Capture offers, assumptions, and agreements. Memory fades; paper doesn’t.

How to Display Negotiation Skills on Your Resume

11. Customer Service

Customer service for claims means guiding people through stressful moments with accuracy, empathy, and transparency. It’s as operational as it is human.

Why It's Important

Trust is built here. Clear updates and fair handling turn a bad day into a tolerable one—and keep customers around.

How to Improve Customer Service Skills

1. Listen first: Let the customer finish. Paraphrase to confirm understanding. Then respond.

2. Use plain talk: Replace jargon with everyday language. Explain the “why,” not just the “what.”

3. Set expectations: Timelines, next steps, required documents. No surprises.

4. Follow through: If you promise an update, deliver it—on time, even if there’s no news.

5. Offer options: When you can, present paths and trade-offs. Choice gives control back to the customer.

6. Close the loop: Capture feedback and fix recurring pain points. Small friction adds up.

How to Display Customer Service Skills on Your Resume

12. Regulatory Compliance

Regulatory compliance ensures claim handling follows applicable laws, policy terms, and industry standards—privacy, fair claims practices, record retention, and auditability included.

Why It's Important

It reduces legal risk, protects consumers, and safeguards the company’s reputation. When rules change, your process must keep pace.

How to Improve Regulatory Compliance Skills

1. Stay informed: Track updates in fair claims practices, privacy (e.g., GDPR/CCPA where applicable), and line-of-business regulations.

2. Embed controls: Checklists, mandatory documentation, and automated validations at key steps.

3. Audit routinely: Review samples for timeliness, completeness, and consistency. Fix root causes, not just symptoms.

4. Document decisions: Keep clear rationale, evidence, and approvals. If it’s not recorded, it didn’t happen.

5. Train continuously: Refresher sessions, quick guides, and scenario drills for new rules and edge cases.

6. Protect data: Access controls, redaction where needed, and secure sharing. Privacy isn’t optional.

How to Display Regulatory Compliance Skills on Your Resume