Resignations and Retirements in the Insurance Industry

Resignations and Retirements in the Insurance Industry-Employers Recruiting Strategies Have to Change!

News Flash: There gap between the number of jobs open and the number of people looking for jobs is at a 20 year high. On top of that, those currently working are quitting their jobs at a record pace (4.5 million people quit in September-BLS). Of all the people hired in 2021, 75% of hires have been men. Help wanted signs are rampant. 

Complicating matters even more for insurance employers; your older employees are finally retiring. Unlike the “Great Recession,” where home values and retirement portfolios plummeted, the last 20 months have seen record stock and housing prices at all-time highs. This is a massive issue for insurance companies since 400,000 workers fall into this category

Needless to say, if you’re an insurance employer looking to hire, it’s like trying to solve a rubrics cube. 

Insurance employers are missing out on hiring goals because their recruiting strategy doesn’t always laser focus on the actual needs and skills of the job. Your applicant tracking system still eliminates good candidates who have crappy resumes, incomplete applications, or can’t apply via their cell phone. Only 50% of job seekers can attach or upload a resume from their cell phone, so you miss out on all of them because they never come back! If you had to attach your resume to an email from your cell phone…could you today?

Repeat after me; it’s not post-Covid hiring; it is post-Covid recruiting. You have to think differently to attract job seekers and people who are excited to work for your company because of who you are versus baiting them in with interview cash. To do this, you have to make some changes. Most of these changes should be in place anyway. Yes, every business is different, but all want to hire great people.

The companies winning the war for post-Covid-19 talent is the hidden story. This is what they are doing.

Stay Interviews.    Embrace the fact that your employees who stuck with you during the pandemic may have changed and had a completely different view of their work lives. Employers who are interviewing their current employees are seeing success in understanding who is happy and who is not…before they leave. Suppose you can save your current employees from leaving; your recruiting strategy for new hires is much easier. This probably involves more compensation, benefits, and a clear safety plan moving forward.

Think lead generation, not an application.  Recruiting involves selling. The more leads you have, the more opportunities you have to close deals in sales. Re-directing possible candidates to your ATS will lose over 70% of potential hires. Yes, that means only 3 out of 10 people who start the application process finish it. A job seeker has to spend 15-30 minutes filling out an application in 2012.

Have them fill out the application after you HIRE them! In place of the application, when someone hits the apply button (on job boards, social ads, career websites, etc.), send them to a landing page that collects name, phone, city, title, and a place to attach a resumes. Have a yes/no button that asks them if it is okay to text them. That is how you get good leads. You have to have a dynamic recruiting team and process to make sure you turn these leads into gold!

Rewrite the job description.  Many employers are using the same job descriptions you had in 2002. Companies re-evaluating each job are looking to see if the job requirements are still valid. Focus on the top skills needed only and spend the rest of the time talking about your post-pandemic workplace, benefits, and competitive advantages over your competitors. 

Job Title is HUGE.   When an insurance job seeker looks for a job, they scroll jobs just like their social media accounts. The ONLY WAY they will click into your job is if it has a great title. Add in things like Customer Service Representative-Work From Home or Senior Liability Adjuster- 24 days PTO. Attention grabbers get clicks.

Don’t waste time.  If you are serious about hiring, you must start your interview process within hours of receiving the application. Yes, roll out the red carpet. Make sure you get interview times from the managers each week so you can 

schedule it as fast as possible. Most importantly, text or call the candidate and let them know you are interested in them. Automatic responders are fine, but job seekers want personal service, and most of the time, this is accomplished by text or a call. Treat them the way you would like to be treated if you were in a job search.

Remote vs. Office Jobs.  So many people think they want to keep working from home. Many insurance companies are bringing people back to the office and finding many of their employees will not return. Unfortunately, if you are in this situation, you have to re-recruit these people and give them tangible reasons why they should come back to the office. In my opinion, this will be the most significant challenge. Hopefully, your company has an excellent post-pandemic office strategy that you can “sell”. If not, I am afraid the old way may not work anymore.