Collegiate competition inspires students to pursue insurance careers
This month, RMI students will run virtual agencies and gain valuable experience in a competition hosted by Selective Insurance.
Throughout February and Insurance Careers Month, one collegiate competition is helping inspire students to pursue insurance careers while building valuable industry knowledge and experience.
The competition, sponsored and managed by Selective Insurance Company of America, challenges teams of students from seven universities to run virtual insurance agencies and make critical business decisions that are key in the insurance industry. The participating institutions this year include Appalachian State University, Howard University, Indiana State University, Illinois State University, Middle Tennessee State University, Temple University, and the University of North Carolina-Charlotte.
“Today’s risk management and insurance students are tomorrow’s insurance industry leaders, so helping students get acquainted with careers in our industry and on the path to success is something that we at Selective feel is our responsibility to see through,” Chuck Musilli, EVP, chief human resources officer at Selective, said in a statement.
Each week during the month, the teams compete against each other in exercises that require them to make educated decisions on various areas of the business such as strategy, carrier/customer/source management, staffing, sales, and financial management.
Helping the teams along the way are local independent insurance agents, who are assigned to each group and serve as Agency Mentors, and a company representative from Selective. Both help support, guide, and advise the students as they navigate the challenges of the competition.
At the end of the month, the first-place team will present their winning strategy to Selective’s leadership team.
“This year, Selective is both sponsoring and managing the competition, which has really drummed up a lot of excitement and engagement for both Selective employees and our independent agents who are involved with the program as Agency Mentors for the schools,” Robert Redden, vice president, agency development at Selective, told PC360. “There’s definitely an element of friendly internal competition between our regional offices and school sponsors as we kick off this competition, so everyone is really engaged and excited to see how the teams perform.”
Real-world benefits
As Redden explains, the competition affords students a unique opportunity to learn how decisions impact the operations of an agency — “it’s really great exposure to the insurance industry that can’t be found inside the classroom,” he says.
Nathanial Johnson, risk placement specialist at Granite Insurance, participated in the competition in 2019 while he was a student at Appalachian State University. He knows first-hand the value of applying college teaching to a real-world scenario prior to entering a career: “It was extremely beneficial to see how the ‘real world’ works before I actually started my career,” he shares. “I distinctly remember the competition teaching me how to work a room full of different individuals with various opinions and a wide range of experience. Since we often had our mentors on-site, it forced me to think through all scenarios regarding my idea before I brought it up to debate since I was fearful of representing the wrong information.
“The game itself showed me the thought process and tough decisions it takes to run an agency. I am now able to recall those decisions and apply them to my daily tasks in hopes of reducing everyone’s workload. It is all about working cohesively and trying to help everyone around you be successful!”
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