18 Feb 2007

Insurance Day Article - Insurers widen net in trawl for talent

Recent months have seen a round of initiatives aimed at attracting fresh talent into the risk industry, including the creation of new professionally certified insurance courses.

The moves are part of a continuing effort to retain top performers and to improve job seekers’ perception of the insurance industry.

In February, the Chartered Institute of Insurers (CII) established an online career service for intermediaries, called the Broking Academy.

The facility offers job seekers relevant career guidance as well as providing certified insurance courses that mark out a clear path into the industry. In addition, the Broking Academy provides e-learning modules and refresher courses for enrolled participants and existing industry personnel.

Soon after the CII unveiled its academy, Mansion House Executive, a specialist insurance recruitment firm, set up its own Talenthouse programme to recruit the next generation of "rising stars". Its programme is structured around established industry leaders advising enrolled job seekers on the benefits of joining the insurance industry.

"Talenthouse is not about recruitment; it’s about grooming the next generation of senior management for our industry. Our aim is to identify emerging talent from within our industry and to provide the platform they need to take control of their long-term development," said Marcella Cronin, managing director of Mansion House Executive.

Increasing awareness

The latest industry recruitment measure is aimed at increasing awareness among employers of the consequences of e-learning products. Taking place on May 10, the Learning and Development Forum (LDF) will examine the impact online learning is having on business performance and the role of training.

The recruitment and promotional drive evident in today’s insurance market can be traced back to October 2006, when CII created its talent initiative. The aim was to tackle graduates’ negative perception of the industry by working with educational institutions and employers to promote insurance as a first-choice career.

The industry-led programme was the first init-iative for the insurance sector, designed to target both the insurance industry and school students.

Part of its aim was to encourage people to change career to insurance and financial advice and planning. In addition, the point of the initiative was to encourage firms to create a professional environment that will support the retention and development of talent.

The talent initiative was developed as a response to research conducted by the Cass Business School, called "Attracting Weapons Grade Talent", in 2005.

The research revealed that:

* 90% of students would not consider a career in insurance;

* 80% of recruiters do not give on-campus presentations;

* 75% of employers fail to attract the talent they are looking for;

* 4% of students ranked insurance as the most attractive career option compared with banking, consultancy and accounting;

* 66% of students said a career in insurance lacked intellectual stimulation;

* 50% of recruiters do not have any contact with universities;

* 70% of recruiters do not give information to careers guidance staff.

Talent taskforce

In the light of these findings, the insurance industry, led by the CII, formed a talent taskforce to find ways of promoting the sector as a profession of first choice. Companies that contributed to the development of the campaign included the British Insurance Brokers Association (BIBA), the Lloyd’s Market Association (LMA), Allianz Cornhill, Royal & SunAlliance, Zurich, RBS Insurance and NFU Mutual.

After a round of consultation with industry leaders and employment experts, the Talent Taskforce unveiled a series of measures to raise the profile of careers in insurance, including:

* CII attendance at all major university career events and in all main graduate career publications;

* All formal insurance employer training schemes referenced on the CII careers portal www.insurancecareers.cii.co.uk;

* CII and employers working together in the production of careers collateral and recruitment activities;

* A CII-funded centrally-driven programme of careers activity supported by the industry.

A CII spokesman, explained: "The objectives of the initiative are to improve the profile of insurance careers, in terms of materials and the industry’s presence on campus, relative to its existing ranking against other major financial services careers. Ultimately we want to see the number of graduates making a conscious choice to join this fantastic industry increasing from 10% to 30% within five years."