Sherri Stein is on the InVEST board.
Develop a sturdy recruiting strategy
By Sherri Stein, CPCU, CIC
InVEST provides a social advantage, reaching diverse populations with the involvement of more than 235 urban and rural communities and more than 60% minority participation.
Sherri Stein is on the InVEST board.
Most independent agents want to focus their energy on sales and service. Why shouldn't they? It's why they got in the business, and it is the most obvious means of contributing to the bottom line. But in addition to producing new sales, successful agencies need to attract and retain a qualified staff of employees. After all, without a qualified staff of employees, agencies are unable to maximize their production potential.
Trade magazines across the country address the "how to's" of being a successful small business owner and running a productive agency. And there's one word that always seems to find its way into these articles--recruitment. While it's easy to admit that recruiting is important, many agents find that building a long-term recruiting strategy is not as easy as these articles would suggest.
Recruiting and retaining a top-notch staff is an investment in the agency's ongoing success.
There are many levels to developing a sturdy recruiting strategy that agents can mold to meet their individual needs.
One agent's solution
Independent agent Bill Kleis, vice president of InSource in Miami, Florida, did invest the time and the result was a successful recruiting strategy for his agency: to develop a pool of qualified, insurance-knowledgeable candidates.
How did he do it? In 1984, Kleis, along with members of the Independent Insurance Agents of Dade County, got together to support the local InVEST program in the Miami high school system.
InVEST is a 501(c)3 educational trust that prepares students for careers in the insurance industry. InVEST was founded in 1970 by the Independent Insurance Agents of Los Angeles. It is now sponsored and administered by the Independent Insurance Agents of America. Teachers and agents implement the program on the local level. The hands-on curriculum has students actually developing their own mock insurance agencies and performing the duties of the insurance company, from recommending policies to estimating claims. Throughout the year, each student rotates through company and agency positions, learning all basic aspects of the business.
As a relatively new agent to the business, Kleis believed that it was important to get involved with this educational program. After devoting time to establish his business and grow his client list, he didn't have much time to recruit and train new people from scratch. What he needed was a recruiting strategy that would help lower the costs of training employees.
So for several years, Kleis and dozens of other Miami agents supported the local InVEST program. They helped by teaching classes, allowing students to "job shadow," offering work opportunities to help students apply their knowledge, and defraying the cost of textbooks and other necessary class materials.
"The direct involvement that agents provide in the classroom setting truly helps to motivate the students to learn about insurance," says Barbara Miller-Richards, IIAA's assistant vice president of agent development. "They get to see the application of their lessons; it sparks their interest in the industry."
Apparently, the strategy has worked. Many agents in the Miami area have utilized the pool of qualified students for part-time jobs, internships and even full-time employment in their offices. Over the years, Kleis has employed about two dozen InVEST students in his offices--at many levels from administrative to managerial. (On a national level, past studies show that two-thirds of InVEST graduates go on to work in some aspect of the industry.)
"We're better able to plan our growth," says Kleis. "Because we don't have to deal with a constant turnover of employees, we can devote extra time and resources to expand our base of business."
Company involvement
Local InVEST programs thrive on community support as well as assistance from insurance companies. SAFECO, for example, is a long-time supporter of many programs that help keep its agency ranks strong--InVEST included.
"It's important for us as an insurance company to help our agents prosper," says Allie Mysliwy, senior vice president of human resources at SAFECO. "The InVEST program is part of the solution to the recruiting problems for both our company and our independent agents. The future of our company and our distribution system depends upon our ability to attract and retain quality employees who are able to effectively provide service for an increasingly diverse customer base. InVEST can help us to find qualified employees capable of providing this service."
In addition to providing the direct business benefit of a potential recruitment pool, InVEST provides a social advantage--reaching diverse populations with the involvement of more than 235 urban and rural communities and more than 60% minority participation. The insurance industry has a tremendous opportunity not only to better reflect the demographics of America, but also to open up and expand business opportunities in new markets.
These days industries and companies of all sizes are looking to diversify their top ranks more than ever. The motivations are varied: Major corporations want their management to better reflect their diverse work forces. Some need culturally sensitive--and often bilingual--managers to market everything from insurance to shampoo to minority consumers. Some still are searching for executives to help them expand into Latin America. Others are searching for agency leaders to perpetuate the agency organization.
"Large corporations understand that in order to serve a diverse customer base, they need to look more like their customers. Supporting a program like InVEST with its diverse reach can really accelerate a corporation's move to be more diverse," says Miller-Richards.
It would be illegal for companies to intentionally consider only candidates of color for a job. They can, however, turn to supporting recruiting programs with a large percentage of minority participation to broaden their candidate slate.
In areas such as Miami and Denver where diverse populations are greater than average, InVEST excels in preparing these students for entry-level positions in the insurance industry. Barbara Fidler, executive vice president of the Professional Independent Insurance Agents of Colorado, and chairman of the InVEST of Colorado Board, sees the program as a way to spark interest in a segment of the population that previously wouldn't view insurance as a career option.
"Educating a diverse and largely bilingual population presents an increased business opportunity for the local insurance industry," says Fidler. "Companies in the Denver area are better able to serve their existing customers and to reach new ones by hiring bilingual candidates who are knowledgeable about the industry and can properly explain the products to the policyholder."
The Denver InVEST program established four classrooms that boast a more-than-70% minority student population. In its first year of existence, it graduated more than 80 students. Some have gone into industry jobs and others on to higher education. Regardless of the numbers, all students left the program more knowledgeable about insurance and its impact on their lives.
Local agencies also are benefiting from the new talent. In addition to working in local companies, InVEST students have an opportunity to work in local independent agencies through contacts made with the program. "We're building a workforce to supply everything from administrative staff and account managers to future agency leaders," says Fidler. "It might be a little premature to say that InVEST helps to perpetuate the industry, but the potential is certainly there. We spark the students' interest. How far they want to build that is up to them."
Investing in InVEST is a long-term solution to two problems that plague our industry--recruitment and diversity. As there is no quick fix to these problems, InVEST certainly provides direct business benefits in the long run. It's an investment that agencies and companies alike can't afford to miss. *
The author
Sherri Stein is director of agency business consulting for SAFECO Insurance Companies in Seattle.