All over the world, members of the insurance community are asking the question, “How might we attract and retain young talent?”
We recruited a team of innovators to join our virtual co-creation Sprint and develop a solution to this shared challenge. While our team’s solution will be ready to present on Friday (which you’re invited to attend), we’ve compiled a few nuggets of insights we want to share with you to help you ideate your own way to #BridgeTheGap.
We surveyed a number of university students from Canada and Germany to better understand their approach to job searching. Below, we compare the top responses to insights from Senior Managers within our community.
Before we begin, here’s what we learned
We asked our student respondents to share 3 words they associated with the word ‘insurance’. The words we frequently received were ‘Health’, ‘Security’, ‘Necessity’, and ‘Safety’. As we learned, young professionals do not necessarily have negative perceptions of the insurance industry, based on the positive words our respondents submitted. They see insurance more from a perspective of what it offers!
The average acceptable length to stay within a job/company is 2 years, as we learned from our respondents. This was confirmed by Senior Managers, who shared with us that they generally expect new hires to turnover within 1 or 2 years.
In our final question, we asked respondents what an insurance organization must have for them to accept a job offer from it. Some of the responses we received were opportunities to grow, interesting work, good reputation, salary and benefits, and a supportive culture. Young professionals seek company cultures that are respectful, inclusive, and friendly. We encourage you to look into your office culture and ensure that you are providing a positive space for growth and collaboration.
So, what are some ways you can attract and retain young talent?
Venture into the Career Portal
Where Students Search: LinkedIn, Indeed, and university/college Career Portal websites
The Gap: Most Managers currently post jobs on LinkedIn, Indeed, and their company websites. There is an opportunity to collaborate with universities and colleges to post job opportunities on career portal websites, thereby reaching more students.
Connect with Candidates
What Students Care About: Great coworkers, security, and money
The Gap: Managers currently offer flexibility, security, and advancement opportunities. Introduce potential recruits to the great people in your organization and encourage a connection between
them. This will show recruits the human side of your company and will help you stand out from other job offers.
Offer the Right Benefits
What Students Want: Health insurance, mentorship, and an opportunity to apply and develop new skills
The Gap: Connect new hires to older employees during the onboarding process. These mentors should learn about the hires’ goals and work with the young talent to achieve these goals over the next few years. A great opportunity to embed one of the key characteristics on creativity and innovation – Empathy!
Young employees offer a fresh perspective to the insurance organizations they join, along with technical and analytical skills. These young recruits are the leaders of tomorrow and play a key role in the company’s succession planning.
By making these minor changes to your recruitment strategy, not only will you be able to attract young candidates, but you will also retain your new hires for a longer period of time.
And in the process, you will be able to #BridgeTheGap and #MakeInsuranceBetter!
