Get them while they’re young
This is according to Junior Garba, chief executive officer of ACIN Recruit and co-founder of the African-Caribbean Insurance Network (ACIN). He was sharing some insights with Intelligent Insurer about the graduate schemes and apprenticeship programmes across the market.
In what Garba believes will be a positive move for the industry, he says that many organisations are downsizing their graduate cohorts and upsizing their apprenticeship cohorts for three important reasons.
“First, they get the young talent early which provides the opportunity to train and develop this talent. Second, companies save on agency fees and other costs associated with paying recruiters. Finally, organisations have found that their retention rates around apprenticeships and early career development is so much better than those that come from graduate programmes,” Garba says.
“In an industry where a third of the market is over 50 years of age and the number of people in their 30s is declining year on year, we can see that the industry has a challenge in attracting and retaining young people. In fact, a recent industry study by ACORD showed that only 4 percent of young people are aware of career opportunities in the insurance industry and feel attracted to the idea of pursuing insurance as a career,” said Garba.
Better business and capability
Garba asserted that organisations are not halting graduate programmes but that they have instead put them on ice while the focus has shifted to a strategy that may be better for business in the long run.
“Essentially apprenticeship programmes are becoming far more crucial to organisations than graduate programmes and by placing more weight on apprenticeships, organisations are experiencing better retention rates,” he said.
Garba addressed some common misconceptions that he believes still exist in the insurance industry when it comes to education.
“There is a misconception in the industry that you must have a degree to become an underwriter, and historically there has been a culture of elitism and recruitment from specific universities. But if you are trained early on you are just as capable.
“A university education or a certain type of university education is not an option for everyone for many different reasons.
“Loosening the university requirements has a direct impact on increasing the diversity of your talent pool,” he said.
