Want to attract more younger people to your team? Try offering work environments that are more flexible than those offered to job candidates 10 years ago.
“Try to offer more flexible or competitive work-from-home arrangements, or offer other attractive things that would be a draw to people working in other industries,” says Dorothy Renzi, director of commercial lines at KRGinsure.
“When we’re at any sort of career fairs I noticed the advertising trend seems to be, ‘We have a hybrid work environment,’ or ‘We offer X amount of vacation days.’ Things like that are going to attract more of the younger generation.”
Highlighting flexibility and other amenities is important because many young job candidates don’t see insurance as the flashiest of career paths.
“When I go to career trade shows, I notice there are long lines for places like large banks or financial institutions, and the insurance line is very, very short,” says Renzi, who is also chair of the Young Brokers Council (Insurance Brokers Association of Ontario), and the Young Brokers Association of Canada.
“But once you actually get talking to potential young talent — when you are able to show the flexibility of the career, the fact that you can make a significant amount of money in this career and that it’s actually a really valuable career — that’s when you get students really interested.”
We’re all friends here
Another upshot hiring managers can play up is the strong sense of camaraderie among P&C insurance industry colleagues, even across firms.
“Even though technically you are competing against other brokers in the field, that [competitor could] potentially be a close friend of yours. We all bring different values or different skills to what we do,” she tells Canadian Underwriter.
“I am really focused on construction insurance, for example. I have a lot of knowledge in construction insurance, and maybe some of my competitors aren’t as strong in construction, but they have other areas of interest in which they know more than me.
“We as an industry balance each other out because we help each other. Maybe if I’m stronger in construction, I can give tips to somebody who isn’t as strong in construction,” Renzi adds. “Although the industry is competitive and we’re all trying to win and retain more clients, in the end, we’re all trying to do the same thing, which is to help our clients protect their assets.”
Another hiring tip almost riffs off a line from the 1992 film Glengarry Glen Ross: ‘Always be recruiting.’
“I find anytime you’re dealing with somebody in a customer-support type of role, it’s a great opportunity to see if that person would be interested in the insurance industry,” says Renzi.
“Whenever I have a good experience, say, in a retail shop, I will always introduce the insurance industry as an avenue for a career.”
This article is excerpted from one that appeared in the February-March print edition of Canadian Underwriter. Feature image by iStock/Delmaine Donson
