As an insurance agent, recruitment and the building of a stronger team are among your highest priorities. The entire industry is facing increasing pressure to replace its aging workforce, and the race is on to attract the brightest of the younger generation. But, knowing what needs to be done and accomplishing it are two very different things.
There are many shoes to be filled, and the insurance industry expects to replace some 400,000 workers by 2020. That suggests an impending talent war both from within the industry and within the greater job market. To stay ahead of the pack and fill your agency with top talent, you need a good recruitment plan.
The following six tips will help you to develop that plan, and get you on your way to a more straightforward insurance office recruiting campaign.
Communicate a Strong Employee Value Proposition
The new generation of insurance employees, which will primarily be made up of millennials, value different things in the workplace. They put greater significance on things like flexible working schedules, continued education, and growth opportunities: Things which are important to include in an employee value proposition (EVP).
An EVP serves to define what your employees can expect to receive from a career with your agency, as well as what they are expected to contribute. The number of components that can be combined to form an EVP are virtually infinite. There are, however, a few common things to consider:
- Benefits – Do the type of benefits you offer meet the expectations of the younger generation?
- Salary – Do you offer competitive salaries?
- Autonomy – Are employees able to control how they do their work or is micromanagement a factor?
- Work Culture – Would a young professional fit in well with your agency’s culture or would they feel out of place?
- Flexibility – Does your staff have the option of working from home and adopt flexible schedules?
Similar to attracting prospects and customers, you will need an EVP offer that stands out. An attractive EVP will help you to attract the strongest candidates.
Recruit Through Social Media
In the past, insurance recruiting was best conducted face to face. Things like job fairs and recruitment events were among the primary recruitment tools. While those do remain effective, social media is proving to be an increasingly dominant force in recruitment.
Platforms such as LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter are integral tools in the life of a young professional. And, to get their attention, you need to be able to use these tools effectively.
First, you need to ensure that your brand has a presence on the social media platforms. Then you can create social strategies to connect and communicate with prospective candidates. Using already established channels such as #TalentTuesday allows you to join a broad conversation and track your campaigns success.
Target People Who Aren’t Looking for a Job
According to a recent study by the San Francisco Fed, 67.9 percent of employees who change jobs do so without job-hunting. Furthermore, 60 percent stayed within the same industry. The findings from the study indicate that the most talented professionals are being courted away before they ever reach the job market.
That means, if you want to bolster your workforce with qualified candidates, you have to take action to track them down; they are less likely to come to you these days. That is not necessarily a negative, though.
People responding to job posts have an implicit goal of filtering, fudging, and often bending the truth to persuade employers in their favour. It places them in direct competition with hiring managers with mutually exclusive goals. Finding and reaching out directly to targeted candidates enables you to sidestep the job market quagmire.
Try Inbound Recruiting
While ordinarily, talented candidates won’t come to you, there are ways to make your brand more attractive and increase their interest. It’s called Inbound Recruitment, and it takes its cues from the marketing method made popular by HubSpot.
This form of recruiting focuses on building relationships with future candidates so that they eventually feel compelled to work with your agency. Inbound Recruitment requires an investment in time and won’t necessarily yield fast results. You need to spend time creating content about your agency in a way that resonates with potential candidates.
Top tech brands such as Apple, Google, Facebook, Twitter, Dropbox, and GitHub seldom have to go searching for new employees. They have many talented candidates lining up to work with them. That is because these companies spent many years developing a brand that is desirable to work for.
Everything from articles written about Google to its mission statement resonates with certain professionals in that industry. Content about what the company does, what it stands for, and the experience their current employees have has given Google a competitive advantage when it comes to attracting top talent.
You might not be able to replicate Google’s, or Apple’s, tactics, but with Inbound Recruitment you stand a greater chance of people reaching out to you to begin a dialogue.
Use Existing Employees
Do you already have a few talented, young professionals on your team? They would make great surrogates. It sounds like something from the political season, but birds of a feather do flock together. It all comes down to the wonders of social similarity. If other young talent sees people that look like them already at your agency, they are more likely to want to come on board.
Also, your current crop of young employees will likely have a network of peers. There is no better recommendation than one from someone that you know and trust. So, don’t be shy about asking your experienced employees for recommendations from their network of friends.
Prioritize Candidate Experience
The candidate experience is the first interaction potential employees have with your agency. It is not only an opportunity for you to judge them, but it is also a chance for you to make a good impression. An outstanding candidate experience has many benefits; a poor one can seriously damage your firm’s reputation.
Some basic elements of the candidate experience include:
- Conducting the meeting in a clean, comfortable room
- Showing up to the interview on time
- Coming prepared
- Being warm and courteous
- Providing feedback
- Be motivation and inspirational
- Paint a clear picture of your current, and future, office culture
The race to attract the most talented young professionals is on. Without a proactive effort to entice new employees, you will likely miss opportunities to enhance your agency’s team for the future. Use a combination of all the above recruiting methods to ensure you find, and retain, the right talent for your agency.
