With the launch of the Insurance Institute of Canada’s (IIC) Project Reframe campaign, the organization is looking to mend the industry’s widespread talent shortage by better telling the story of insurance.
“Our industry has always had to work a little harder to attract talent,” said IIC CEO, Peter Hohman. “Limited public understanding of insurance industry careers does make recruitment more difficult.”
To address these shortcomings, the institute’s new multimedia campaign is looking to appeal to different demographics, including recent entrants to Canada, to rouse interest in the exploratory possibilities of a career in the industry.
“We're stepping away from more traditional media, and we'll be using social and digital much more including Meta, LinkedIn, YouTube; we're working with influencers to help spread that message, Hohman said. “We have a variety of digital assets such as video, static banner ads, real stories, and podcasts to really expand our reach and meet people where they spend most of their time.”
Working with 40 senior industry leaders, the campaign is looking to relay the following messages:
In an interview with Insurance Business, Hohman spoke about what prospective career searchers can expect when interacting with the campaign’s call-to-action and how it will appeal to newer demographics through data science.
When considering how to create and sustain more interest in careers in insurance, the IIC, alongside participation from industry leaders and voices, understood that this existential hiring dilemma can only be solved as a collective force.
“The insurance industry has usually gone about this from an individual employer perspective,” Hohman said.
Calls for an industry-wide approach have grown louder in recent years.
“We've got many senior leaders that are behind this initiative alongside the institute's full board,” said Hohman. “For the first time, the industry is rallying collectively together to see if we can really change the perception and grow awareness of a career in insurance.”
The campaign’s call-to-action will include a microsite that will redirect visitors to the IIC’s career connections team.
“Here, we'll provide introductory insurance knowledge, resume writing and interviewing support. And then we'll connect them to our employer partners through various networking events,” Hohman said. “We have speed networking, online coffee chats, virtual industry days and so on with a goal of helping them helping them be hired and helping our industry employers find new talent concurrently — there's really that ‘hand in glove’ tailored approach.”
In addition to introductory opportunities, there will also be accelerated learning products that employers can use to help better assimilate the new talent into a company.
“These are shorter, self-directed learning modules that will cover 30 different learning concepts per module,” Hohman said. “We have one that's for new hires, then we have more for agent, broker, underwriter adjuster, and from there commercial.
“We're using AI generated virtual instructors, instructors with audio graphics, which will help showcase the idea that this is a dynamic, innovative, forward-looking business.”
📣 We are proud to announce the launch of “Project Reframe” designed to help attract new recruits to the insurance industry. The bilingual, national multi-media ad campaign is designed to reframe outdated perceptions of industry careers. See :30s ads here: https://t.co/yf50wEkgbl pic.twitter.com/l2mTQniWis
— Insurance Institute of Canada (@InsuranceInsCA) January 22, 2024
With the help of algorithms and tracking enabled by digital devices and related applications, the institute can find out where Canadians are spending the most of their time online.
“We'll be using a variety of different influencers who will turn to Meta, TikTok and YouTube to post their videos and then track the types of communities that follow these individuals,” Hohman said.
“With all the different data science that we have and through our media partners will be able to target those groups.”
One of the groups the IIC is looking to attract is newcomers to Canada looking to establish a professional footing, alongside the younger generations who may be hard-pressed on finding a viable and fruitful career option.
How do you think the industry can attract more talent? Sound off in the comments below.
