How can insurers and brokers get young people interested in the profession?
It’s not just a lofty question, but a real challenge when it comes to recruiting the next generation of insurance professionals.
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A Conference Board of Canada study found there were less than three applicants per insurance role in 2013.
The skills gap, or skills mismatch as some prefer to call it, looms over the insurance field as analytical and communications skills are in high demand but in less supply.
In an attempt to address the issue, Insurance Institute’s National Education Month, formerly an education week, is meant as a professional development period for Canadians at all stages of their insurance career.
A marketing specialist at the start-up Besurance, and former entrepreneur, Michelle Priest, said her experience on the life side of insurance told her there’s a disconnect between job seekers and employers.
Because their clients aren’t young, many insurance companies haven’t bothered making themselves attractive to millennials, Priest said.
“Most insurance advisers go after the higher market, for young people, their market and the people they speak to will be their age which typically isn’t a high-net worth group,” Priest said.
“Insurance companies aren’t directly related to the customers, they’ve outsourced their distribution, and they’re not really in touch with what their customers want and what their frustrations are.”
South of the border, America’s version of the education month, called Insurance Careers Month, is focused on bringing new talent to insurance.
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One vice president at a professional development organization explained their recruitment strategy.
“We’re facing an unfortunate headwind in attracting young people - it’s well document that the majority of young people don’t know what insurance is and those who do sometimes have a negative view of our industry,” Elizabeth Walsh, a vice president at The Institutes said.
“We’re trying to get young folks to be the face of the industry, we’re doing a lot of peer to peer recruitment. We talk to companies about trying to build out their internship programs.”
Though there was no one skill “in vogue”, as Walsh put it, there were still specific “opportunity occupations.”
“The perception for insurance industry is agent/broker type positions and not the actuarial science that happens behind the scenes,” Walsh said.
Despite its challenging reputation among millennials, insurance could become a young person’s dream industry according to Walsh.
“What young professionals today want is to make an impact, to know their work is worthy, it’s (insurance) the prime opportunity,” Walsh said.
“Because it’s got flexible working hours, they want to make a lot of money right out of the gate, it’s a great industry for the millennial population.”
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