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Latest Insurance Talent Perspectives

Building and Maintaining a Strong Employer Brand

In today’s competitive labor market, a strong employer brand is a key differentiator in recruiting top talent, reducing costs, enhancing the candidate pool, and retaining high performers by instilling pride in their roles and company. 

View our latest white paper for tips to ensure your company represents itself as an employer of choice.

Q3 2024 Insurance Labor Market Study Results

The Jacobson Group and Aon conduct a Semi-Annual Insurance Labor Market Study to examine industry hiring and revenue trends and projections. The findings of our Q3 2024 iteration reflect a relatively stable labor market, with modest job growth.

Download the results to explore 2024’s staffing forecasts and hiring plans for the insurance industry.

Combatting the Finance and Accounting Talent Shortage

Faced with a shallowing pool of emerging talent and a workforce nearing retirement, finding qualified accounting and finance professionals has been an intensifying challenge for the industry. A comprehensive multi-prong approach is necessary to cultivate a workforce that can meet evolving demands and ensure operational continuity.

Read our blog post for insights on staying ahead of the growing finance and accounting talent crisis.

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Developing Leaders in the Remote Environment

Insurers are adjusting many aspects of business in order to accommodate a primarily virtual world. As the business environment evolves, the skills and competencies necessary for successful managers are also shifting. Organizations must rethink their approach to leader development and build plans that will hold up in the age of COVID-19 and beyond. Recently, Judy Busby, senior vice president of executive search and corporate strategy, shared her insights on creating proactive and intentional professional development plans. With long-term remote and hybrid work environments becoming the norm, the way skills are developed and goals are achieved is being redefined. In her white paper, “Reinvigorating Leadership Development Plans for the Virtual Age,” she explores key considerations for molding leaders who will be effective and successful in the changing environment.Rather than focus solely on what these individuals need to effectively grow as managers, it’s now vital to also focus on how goals will be accomplished and who will be involved in their growth. What is required for success and advancement? Create SMART goals that are more finite and clearly defined than ever before. As you work with leaders to set their goals, ensure you are clearly aligned on how they will be accomplished and how expectations have translated to the virtual world. How will you support their development goals? Learning can take place in a number of ways and it is imperative to lay out a clear plan. Consider how to recreate shadowing opportunities, especially for newer managers. Encourage mentorship relationships from both a long-term and micro-mentorship standpoint. Explore virtual conferences and traditional online courses to broaden their perspective and maintain relevance. Who will play a role in their development? Determine who the best individuals are for your leaders to learn from. Bring in peers who excel in certain areas, enlist external experts to build key skills, or coordinate shadowing opportunities. Focus on growing both technical and human skills to develop well-rounded and effective leaders. A strong management team is one of the most important factors for your organization’s long-term vitality. Learn more about taking a proactive and intentional approach, as well as how to assess individuals’ management skills and competencies, by viewing the full white paper.

Compass 13.4: An Intentional Approach to Remote Productivity

Shifting organizational dynamics and employees facing new challenges have leaders focused on how to manage and measure productivity.

The Role of Mentorships in Building a Strong Workforce

Published on Insurance Journal Whether developing a formal program or fostering organic interactions, supporting mentorship is a great way to demonstrate your commitment to employees' growth and development.

Boardroom View 2.3: The CEO’s Role in the Transition Process

Succession planning is a critical tasks for boards, but the job is not complete once a successor has been selected. Boards are tasked with facilitating a smooth transition and ensuring a successful succession process. This issue's feature article discusses how intentionality regarding the incumbent's role in the CEO transition process can set the stage for success.

The Underwriter of the Future: An Update

Automation, artificial intelligence and other emerging technologies are transforming the insurance industry. As virtual work environments become the norm, the pace of change is further accelerating to accommodate shifting employee and customer expectations. Underwriting roles continue to evolve into multi-faceted positions with expanding responsibilities. We previously discussed the future of underwriting in this white paper. As we shared, traditional underwriting roles are evolving as data becomes even more abundant and automation simplifies basic tasks. This has been further accelerated by the virtual business environment and remote, data-driven assessments. Today’s underwriting professionals are responsible for analyzing data, translating technical concepts, building relationships, serving as innovators and much more. At the same time, they are working with numerous teams and flexing their skills across various departments. According to our Q3 2020 Insurance Labor Outlook Study, the likelihood for carriers to increase underwriting staff has remained consistent throughout the last six months, in spite of the pandemic. Underwriting roles are moderately difficult to fill within the overall insurance industry and tied with actuaries as the most difficult positions to fill among life/health carriers. Our study found that of the insurers planning to add underwriters to their teams in the next year, 77 percent are seeking experienced and management-level individuals. As underwriting transforms, there are a number of skills tomorrow’s underwriting leaders will require in order to be most successful. Effective Communication: Underwriters, especially underwriting leaders, must be able to effectively communicate across business units, as they partner with actuarial, data analytics, IT and more. Relationship-building is becoming more important as silos break down and teams focus on interdepartmental collaboration. Additionally, as more tedious tasks are automated, underwriters will be able to focus more time on client-facing and relationship-building tasks. Natural Curiosity: Today’s underwriters must marry art and science. While automation provides a base of information, successful underwriters will dig into the data to pull out relevant insights and analyze any inconsistencies. New technologies and advancements with IoT will enable underwriters to better measure and determine risk at the individual level, while telling a holistic story. In today’s world, data is abundant, yet a curious human eye is required to make it most impactful. Critical Thinking: Human judgement will not be easily replaced. Well-developed critical thinking and problem-solving skills enable underwriters to analyze complex issues and supplement automated information. It’s important that quantitative analysis is blended with qualitative insights to be most effective. Setting Up Your Team for Future Success In addition to seeking out new skill sets, underwriting leaders will need to adjust their management styles to set teams up for future success. There are several ways underwriting departments can adapt to meet current and future needs: Embrace remote work without sacrificing productivity.Insurers are now set up to effectively operate in a remote environment and the majority will continue providing flexible work options. Even as employees return to the office, it’s important to offer work from home opportunities to stay competitive. The Q3 2020 iteration of our Insurance Labor Outlook Study found more than three-quarters of carriers plan to allow employees to occasionally work from home and half will offer full-time remote work. Today’s underwriters expect flexible options in work locations and hours. Organizations that do not accommodate these needs will risk losing top talent. Rethink training. As automation infiltrates the industry, training must also be reevaluated. Previously, insurers would use simpler cases as a starting point for training new underwriters. Now, these smaller and easier cases are being handled automatically. If more junior team members aren’t ready to take on complex cases independently, focus on providing them with opportunities to shadow more seasoned underwriters. You may also consider training specifically for soft skills, which are increasingly important for underwriting success. Leverage temporary employees. Maintain productivity while avoiding staff burnout when experiencing increased workloads and undergoing special projects. Many insurers incorporate contractors as part of their comprehensive talent strategies, preparing for potential unforeseen needs and to support staff during busy seasons. Recognize how your department can benefit from a hybrid workforce and understand best practices for effective management, even if you don’t have an immediate need. Focus on a positive virtual culture. Even when some or all staff is working remotely, it’s important to make sure everyone feels they are part of a cohesive team, including contractors. Maintain face-to-face contact by leveraging video conferencing whenever possible. Schedule all-team meetings on a regular basis and connect with employees one-on-one to see how they are doing on both a personal and professional level. Focus on frequent and transparent communication to recreate the office environment and build employee morale. Access to data and automation continues to increase. Underwriters must harness this information and determine how to maximize both human skills and technology. At the same time, leaders must rethink management techniques and team structures to accommodate for the changing landscape and ensure success for years to come.

Insurance Job Growth Continues Six Months Into The Pandemic

Published on PropertyCasualty360: PropertyCasualty360 discusses the current state of the insurance labor market, citing statistics found in a Jacobson report.

Reinvigorating Leadership Development Plans for the Virtual Age

As the insurance industry moves forward in a largely virtual environment, organizations must look at talent development through a new lens. Our white paper shares how leaders can realign their leadership development strategies with the current state of work.

8 Tips to Ensure Project Success

Keeping insurance organizations running smoothly is more important than ever, and an experienced staffing firm can be a valuable resource for filling talent gaps or handling special projects. As organizations embrace the hybrid staffing model, there are several things we recommend to help develop a strong partnership with your interim staffing partner and, ultimately, ensure the success of any project. Most of these tips can apply to internal special project teams, as well. Define your project needs. Before opening discussions with a firm, determine your goals and metrics. Will you consider an assignment a success if the consultant simply completes the tasks as outlined at the start of the engagement, or do you need someone who can take on new projects as priorities change? Will an independent, task-oriented expert suffice; or would a team-focused employee with an improvement mindset be a better fit? Consider what you need from a temporary staff member. The questions you may ask when interviewing for a permanent role are not always applicable to interim resources. You likely don’t need to know where a temporary employee plans to be in five years, for example, but you do need to understand their technical aptitude and work style. Review the questions you plan to ask when meeting with prospective consultants and adapt them to be relevant to each temporary need. Your talent provider will likely facilitate this process and provide their expertise regarding key requirements for different roles. Rethink location requirements. As remote work has become the norm in recent months, you may now feel more comfortable with employees working from home. If you typically require staff to spend some amount of time on-site, it could be beneficial to reconsider whether or not it’s truly necessary. An effective staffing partner should be able to provide consultants capable of managing their own workloads to meet expectations, whether they work remotely or in your office. Set reasonable expectations. When outlining essential qualifications for your project, narrow your “must-haves” list to the top three to five skills, separating additional characteristics into a list of preferences. You don’t want to lose time looking for the single professional with an exact combination of specific competencies that may not all be critical for your project, if they exist at all. After determining the level of expertise required, craft your budget accordingly. Develop realistic timelines. Take a close look at your anticipated start date. Will onboarding materials be ready? Will your staff trainer be available? Additionally, estimate the duration of the project. A contract worker may have other commitments, and sharing a realistic end date enables your staffing partner to find the best professional for the assignment. Get ahead of potential obstacles. When you meet with a talent provider to discuss a need, share technology requirements early on, as this may affect sourcing strategies and onboarding timelines. Setting up system access and completing background checks can also slow down the process; determine your company’s requirements and share these with your staffing partner. Any other specifications unique to your company should also be relayed before outreach efforts begin. Prepare involved parties to respond quickly and completely. The biggest delays often come as a result of misalignment with decision-makers. Find out who will need to weigh in throughout the process. Then, ensure responsible parties understand when they’ll be required to contribute and how quickly they’re expected to respond. The market is still relatively tight, so this will ensure you don’t lose out on the best insurance talent due to internal delays. Prioritize consistent communication. The most important feature of a successful partnership is effective communication, both internally and with your staffing firm. Communicating in a timely manner is essential throughout an engagement to ensure ongoing alignment. Further, sharing continual feedback allows your talent partner to proactively adjust to meet your needs and better serve you in the future, ultimately aiding your company in achieving your enterprise goals. The right staffing partner can enable you to be nimble and quickly adapt to changing talent needs. By establishing your goals and setting clear expectations, you’ll be able to leverage interim resources who can immediately make an impact. View the full infographic here.

Jacobson Employee Spotlight – Q3 2020

We recently wrapped up the Q3 2020 Semi-Annual U.S. Insurance Labor Outlook Study in partnership with Aon plc. Despite the tumultuous overall economic climate, 83 percent of the study's respondents intend to maintain or increase their staff sizes in the next 12 months. Additionally, insurers are seeing persistent recruiting difficulty. The corporate employees represented in this quarter's employee spotlight roundup are integral in helping our clients meet their insurance talent needs, whether through our executive search practice, professional recruiting service arm or subject matter experts solution. SARAH RADFORD Recruiter, 2 years at Jacobson Hometown: Clarendon Hills, Illinois Alma Mater: University of Mississippi Describe Your Role: As a recruiter in our professional recruiting solution, I set out to find the perfect individual for each position. I love that I get to speak with candidates from all parts of the country and discuss such a wide variety of roles! Favorite Thing about Jacobson: I love working with such amazing people. I have made great friends, and it’s comforting to know everyone at Jacobson is there to help you when you need it! Jacobson in Three Words: Collaborative, Supportive, Fun Favorite Music: Country! I usually attend multiple concerts each year, but now I'm just listening to playlists at home.  Surprising Fact about You: I was an Irish dancer when I was younger. I'm about 95 percent Irish! JOYCE DUNN Vice President and Managing Director, 10 years at Jacobson Hometown: Abbeville, South Carolina Alma Mater: Lander University for my Bachelor of Science in business/accounting and Florida State University for my Master of Science in Management in insurance and risk management Describe Your Role: As a managing director within Jacobson’s executive search practice, I support client relationships, evaluate candidates and direct the internal team regarding search strategy. I am passionate about delivering a consultative talent solution for our clients. Favorite Dessert: Peach cobbler Surprising Fact about You: I enjoy playing the piano. Jacobson in Three Words: Integrity, Client-focused, High-quality KAREN AIELLO Assistant Vice President of Account Management, 12 years at Jacobson Hometown: Crystal Lake, Illinois Describe Your Role: I manage consultants who are assisting clients on temporary projects and remove any roadblocks in their way so each project is as successful as possible. I also support the client relationship, ensuring our consultants meet expectations and our clients are happy with the results. Jacobson Superpower: Breaking an awkward silence with a funny one-liner Best Piece of Advice: Make sure you can honor your promises. If you don’t have an answer, it’s better to say “I don’t know” and get back to them with the right answer than to guess. Jacobson in Three Words: Focused, Accommodating, Ethical MEGHAN SYLVESTER Senior Researcher, 5 years at Jacobson Hometown: Chicago Heights, Illinois Alma Mater: Western Illinois University Describe Your Role: As a senior researcher, I work alongside our team of recruiters, supporting them by identifying potential candidates for our clients. Favorite Music: Country music Weekend Plans: Spending time with my husband, Bobby, and our son, Eli Surprising Fact about You: I am a soon-to-be-certified personal trainer! Best Piece of Advice: Without strategy, execution is aimless. Without execution, strategy is useless. For more insight on the industry’s hiring plans, view the full labor study report or infographic.

Insurers Say They’re Having Trouble Recruiting New Employees

Published on Insurance Journal: Insurance Journal takes a look at highlights of The Jacobson Group and Aon plc's 2020 Q3 U.S. Insurance Labor Outlook Study results.

Q3 2020 Labor Market Study Results Infographic

The results of the third quarter iteration of the 2020 U.S. Insurance Labor Outlook Study are now available. The study, led by The Jacobson Group and Aon, examines insurance industry labor and hiring trends. Learn more about industry staffing projections and revenue trends in this infographic highlighting the study. .

Revealed – what will happen to insurance industry employment in the next 12 months

Published on Insurance Business America IBA hares key findings from The Jacobson Group and Aon plc's Q3 2020 Insurance Industry Labor Market Outlook Study.