The Chartered Insurance Institute (CII) should create talent attraction ambassadors (TAA) to encourage young talent into the sector.
The recommendation features among a series of calls to the CII by authors of its report The Talent Shortage Crisis.
The report followed research showing estimates that 25% of insurance sector professionals are due to retire within the next 10 years, set against a backdrop of only 4% of young people consider a career in the insurance sector.
The report highlighted barriers to entry as well elements of the industry that attracted respondents to the sector.
The group gathered data from four key stakeholder groups: individuals in their first 12 months of employment in an underwriting role; individuals with at least five years of industry experience; emerging risk specialists; and representatives from CII local institutes.
Social media, specifically TikTok, was identified as a key influence to join the industry for respondents in their first twelve months of employment, who suggested a presence on social platforms to be a key factor in attracting Gen Z talent.
On what attracted them to join the industry, a trainee underwriter from Axa Insurance said: “Funnily enough, a TikTok. It was about insurance in London and how they said you can have the big banking lifestyle and wages but not have those working hours and stresses”.
Respondents from the emerging risk specialist group suggested ‘being clear on our desire to protect against emerging risks, and our commitment to tackle areas such as climate change’ in the interest of appealing to potential new candidates.
One head of climate within the sector advised that Gen Z candidates were most effectively engaged through real life interactions with ambassadors from insurance companies. They also suggest topics such as climate change and political risk, as key talking points when engaging with ypoung adult candidates.
Ambassadors and portals
Consequently, the report’s authors recommend a number of initiatives.
These include ensuring talent attraction ambassadors (TAA) were introduced within each of the CII’s local institutes as “soon as possible”.
The volunteer role would form part of the education arm of each local institute, with a core focus on supporting and driving local talent attraction efforts with the CII’s guidance and support, by attending career fairs, emerging risk area conferences and also arranging events to support local engagement within the insurance industry.
They would also play a vital role in ensuring that all brokers, insurers, and other insurance focused businesses at a local level have equal opportunity at supporting with local talent attraction efforts, by building relationships with those within different businesses other than just their own, and those that happen to form part of the local institutes’ volunteer base.
The intention would be that local businesses start to support in talent attraction efforts, but they need to be engaged with to make this happen.
To support this role, authors suggested the creation of a web portal with resources to support the TAA and local institutes.
These portals should include experiences from those working in the industry with those involved reflecting a cross-section of society to show the industry is available to everyone, regardless of background.
It should also have a store front where materials can be purchased to be used to generate interest at career fairs etc.
Trusted partners and regional officers
Trusted talent partners should be identified around the country and the CII should consider a regional talent attraction officer role or function within its current structure, to support a coordinated and targeted approach towards talent attraction across the industry.
The CII said it is now building on a recently launched careers initiatives to develop more forms of support, including working closely with local institutes to develop new content for members, which is set to be launched later this year.
Ian Callaghan, president of the CII, said: “The 2022/23 CII New Generation Underwriting group have carried out some interesting research around the important topic of talent attraction.
“As a sector, we are aware of the risks we face if a concerted effort is not made to address the talent gap. We encourage firms, and those in a position to do so, to be proactive, forward thinking, and innovative in their talent attraction strategies.”