Romance has nothing on today's insurance careers
Not many occupations reel people in and enchant them for life quite like insurance.
Over many years in media, I’ve gotten to know a number of passionate professionals: caregivers driven by the desire to heal; musicians and artists intoxicated by creativity; politicians who truly believed they could save the world.
But I’ve never come across a field that reels people in and enchants them for life quite like insurance.
This theme of ‘being in love with insurance’ comes up several times in this month’s issue of NU Property & Casualty magazine.
Both of the industry leaders profiled in the Executive Insights section speak to their longtime love affair with the business.
Sedgwick Executive Chairman Dave North talks about why he considers insurance to be “a noble calling,” in part because it’s essential to most everything in society.
That sentiment is echoed by Duck Creek Technologies CEO Michael Jackowski, who weaves the idea of insurance as a service-driven endeavor into every facet of his company’s corporate culture. Jackowski says that generating excitement at Duck Creek around a shared mission to help protect people and businesses is key to keeping staff engaged despite so many of them working from home.
This month’s issue also spotlights NU’s 2021 Agency of the Year Award winners. Each year, my colleagues and I delight in the chance to pause on covering industry news and trends and instead talk to the dedicated professionals who are setting the pace for the insurance business of tomorrow.
Unsurprisingly, these also are individuals who can’t help but feel attached to their work. While the sisters who run Post Insurance & Financial in Port St. Lucie, Fla., are sustaining a family legacy, the team an hour north of them at National Flood Insurance, LLC, is driven by the urgency to make sure more homeowners safeguard their properties and possessions from one of nature’s most destructive events. Meanwhile in California, even the glitz and glam of making movies in Hollywood couldn’t come between Bill Johnson, chairman of The Liberty Company Insurance Brokers, and his lifelong calling to work in insurance.
You can hear more from each of this year’s Agency of the Year Award winners on Aug. 17, 2021, during our free Winner’s Roundtable webcast. The title is “How to Enhance Business and Client Relations Amid Strong Industry Headwinds.”
But you see what I mean? As often as I hear people say that they almost unwittingly stumbled into an insurance job, I’m told even more often about similar individuals who started working in insurance and then never left because of how much they like their work.
Did somebody say talent gap?
As the insurance industry begins to ramp up for post-pandemic, in-person events later this year — several of which I plan to attend — it’s a safe bet that recruitment will be a hot topic on many conference agendas due to the ongoing challenge to lure great talent to insurance. Highlighting stories about happy professionals like those included in this month’s magazine is one sure way to pique the interest of today’s top job seekers. And let’s not forget: The Insurance Information Institute describes any chance to work in this business as “the opportunity of a lifetime.”
That organization points to the fact that Forbes highlighted actuary work as “The Best Job in America” as well as the fact that demand for insurance agents and brokers is going to surge in the years to come.
I would add that insurance is more multi-faceted than some job seekers might realize. There really is a place in this industry for every personality and skillset.
Read more columns by Executive Editor Elana Ashanti Jefferson: