How To Attract Millennials To Insurance (Part 1)
EDIT: I wrote Part 2 because of the positive feedback from this. Enjoy :)
Over the last year, I have grown like crazy personally and professionally. In turn, I have started to reflect more on how I got to where I am and where I want to go. Day to day, I help companies hire and attract talent using my software and technical skills.
A Look Back
I now work in the tech world but majored in Risk Management & Insurance from Appalachian State University with a heavy dose of finance.
In between my Junior and Senior years I was incredibly lucky to be selected as a 2015 NAPSLO Intern- an experience that shaped my view of the insurance industry, the people in it, and helped me decide to pursue my own venture.
When I reflect, some of the most fascinating and intelligent of my peers, Nick Demarco, Cam McCarty, and Houston Pittman, were NAPSLO interns with me. They all chose to pursue a promising career in the insurance industry.
Simply put, NAPSLO is a business trade organization for funky insurance. Things like Nicki Minaj’s butt, Troy Palomalo’s hair, and giant beach front condos susceptible to being blown away in a hurricane are all part of that industry. The really funky stuff. The NAPSLO internship program selects 15 interns from across the U.S. and is one of the most selective and prestigious programs in the country. They place the interns in two short term internships with 2 companies in the summer. I was placed in Richmond, VA and Tampa, FL. With NAPSLO you get to see the operations of different types of companies in insurance. Like there are different food and restaurant offerings, the same is true for insurance businesses. Some more expensive, some types of more rare offerings, and some large chains. By learning from two different companies the exposure to executives, sales VPs, underwriting, and supporting functions has been an invaluable chapter in my professional career.
I remember asking multiple friends in the business school about NAPSLO internships and no one knew much about it. After elaborating on its detail, they were absolutely shocked to see companies offering such a thing. My friends loved the idea of 2 short stints exploring different companies and roles and had no idea NAPSLO existed. When looking for jobs or internships, smart Millennials (the ones you want to hire) value education over anything. The NAPSLO internship exists to educate.
We kicked off the summer with a three-day crash course in Kansas City into what Surplus Lines Insurance is and were taught by over 20 of the industries biggest and baddest, including NAPSLO President, Brady Kelley. The fact these high profile leaders were willing to spend multiple days and part of their weekend educating insurance’s next generation is a testament to the strength and dedication of NAPSLO and the people who support it.
I learned more in those couple months over the summer than I did in four years of college. The exposure to the industry’s elite was made possible by Justin Mohn, Andrea Nash and other mentors. My NAPSLO mentor, Nick Abraham, made a large impact on my career choice and helped me grow as a person as I learned how to better deal with people. I contemplated a more conservative career choice but in the end, he helped me become more self-aware and decide I needed to do something with a different risk and reward. Underwriting seems like a great career choice, but not right for me right now. While working with Nick, I was able to ride around in Richie Witt’s brand new Porsche 911 Turbo S (my favorite car), chat with Thom Gayner, “the next Warren Buffet” and shadowed every department of a fortune 500 company from the mail room to venture and acquisitions (my favorite part).
Every person I have described my experience to has been shocked at the incredible opportunity and did not know such a thing existed for students.
NAPSLO London and Bermuda Interns
At the conclusion of the summer NAPSLO Internship, a panel chooses two interns, one to go to London and the other Bermuda for an extended 3-week internship.The London and Bermuda trips for NAPSLO interns is possibly the coolest experience in any internship. Not even the Apple or Googles of the world have something like it. Knowing this, it would be a disservice not to TELL THE WORLD ABOUT IT!
Here’s how: The interns themselves could learn to Vlog it or for a couple hundred dollars and a plane ticket (a small expense for the marketing value brought) you could send another student to document the experience, learnings, and create awareness to others. (Wish I would have pitched that idea when Cam and Houston went ;) You can use a professional camera or all of this can be done on an iPhone for minimal cost. Sharing something like this could single-handedly improve the image and attraction of the insurance industry.
Ideas With the Greatest Potential
If I didn’t truly believe in the incredible opportunities NAPSLO and (potentially soon AAMGA) all the hundreds of member organizations have to offer, I would not have bothered to write. Because I do, I thought I would put some ideas together how insurance can tackle the monster of attracting young, bright people to the industry and NAPSLO Internship Program.
Many of these ideas are ones I have successfully implemented in Raleigh. I believe in “Open Source Recruiting,” a term we coined at Glance to share our ideas of how to grow successful recruiting teams. Instead of keeping our work secret like many recruiters do today, we like to share.
Video Course of Intro to surplus Lines Insurance
I remember before I was selected as a NAPSLO intern scouring the web for more high-quality information to learn more about E & S Insurance. Unfortunately, I struggled to find much high-quality information. I found Marsh’s blog interesting but still was hungry for more. In the software world, there is enough information being produced on a daily basis to satisfy a lifetime appetite. Hence one of the reasons I decided it was a better fit for me.
There are many in-person high-quality courses put on by AAMGA, NAPSLO, and even through App State or other schools, but they should be readily available to every student in the country, for free. I know NAPSLO has a course on this, but it is not easy to access as you must have a login and is mostly text. Video format with the industry’s brightest will have a much greater ROI and help more young people learn about the industry.
The Insurance Industry has recognized attracting young, smart, men and women to the field is a difficult task. What needs to happen next is that the industry must start reaching them where they are- on Facebook and YouTube. Videos can be, but really do not need to be, professionally filmed and edited.
So here’s how to start: film the next lecture Nick Abraham or Danielle Wade or Brady Kelley gives at a conference, stick it on YouTube and Facebook and start a playlist. Do this for 12 months and watch the incredible impact it has. Students will find it and absorb it. Industry professionals will find it and absorb it. From a macro-level, you will educate the industry and do so more effectively and efficiently because most of your companies cannot afford to attend the conference but want to learn. Especially if it is conveniently on their Facebook and YouTube on their phone.
A frequently heard hesitation is that if you can watch for free on YouTube or Facebook, the conference will lose value. WRONG! It will gain value! The brand recognition will far exceed any nominal loss. I know this because we gave away proprietary tech sales training away for free and have had an incredible ROI.
Some of the best tutorials in the software world are live filmed and stuck on YouTube. I have helped to create this movement in tech sales for sales professionals and here is our most watched video. We reached over 2000 people in a few days with just one video. Not to mention the value Nick, Danielle, and Brady will gain in building their personal brands will be incredible. Each is well respected and those breaking into the industry will appreciate your work for years. It can all be filmed on an iPhone.
Career Path Awareness
Some large individual insurance companies do a good job (Liberty Mutual and Travelers) highlighting what a career path looks like at their company but few in the E & S world do at all. By documenting video interviews and testimonials and dripping on Facebook and YouTube you give students the comfort of understanding what joining your company means and where it will lead them. In this category, I actually believe small agencies and brokers have the upper hand and biggest potential.
Agencies and Brokers
You often operate like a small business and you do not have the red tape large corporations have. Not to mention, millennials are less interested in large companies than ever before. They like the idea of homegrown business, establishing local, meaningful relationships in the communities, and the upside financial potential is incredible.
How a Small Agency Won my Attention and Can Win Others
In my undergrad Cameron Annas from Granite Insurance took me out for a day to learn about him, his agency and what they do. It was incredible. He took me to one of his clients, a zip line aerial park, and we zipped around and talked about the risks present, how he evaluated them and helped the park become safer. Had we filmed some of it, the exposure for new business to his agency, exposure to new potential employees, and the exposure and education of what an agency is could have been incredible. Cam, you could always do it again with another hungry student!
Standard Lines and Admitted Carriers
To start: Watch what Liberty Mutual does and copy it. Next: do the same thing mentioned above.
I attended Liberty Mutual Leadership Forum when I was a sophomore in college and cannot tell you how many of my friends I tried to convince to get into insurance afterward. They put us up in the Boston Revere Hotel for half a week, taught us about their business, and gave an intro into the industry. The view from my hotel room was awesome:
I ran into Francis Hyatt, a high-level executive in the hall and he was so nice to introduce himself and wish me the best for the remainder of the trip. He has probably long since forgot about me but these small gestures have a large impact when they move via word of mouth and social media.
Conclusion
I believe that the insurance industry, especially E & S Lines has incredible potential. However, I also believe it is critical to make a bid right now for the top talent. With FinTech and InsurTech making strong strides, if they do not find a way to attract the best and brightest they risk suffering the same fate as retail has to Amazon.
Friends I have talked to were completely unaware of the industry and a whole lot were confused as to what I was doing when I traveled between Richmond, Tampa and Kansas City learning from the most established and experienced in the industry. I gained invaluable insight and learned so much more than I ever did in a classroom and wish more of my peers had the exposure to the same. As the world continues to accelerate and learning becomes universally available, I wonder if NAPSLO or AAMGA as a whole could embrace this acceleration and provide value to students without the insurance background and make insurance the cool career to pursue.
Thank you very much for reading. I hope you found value in it and would love to hear your thoughts :)
Thank you to all whom I mentioned, you truly had a large impact on my life.
Thank you to Kam Kales and Nick DeMarco for reading drafts of this.
Thank you to Colin Rex for the cover photo.
