A programme which helps “career breakers” return to the insurance industry is on the hunt for its next batch of recruits.
In July, Health & Protection revealed programme organisers Inclusivity Partners, which launched the programme enabling ‘career break’ professionals to return to the sector earlier this year, was considering renewing it for a new batch of recruits.
Opportunities on the programme are open across all disciplines, including underwriting, broking, claims, actuarial, exposure management, risk and some corporate functions.
Programme participants included AIG Life, American International Group UK, Chaucer Group, Howden Group & DUAL, Marsh, Phoenix Group and Willis Towers Watson.
The programme’s initial target was to place 10 candidates starting work in September 2021 and it has already helped 15 women return after career breaks ranging from two to 17 years.
Like its predecessor, the new programme is open to women and men returning from a career break.
Successful candidates will benefit from a six month paid placement in January 2022 on six-month contracts, a training, onboarding and induction process and one-to-one specialist coaching.
New participants on this year’s programme include Lloyd’s of London, Axa Partners UK, Axa XL, Aon and Zurich.
No buy in, no recruitment
Lisa Unwin, partner at Inclusivity Partners, told Health & Protection the programme again had a cautious target of between 10 and 12 successful placements.
Unwin added a key area of focus will be securing buy in from hiring managers as one of the main learnings from the first programme was where there was no buy in from the business, there was no recruitment.
While the programme is open to men and women, Unwin revealed all of this year’s successful candidates were women as were most of the applicants, though one male candidate did make it through to a second interview.
“Arguably this industry, more than many others, must understand that people are living longer and need to work for longer,” Unwin continued.
“With many people having to take breaks to care for elderly or sick relatives as well as children, we need to provide opportunities for them to go in and out of work as their lives change.
“These are your customers. How can you properly design products to meet their needs without them?”