The Chartered Insurance Institute (CII) has launched an influencer campaign to address the insurance industry’s talent gap, and common misconceptions around insurance careers.
The move, led by the CII’s New Generation group, is designed to tackle the apparent disinterest that many young people and school leavers have towards insurance as a potential career, and to attract top talent.
The group has produced a short video to engage with younger people, which can be shared on social media including not just LinkedIn, but Instagram and TikTok.
The insurance influencer campaign aims to positively showcase the insurance sector, with young people and those who may be looking for a career change as the target audience.
The campaign video shows the variety of different opportunities and avenues that exist within the sector, and highlights the role of insurance in areas that the general public may not immediately consider, such as festivals, farming, renewable energy, and cyber.
A digital flyer accompanies the video, providing further context and additional information regarding insurance careers.
Insurance viewed as boring
A small survey by the CII New Generation group earlier this year confirmed that insurance is not viewed as a profession in line with lawyers or solicitors and similar areas.
The CII’s New Generation Programme is a flagship development opportunity for insurance professionals with five or more years’ experience within their field.
In media briefing last week the group said they wanted to empower people to choose insurance as a career, and highlight the diversity of roles available.
Sonja Wilde, strategic operations consultant at Liberty and a member of the group, said: “There’s just so many different avenues available in our industry, but school leavers and the younger generation just don’t know about it.”
The group did a small survey of 14 to 22 year olds to understand the perception of insurance as a career, and to see if their suspicions that it was not attractive were correct.
Liam Cannan, broking manager at Romero and a member of the group, said: “Sixty per cent said that insurance was boring and only 30% of the respondents said they would consider a career in insurance.
“Some key points from the survey were that salary was found to be a main driver for people in choosing their future career, followed by work/life balance.”
A focus group also confirmed that young people were ill informed about career opportunities in insurance.
Russell Higginbotham, president of CII, said: “I would like to congratulate the 2022/23 Broking group on the launch of the Insurance Influencer campaign.
“Attracting top talent to the insurance sector sees us compete with many other industries, and this work represents an excellent opportunity for growth.”
A range of firms, including Howden, Partners&, Romero, and Yutree, have already taken steps to adopt the group’s work within their recruitment and promotional activity.