Zurich's apprenticeship program makes launching a career in insurance easy
Since the program's launch in January 2016, Zurich has hired 85 apprentices.
There are countless stories of professionals who didn’t plan to work in the insurance industry but landed in it anyway. To an outsider’s perspective, it may seem like a traditional career path — and for some, it is — but there are a number of untraditional ways that lead to insurance.
One is through an apprenticeship. While it’s not part of every insurance company’s strategy, it is for Zurich North America. In connection with the U.S. Department of Labor’s annual National Apprenticeship Week, held on Nov. 11-17, 2019, Zurich North America welcomed Chicago area high school students to the Zurich National Apprenticeship Week Summit on Nov. 14. The purpose is to introduce high school students and counselors to opportunities to simultaneously launch a career in commercial insurance while earning a college degree, tuition-free.
Zurich’s apprenticeship program, the first insurance apprenticeship program to be certified by the Department of Labor, is not only for recent high school graduates; veterans and other non-traditional students also have a chance to gain the education and experience to qualify for professional roles in areas that include underwriting, claims, finance, legal, human resources and cybersecurity.
“Apprenticeships are an innovative, win-win way to address labor shortages and barriers to professional advancement,” Al Crook, Zurich’s head of human resources business partners and executive sponsor of Zurich’s Apprenticeship Program, said in a statement.
The application process
Applications for Zurich’s apprenticeship program are typically accepted in late winter through early spring for a two-year program beginning in August. The process starts online with an application and then progresses to interviews for those who meet “college-ready” criteria and other requirements. Applicants typically learn whether they were accepted in late spring and early summer.
Zurich apprentices attend classes two days a week at Harper College and work three days a week at Zurich’s Schaumburg, Ill., headquarters, rotating through different areas. They are classified as full-time employees, earning a salary and benefits, including paid time off, health insurance and tuition coverage — provided they remain a Zurich employee for a year after graduating from the program — while they work to graduate with an Associate in Applied Science in Business Administration degree, with a concentration in insurance.
Upon graduation, they are promoted a level and continue working in the area where they are were placed before graduation. After one year in that position, they are eligible to apply for other postings at Zurich.
Program innovation
Since the program’s launch in January 2016, Zurich has hired 85 apprentices. It has 19 apprentices in the 2019 cohort and 18 apprentices in the 2018 cohort, putting it on track to meet its original goal of hiring 100 apprentices by 2020.
The program has also adapted to the changing insurance landscape over the years. For example, it introduced a cybersecurity concentration last year in response to business needs and market demand. Zurich says the cyber apprenticeship is designed differently from the general insurance program, and the traction thus far shows that apprenticeships can be designed for a multitude of fields, not just in commercial insurance.
As the insurance industry grapples with attracting the next set of talent, innovative opportunities like Zurich’s apprenticeship program will be key to its longterm success — as well as for other businesses and industries looking to diversify their talent pool or overcome difficulty recruiting a skilled workforce. Zurich says it is happy to share insights and experiences with other businesses interested in exploring apprenticeships.
“We’ve learned a lot about how successful we can be as an organization when we try something new,” says Crook. “For many of our jobs now, we no longer require a four-year college degree, because we know there’s more than one way to become an exceptional performer and build an exceptional career.”
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