5 Tips to Bridging the Talent Gap

May 29, 2019

Let's face it, we're all guilty. We fell short in self-promoting over the years, thinking those great opportunities in insurance would sell themselves.


Now with nearly half-think about it, half-of our industry employees retiring over the next 10 years, we're looking at a talent crisis. If you don’t have a recruiting strategy in place, get started with these five tips:

1. Know your audience. Yes, keep the millennials in mind, but not to the exclusion of the experienced worker. And remember Gen-Zs are the up and comers, so your digital message is all-important. In fact, according to a recent Forbes post, this group has "cultivated an ability to discern value and interest at a faster pace than any previous generation." And they like entrepreneurship. Be quick but be substantive.
2. Educate and Advocate. Let's change the perception of insurance as a static business to one that embraces tech just like everyone else. Send company reps to college job fairs. Produce podcasts and blogs and get them out on your website and social media. Post photos of company events on social media and videos of employees talking about why your company is a fun, innovative and interesting place to work.
3. Promote Culture. A dynamic corporate culture keeps employees engaged. Wellness activities, flexible work schedules and creative employee benefits are increasingly important. Be open to new ideas. To promote our wellness fair, we invited employees to mini golf throughout the workplace (including the CEO's office), stopping at health stations along the way.
4. Opportunity. We offer fantastic career opportunities, all with advancement and lateral movement across disciplines. Time to let that secret out via your own employee testimonials (video is best), internships and other avenues.
5. Making a difference. Appeal to candidates' sense of altruism. Today's workers want to make a difference, both in their job and as volunteers through corporate philanthropy. We encourage every employee to take a "jelly bean" day, which is a paid day off to promote volunteerism. View Video 

At A.I.M. Mutual, we are seeing these strategies work as we maintain high experience level among our team members.
--by Mark Millett, Recruiter & Learning Development Specialist