How can the insurance profession attract more young people to the market? It’s the question on the minds of many amid concerns about the talent gap being created as experienced individuals retire from the sector. During a recent episode of IB TV, spokespeople from BIBA, Crawford & Company, Carpenters Group, Davies and many others lent their insights into how this gap can be bridged.
Telling the full story of insurance is critical, noted BIBA CEO Graeme Trudgill, as the variety possible within an insurance career is a key selling point.
“You can start off in the sales side but move over to underwriting or claims,” he said. “You can go and work in HR, or in management and become a director. There’s huge opportunity. It’s a very social industry, I think it’s well renumerated, so there’s a good path for anyone coming into insurance. And we’ve got to tell that story.”
For Dan Dorrell, of Aqueous Underwriting, who joined the market at 16, this emphasis on the opportunities and variety of insurance is critical. The key, he said, is getting young individuals to understand that the insurance sector isn’t boring and that these days it’s heavily linked to technology. So, emphasising the importance of technology and innovation in insurance businesses is crucial to attracting bright young talent.
“The other thing I think is really important is that we emphasise how much career progression is available in the insurance sector,” he said. “It’s not just a call centre job, here you can progress into sales, into product innovation, into user interface design - all these different jobs that actually they’re not quite aware of. And [the] the insurance industry needs to get better at publicising these things and emphasising the importance of them.”
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