INSURANCEBUSINESSONLINE.COM.AU

ISSUE 2.6

CATASTROPHE PLANNING

TACKLING NATURAL DISASTERS THE SMART WAY

DUAL PERSONALITYDAMIEN COATES ON THE

FRAUD THAT ROCKED INSURANCE

BROKER NETWORKS SQUARE OFF

WHO IS THE TRUE BROKER CHAMPION

AHEADThe outlook for 2014

THE YEAR

NEWS / ANALYSIS

The generation gapThe insurance industry is often characterised as one staffed by grey-haired men – but is this true? If so, how can insurance secure the next generation of brokers?Ask a handful of teenagers what their career aspirations are, and more than likely you’ll hear the answers “actor”, “teacher” and “lawyer” – but you would be hard pushed to find a youngster who aspires to be an insurance broker.

The industry has, almost since its inception, laboured with public perception – as both a service and a career path. People are more likely to associate

the industry with a rejected claim than a fulfilling vocation. Yet it’s not necessarily the dearth of glitz, glamour and action that’s turning away potential new recruits – it’s the lack of awareness

that insurance can be a worthwhile profession.

EDUCATION VS NETWORKINGThis is something Young Insurance Professionals

(YIPs) Australia and New Zealand, which has more than 2,000 members, recognises. “Insurance is not an automatic career of choice among the general public, particularly school-leavers. They do not have

much knowledge of insurance as a concept, let alone as an industry

or a career option,” says YIPs president Sampath Soysa.

He says the industry is fully aware of the issue but focuses too heavily on recruitment and retention methods that do not, in isolation, appeal to the younger audience.

Soysa stresses that while such initiatives are still

important, not enough attention is paid to

“ i n t a n g i b l e ” m e t h o d s

such as

business networking events. “Business networking is where the insurance industry has flourished. A lot of the people in senior management positions have stayed in the industry because of the relationships they formed over the years. A lot of organisations are losing sight of that.”

Broker champion Kate Fairley, 25, recently completed a law degree at Deakin University. During her time there she attended graduate career fairs where a whole raft of industries including airline companies, retailers, financial services firms and associations were represented – but not one insurance company was present at any of them.

“The reason people know about graduate pro-grams at companies like Ernst & Young and retailers like Coles is because they market themselves,” she says. “There is a perception that the industry lacks the resources to promote itself to young people because brokers are small and independent, but they can target students finishing their BCEs.”

Shane Moore is the managing director of brokerage TradeRisk at just 34, but he started his career at an NRMA call centre 10 years ago. Moore says there are plenty of young people working in insurance call centres, but they are not given the opportunity to advance their careers.

“I worked with plenty of motivated young people. The problem was that we were given no career path. Most people who left moved sideways to other call centres, often in banking, rather than moving up within the insurance industry.”

John Elliott, 31, takes a rather different view – he says the industry is getting younger, and he is proof of that. He set up Elliott Insurance Brokers when he was just 26. Elliott is convinced more young and passionate professionals will come up through the cracks to fill the gaps, all over Australia, left by company directors who have opted to sell into cluster groups.

8 | JANUARY 2014

NEWS / ANALYSIS

He also highlights attracting school-leavers.“Underwriters tend to look at graduates, but that

is a little late because by then they have completed degrees which broadly target a certain profession. By targeting graduates, you are targeting a narrower pool of potential recruits. A career in insurance would be an afterthought.

“We have been looking at career fairs and presentations for school-leavers as they raise the profile of the industry among students before they go to university. They can then plan their courses and decide if they need to go university at all [to pursue their chosen careers].”

LOOKING FOR A CHANGEHowever, even targeting people in their late twenties to early thirties can yield positive results, Soysa adds. “People will change careers three or four times in their lives. We are already finding people in their late twenties/early thirties who are completely looking for a change. They have a wealth of life experience and qualifications from other sectors which are useful and compatible with different areas of insurance, but as an industry we aren’t positioned to look for those people or offer them a transition into the insurance industry.”

The best way to do this, Soysa advises, is by inviting those outside insurance, who are looking for a career change, to industry networking events.

“Engage your wider non-insurance network of friends and family,” he says.

With broker networks keen to boost their mem-bership count, some suggest they, too, can play a role.

“Cluster groups need access to the thousands of insurance call centre workers, get the high achievers along to tailored industry events and perhaps even placements within their broker offices,” Moore explains.

“If I was offered such an opportunity a decade ago, I would have jumped at it.”

The industry may have some way to go before insurance becomes as popular a profession as law, and it may never be as attractive as acting; however, as Booth highlights, regardless of how insurance professionals enter the industry, what is clear is they have no desire to leave.

“The vast majority of brokers are passionate about what they do and extremely proud of the industry they work in,” he says.

“That shows in the amount of people that stay in the profession, regardless of how they entered it in the first place.”

How old are insurance brokers?

Source: NIBA 2013 Communications Survey

24.5%

22.9%

19.5%

13.6%

12.4%

3.9%0.8%2.4%

16–21

22–27

28–35

36–45

46–55

56–65

65+

NO ANSWER

10 | JANUARY 2014

“There is a new pool of talent coming through the ranks that is cocky, impatient, innovative, hun-gry and reckless. It’s going to make for an exciting 10 years for our industry and I feel a younger generation of brokers.”

WHERE ART THOU AT THE CAREER FAYRE?National Insurance Brokers Association (NIBA) CEO Dallas Booth says more insurance companies are targeting career fairs, and this approach may be working.

“The industry as a whole has long recognised that it needs to do more to promote insurance as a viable, attractive career,” Booth says, “and there is a signi-ficant desire in our membership base for NIBA to be

active in the area. A number of our members are active in promoting the value of a career in

broking at regional careers fairs, and we are currently looking at ways in which we can

better support their endeavours to take this message to a younger audience.”

Soysa thinks the best approach is a collaborative one. “We need NIBA, ICA, Steadfast, Austbrokers, ANZIIF and YIPs to look at how it can be done on a shared costs and contribution basis, rather than each company doing their own thing, which is fragmenting the narrow presentation of the industry.”