Mission critical: Spreading the word about insurance careers

The Wholesale & Specialty Insurance Association’s Talent Outreach committee digs in to address a pressing need.

Insurance work is “fun, and it can be lucrative in lots of ways,” says Danielle Wade, as president & CEO of Jackson Sumner & Associates and co-chair of WSIA’s Talent Outreach Committee. (Nuthawut/Adobe Stock)

It remains critical for insurance-industry professionals to tell the story of the depth and breadth of career opportunities in their business. Few places is this more evident than in the robust work undertaken by members of the Wholesale & Specialty Insurance Association (WSIA) Talent Outreach Committee.

“This industry is fun, and it can be lucrative in lots of ways,” says Danielle Wade, president & CEO of Jackson Sumner & Associates and co-chair of WSIA’s Talent Outreach Committee. “Talking with prospective professionals about the insurance industry in general, but wholesale, specialty and surplus lines insurance in particular, is how we’ll encourage them to join us and help dispel any misconceptions they have about insurance.”

Recently rebranded as the Talent Outreach committee (from the Career Development committee), this group’s mission is to network with WSIA members to create interest, awareness and enthusiasm about careers in the wholesale, specialty and surplus lines industry. During 2021, committee volunteers reached an estimated 1,291 students through a mix of in-person and virtual presentations. Volunteers also work closely with Gamma Iota Sigma as well as the WSIA Education Foundation, which is 2021 gave out two dozen scholarships totaling $110,000 to students in risk management and insurance undergraduate programs.

“It’s about spreading a wealth of information about this industry,” says Chris Timmerman, WSIA’s senior manager of Student Relations. “The more young people who hear about it, the better.

This committee also encourages the exchange of educational and industry information and promotes professionalism while encouraging students and professionals to become more involved in the wholesale, specialty and surplus lines community. To that end, the Talent Outreach committee facilitates a series of student White Paper contests throughout the year, and recently increased the prize money associated with this project in order to encourage even greater participation.

“The students we interact with during campus visits, white paper selection and various symposiums and career fairs are our future,” Wade says. In addition to polishing the group’s campus presentations this year, WSIA’s Talent Outreach committee also launched a Diversity Speakers Bureau to visit Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs).

The winning contributor can now earn up to $3,000, says Committee Co-chair Henry Lopez, who heads up Wholesale Financial Lines for Navigators, a division of The Hartford. “That increase was an easy decision for the committee because the goal of the contest is to encourage as many students as possible to participate and dig into a surplus lines-related topic, and we think the increased prizes will influence more to research and write a paper,” Lopez says.

And finally, WSIA’s Talent Outreach committee hosts a series of risk management and insurance career symposiums nationwide each year that open up yet another avenue for young professionals to learn more about the wholesale and surplus lines business and its vast career opportunities.

“We all hear about the looming talent gap, and it’s real,” Wade concludes. That’s why “this committee’s work is critical.”

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