The insurance sector is looking for new ways to attract employees

As retirements accelerate across the insurance industry, companies are adopting old and new tactics to cope with a projected labor shortage, experts say, although past failures have prompted some to rethink their talent acquisition strategies.

Well-established programs like paid internships and job fairs have helped drive interest in insurance careers over the years, but employers are seeing a need to expand the scope of these offerings.

Newer initiatives, such as internship programs that guarantee employment after graduation and diversity-based programs, show promise.

In addition, some employers are using social media to recruit, both through established channels and newer platforms. But the results are mixed, experts say.

One of the major challenges companies face when looking for talent is the industry’s reputation for homogeneity. The industry needs to diversify its workforce if it wants to be considered a worthwhile career path, experts say (see the article here).

Apprenticeships

“At Zurich, we hire (interns) from day one,” said Al Crook, head of HR for business partners at Zurich North America, based in Schaumburg, Ill., who runs the insurance company’s internship program.

Interns in Zurich — paid on par with full-time employees — start working in the position they trained in after completing the two-year program (see the story here).

“We intentionally designed the internship program to bring new talent into the industry, talent that, prior to the internship program, was being excluded from organizations due to degree requirements or a lack of a learning-while-earning path,” Mr. Crook said.

Other companies have also begun using internship programs to recruit employees.

Liberty Mutual Insurance Co. hires about 40 apprentices a year with the help of the Massachusetts Apprenticeship Network, said Maura Quinn, the Boston-based insurer’s vice president of early career, DEI and talent acquisition. The two-year apprenticeships are paid, and participants are eligible for full-time employment upon completion, she said.

Many companies in the industry still use internships to recruit talented employees.

Jake Cline, talent acquisition manager, said Milwaukee-based brokerage firm M3 Insurance Solutions Inc. aims to hire at least 75% of its interns for full-time positions.

Once candidates receive job offers, they can enter the M3 Business Insurance Associate program, where they undergo 36 to 48 months of training. In 2023, more than 200 of the company’s top property and casualty insurance producers graduated from the program, Mr. Cline said.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. is in its 59th year of running its internship program, said Julia Szukala, leader of the young talent support program based in Rolling Meadows, Illinois.

Gallagher hires an average of 480 paid interns a year from across the U.S. and Canada, she said. More than 80% of the brokerage’s full-time, entry-level sales force comes from the internship program.

“Our intention with the internship is to use it as a source of full-time employment,” Ms. Szukala said.

Gallagher has also embraced “marketing personas” as a recruiting tool, Ms. Szukala said. The process involves employers creating personas with traits and skills that make up an ideal employee and help them target candidates appropriately.

“We try to promote our capabilities by using some of these different characteristics,” Ms. Szukala said.

One such persona campaign concerned “women in business,” in which the brokerage house segmented female students who declared business majors, such as finance and economics, she said.

A new perspective on recruitment

Some new recruitment attempts have failed.

For example, Liberty Mutual experimented with virtual recruiting events, but the program was not well received because students seemed uninterested.

“We quickly realized we had to change direction,” Ms. Quinn said. She called the failed initiative a “teachable opportunity” and a wake-up call to change hiring practices.

Ms Quinn said the industry often places too much emphasis on recruiting students with advanced business degrees.

Ms Quinn said more and more companies are now turning to students studying subjects such as data science to better meet the needs of a changing industry.

“Right now we have people who are mainly focused on technology and data analytics because we are growing,” she said.

social media

Some companies have successfully recruited candidates through social media, even using newer platforms like TikTok. But that strategy doesn’t always work.

Organizations are using video- and image-based platforms like TikTok and Instagram to highlight company culture and tell their story in an attempt to make a career in insurance attractive. Experts say viewers need to feel a connection to these recruiting videos; otherwise, it’s a wasted effort.

“Just the fact that an insurance company was on social media was enough to make me think I would see that kind of interest,” said Nick Abraham, executive vice president of Amwins Group Inc. in Atlanta.

Gallagher uses LinkedIn messaging to reach candidates, Ms. Szukala said. Direct messaging allows potential employees to get a broader picture of the industry.

“Students are receiving so many direct messages from employers that they are applying to many more positions, taking the initiative to apply to multiple positions, whereas historically they would have spent more time researching before actually applying,” she said.

This summer, interns at Marsh LLC will create “day in the life” video blogs about their 10-week internship and post them on LinkedIn and other social media channels to attract other candidates to the insurance industry, said Linda Foppiano, chief human resources officer at the brokerage firm.

Concentrated efforts

Experts say effective recruiting strategies often include a personal touch.

Sedgwick Claims Management Services Inc. runs an industry development program that combines classroom learning with on-the-job mentoring for some new hires. The company has averaged 200 to 300 new hires a year through the program over the past four years, said David Reed, global head of talent acquisition at Sedgwick in Kansas City, Kan.

The program is aimed at recent college graduates and teaches them how to become a claims adjuster within their first six to twelve months on the job.

A similar Sedgwick program is aimed at high school and college students who can observe field appraisers at work, Mr. Reed said.

Sedgwick manages to retain about 90% of its participants as employees after the first year of participation in the industry development program, but that number drops to 70% in the second year and 55% in the third year.

“Of course we would like it to be a little better, but it is still quite high,” Mr. Reed said.

Attracting candidates with insurance industry experience can be difficult as fewer students enroll in insurance courses in college, said Brian Fritz, a senior recruiter with Key Strategies LLC in Lewes, Delaware.

However, this trend is not the same across all universities.

“Our experience this year is that we have seen an increase in student enrollment and that we will graduate a record number of students this academic year,” said Rob Hoyt, professor of risk management and insurance in the Terry College of Business at the University of Georgia.

Mr. Fritz said graduates with degrees in insurance and risk management could face difficulties in the job market.

“One of the biggest things we’re seeing is that companies are slowing down their hiring, and … hiring is now being targeted and intentional to meet the needs and demands of today’s business,” Mr. Fritz said.