Filling the Void

Every seven seconds a baby boomer turns 60. Take a look around your agency. In the next 15 years, 50% of the people sitting around the table at your staff meeting will be gone. By 2025, half of the insurance industry’s personnel will turn over. Half.

More than 60% of insurance professionals are over the age of 45. And with the exodus of baby boomers from the workplace now upon us, the coming years will accelerate the pace of the gap between the available talent pool and the number of recruits the insurance industry needs to grow. It can be easy to ignore the gradual graying of the producers in your agency. Principals often lament how dif­ficult it is to find, hire and train a new young producer—and in this economy, agents often say they can’t afford the invest­ment while waiting for a new producer to become profitable. But don’t underestimate what young agents can do given the right support. According to the 2010 Young Producer Study conducted by Reagan Consult­ing, young agents are typically validated in 22 months.

So where—and how—can you find the next generation of producers for your agency? And what can all of us do to ensure that we have the best talent pool available for the industry? The answer is InVEST, a classroom-to-career training program designed to help funnel young talent into insurance careers.

Due to economic challenges of the past few years, financial literacy and personal finance are buzz words in schools systems around the country. InVEST, now active in 191 schools in 39 states, is one of the few resources available to help teachers with insurance literacy. According to a National Council on Economic Education survey, 13 states—representing nearly 31% of the entire U.S. population— now require students to take a personal finance course. InVEST staff has been busy attending teacher conferences to help educators learn about the free resources available to help them fulfill that personal finance requirement in their state.

And InVEST helps get the word out about insurance careers beyond the high school classroom. A new student center website, learninsurance.org, offers videos and interactive exercises where students can learn about various insurance career opportunities in both agencies and companies. The Insurance Career Center, insurance careercenter.org, connects InVEST students with internship and job opportunities, and it is growing. At press time, the site had 978 resumes with 53 job postings in 16 states. And 18 colleges have agreed to promote the site to their students.
The college outreach continues offline. InVEST works with 92 colleges that have insurance programs, as well as Gamma Iota Sigma insurance fraternities, to encourage graduates to pursue careers in insurance. Many Big “I” state associations invite college students to their conferences—especially Young Agent events—which fosters networking and relationship building. And state associations make the trip on campus to attend career fairs, making sure insurance industry opportunities are front and center for job seekers.
What can you and your agency do to help with the effort?

In 2010, InVEST awarded $58,500 in scholarship money to 59 students. Help the program exceed that total this year by participating in YAC Gives Back, a Benefit for InVEST Scholarships, on April 14 during the 2011 Big “I” Legislative Conference & Convention. Your agency or company can sponsor the event for $2,500. Event attendees can register to be part of the poker tournament or bid on silent auction items to help make the fundraiser a success.

Don’t wait until more than half of the industry’s seats are vacant. Start building the industry’s future workforce—and your agency’s next generation of producers—now.

—Mike Miley Big “I” chairman