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Record Insurance Industry Employment and Impending Retirements Is Creating Serious Issues for Employers

Written by: Roger Lear
Published on: Apr 22, 2019

Hiring Challenges Insurance Industry 2019

Great Insurance Jobs just released the 2019 Insurance Industry Employment Hiring report. We talked with over 54 insurance companies and asked them many questions on hiring. Click here to download the full report, at no cost.

One of the questions we asked employers was to share with us their greatest hiring challenges. While there were many, we compiled a list of the top responses. With very low unemployment (2% in the insurance industry), it is very hard to find great talent.

The top ten challenges employers are experiencing:

  1. Too many unqualified resumes. If you read previous reports from the last ten years, this challenge is in every insurance company. With so many insurance jobs needing specific experience, “outsiders” from other industries who want to work at an insurance company will never get consideration. For experienced position, that leaves internal hires and recruiting skilled talent from competitors.
  1. Finding experienced people in the salary range/location of the job. Many employers noted their company’s salary grades for certain positions are not competitive and therefore not able to hire at times for key positions.
  1. Can’t ask current salary in certain states. Fourteen states have laws that prohibit employers from asking salary requirements. Employers surveyed are okay with the law however it adds some additional challenges to the hiring process. Employers are getting more turned down offers since their salary grades established for job requisition are below what candidates are currently making. Turn downed offers are costing a lot of issues.
  1. Retirements. Yes, the average age in the insurance industry is 59 and with massive retirements happening, the need for 400,000. Even today we have over 150,000 workers over 65 and still working. Employers are challenged to find recruiting solutions, especially to help fill senior positions across the board.
  1. Locating local talent with insurance knowledge. Where an insurance company is located is key in recruiting great talent. Surveyed companies in areas that don’t have a lot of insurance companies are having challenges recruiting qualified talent. Relocation is expensive.
  1. Starting pay for insurance sales jobs. With over 20% of insurance jobs in sales, many companies are having a hard time finding experienced sales professionals. The same goes for companies looking for entry level sales talent as well. In both cases, compensation is challenging because insurance employers are competing against all industries for very similar talent.
  1. Can’t find technology talent. Just a few years ago, the insurance industry was known as the industry behind the times when it came to technology. This is not the case anymore, and employers are challenged on understanding the jobs, where to go to find the talent and getting them on board since so many other companies outside insurance are looking for the same people. Employers made it very clear that recruiting budgets for finding and hiring technology has significantly increased.
  1. Finding diversified candidates. Over fifteen companies mentioned finding diversity candidates is a challenge. Many are redefining their diversity recruiting programs.
  1. Recruitment budgets are low. Employers are challenged with how they spend their minimum recruiting budget. One challenge is identifying what technology to use since so many “next great things” hit the market weekly.  Secondly, they are having a hard time convincing the C suite that they need more budget to find more people. No one said they have plenty of money (or for that matter, a secret bullet to find talent).
  1. Recruiting a younger workforce including millennial and Gen Z’s. It’s no secret that most college students don’t know that great jobs reside in the insurance industry. For employers, connecting this group is a huge priority. The challenge is not having the budget to recruit directly at colleges and universities as well as have the job training programs in place (and exciting) to attract top talent.