Selling a career in insurance

Much has been made of the looming recruitment crisis in the re/insurance industry: as baby boomers reach retirement age, there’s a growing need for new recruits. But re/insurance as an industry has arguably not always had the best image in the eye of the public, particularly for younger generations.

A report by The Griffith Insurance Education Foundation and The Institutes in the US found that fewer than one in 10 students said they were very interested in working in the insurance industry, including just 5 percent of students. The top reasons that people gave for not wanting to work in the insurance industry were that they did not want to sell insurance (52 percent) and that the insurance industry sounds boring (44 percent).

The report represented a stark wake-up call in terms of how far the industry has yet to go in order to change its image—but is the same true in Europe? Des Bishop, group head of people development for Hiscox, thinks it is an industry-wide issue.

“I don’t think the industry is attractive to young people and I do think more needs to be done,” he says. “In a young person’s mind insurance is never going to be equivalent to playing football for Manchester United, but I’m certain more can be done to increase our attractiveness.

“We and other insurance companies and brokers are trying to get out there and do work with schools, using particular programmes to introduce insurance and how interesting it can be. We’re up against the historic image of the bowler-hatted city type, and a perception of the work as very desk-bound. That is the legacy we’re trying to fight against.”

The reality of modern day re/insurance is very different—it’s just a matter of communicating that effectively, says Bishop. In particular it is worth highlighting the way in which the insurance world permeates a huge number of more immediately attractive and exciting events and activities.

“You can’t do anything these days without insurance—you can’t go to a Robbie Williams concert; you can’t watch Wimbledon, you can’t watch a major football tournament unless there is insurance to back those things and somebody has to determine the risk.

“A lot of people don’t realise there are those aspects to insurance. One of our big lines is in space underwriting—which certainly sounds exciting. The idea that you can underwrite a spaceship or a satellite can counteract the more negative press that may be driven by some of the large, contact centre-style of insurance sales.”

Better than university

As a specialist insurer, Hiscox can lure new recruits with its more exotic-sounding business lines—from space exploration underwriting to the insurance of large events. A recent expansion at the firm with the opening of new offices sparked plenty of interest from 18 to 21-year-olds, even though the company was not specifically targeting that age group.

The interest may reflect the fact that, with rising fees for university education in countries such as the UK, where Hiscox is based, many talented young people are deciding not to go to university.

“The idea is to look for those youngsters who don’t necessarily want to go to university at the cost of £9,000 a year, but who would like to go into the world of work and be trained in a professional qualification to a standard the same as a degree and get paid at the same time. We’re looking at refining our approach as to how we might get into that space, and we’re calling it Hiscox Academy,” Bishop says.

Hiscox is not alone in seeing the potential of such young talent. Amy Cooper, who heads Aon Benfield’s Early Career programmes in the UK, explains the broad reach of the company’s current recruitment efforts.

“We have three sources of young recruits in a year—we take graduates, summer interns and we also have an A-level programme. Typically we take four graduates per year who are just out of university or have just completed a master’s degree.

“Interns are generally in their penultimate year of study and if successful, we have the option to offer them a place on the graduate programme the following year—typically we take three or four each summer. We also directly manage an A-level programme. We took three students last year and five this year. It’s not essential that they’ve just finished school but we do try and target schools and colleges.”

One such new recruit is Laila Maarouf, who joined Aon Benfield in London fresh out of the sixth form. She says she was attracted to Aon Benfield’s A-level trainee programme because she enjoyed mathematics but did not want to go to university. Her decision to join the company was largely driven by the ethos she experienced during the selection process.

"The clear message from Europe is that efforts to attract young people and educate them about careers in re/insurance are met with enthusiasm."

“At the interview I really liked the environment and the way people spoke to me. I’d been to other interviews and I felt that at Aon Benfield it was very much as if they were interested in me as a person. I felt that I was respected and treated how I’d like to be treated when I’m working there,” she says.

She is now training to be an account manager, and says she has felt supported throughout. “The training has been really good—I’ve been learning so much, it’s enjoyable and I haven’t been struggling; if we have an exam coming up then we have a revision session.

“We also have industry briefings which are interesting and they keep you up to date with what’s going on in the industry. I enjoy working with my colleagues—they are helpful; I’m never chucked in at the deep end—I can always ask people for help. There’s also a good social side to this job—you meet a lot of people and there’s a lot of networking.”

As an A-level trainee Maarouf will complete a 12-month programme designed to help her achieve her Certificate in Insurance (CII). She will be supported with regular one-to-ones with a member of the human resources team throughout the duration of the programme.

Different routes to a career

This approach is echoed by Swiss Re, which has a long history of nurturing young talent. Kaja Vögele, who leads Swiss Re’s Junior Power Team in Zurich, says that the company’s international profile means it has no problems attracting new recruits to its apprenticeship scheme.

“We advertise our apprentice and trainee positions on a platform provided by the city of Zurich (in order to enable students to seek apprentice positions in different companies) as well as in different schools and on our website.

“We also offer ‘taster periods’ for secondary school students, internal information events for applicants for apprenticeships and we attend information events at schools, specifically for recruiting our trainees,” she says.

Swiss Re has a constant head count of 85 apprentices and trainees in Zurich (63 apprentices and 22 trainees). One of the Zurich trainees is usually trained at Swiss Re, London, the others are placed in Zurich. Furthermore, it has eight to 10 apprentices and trainees in Munich, Germany, who are locally employed and trained.

The success of the programme is helped along by the fact that apprenticeships and traineeships are a common route into employment in Switzerland.

“In Switzerland the work/study model—we call it the ‘dual system’—has a long tradition and Swiss Re has a good reputation in regards to offering adequate and good training. Therefore, so far we do not have to do much to attract young talents and we receive more than enough good to very good applications,” says Vögele.

“It could be however that with demographic changes we will have to strengthen our position in this respect. We are currently investigating different platforms which are specifically used by secondary school students.”

Rather than setting out to retain all its new talent, Swiss Re has a more open approach, recognising that, as they are just 19 or 20 when they complete their training many of the young staff will be eager to attend further education or gain experience in other companies.

“Many of our young talents return to Swiss Re after this period of further education and getting other work experience. With the ‘older’ group of trainees, most of them (80 to 90 percent) stay and do further training next to working,” says Vögele.

The clear message from Europe is that efforts to attract young people and educate them about careers in re/insurance are met with enthusiasm. Hiscox is finding that its graduate scheme, begun in 2010 and supported with visits to universities and online links to university websites, is bringing in a high calibre of young recruits—especially as banks have fallen out of favour.

“We first went into this market when the banks started to get really bad press and the investment banks stopped recruiting graduates—we started getting lots more people taking an interest in the insurance sector,” Bishop says. “They were pleasantly surprised by what we had to say, the kind of roles we had to offer and the kind of company we were, as opposed to perhaps the myth of insurance that’s out there.

“We’ve continued to follow that through and we also went into the intern market, offering internships for the summer periods for those at the end of their first or second year to get a taste of what working for a company like us is like.

“They went back into their universities and spread the word about how good we were and how good the sector was and how interesting it was. We felt we were putting ripples out into the good universities and that the interns would be local advocates to promote it when we did the milk round.”

There’s no doubt that perceptions of the industry are changing, and a steady flow of youngsters is bringing the fresh energy and ideas needed to forge a successful future.

“They’re more IT savvy and they see the world differently from someone who hasn’t grown up with the Internet and mobile phones,” says Bishop. “By seeing the world differently they can help us in so many different ways.”

Barbican launches new insurance academy

Barbican Insurance Group has launched a new talent and development initiative called the Barbican Insurance Academy. The academy is designed to enable current employees and future talent to further develop their insurance knowledge, acquire new skills and build a long-term career within the insurance industry, the company says.

As part of the academy, Barbican has developed an integrated apprenticeship programme. During this structured programme, apprentices will undertake an extensive range of training activities focusing on all aspects of the underwriting arena, as well as the insurance industry and the Lloyd’s Market. An internal placement scheme will see participants rotate across all divisions within the business.

In addition to gaining a thorough insight into the insurance market, apprentices will also complete their CII, as well as achieving the Level 3 NVQ in Providing Financial Services.

“It is a privilege to be able to announce the launch of the Barbican Insurance Academy,” said David Reeves, chief executive of Barbican Insurance Group. “The goal of this initiative is to help young professionals develop their skills and abilities, and by so doing build the solid foundations they will need not only to grow but to thrive in the insurance market of today and tomorrow.”

Anna Wright, training and development manager at Barbican, added: “The Barbican Insurance Academy has been designed to assist our current employees in developing and furthering their careers as well as attracting new, high-calibre talent. The aim of the academy is to drive exceptional performance and results throughout the business.”

The apprenticeship programme is supported by the National Apprenticeship Service which helps support, fund and coordinate the delivery of apprenticeships throughout England. The first two Barbican Insurance Group apprentices, Jessica Campbell and Stephen Barnard (pictured), have already been recruited on to the 2013 programme.