Finding Employees For Insurance Industry Jobs
Copyright 2005 Insurance Workforce
Finding the right employee for any job opening can be a
challenge to say the least, and this is no truer than in
the insurance industry. With considerations ranging from
experience and education to their personal skills, the
decisions faced by recruiters and employers can be of
critical importance.
When hiring employees for insurance industry jobs it is
important to take many factors into account. Summarized,
these factors include:
1. Education & Certification
2. Experience
3. Personal Skills
Education & Certification
Obviously one of the first criteria you will be looking for
in a candidate will be their education. Whether the
employee is applying for a one of your insurance sales
jobs, customer service, risk management or some other
position you will want to make sure that their education
matches the criteria of the job. With this in mind an
employer will often find him/herself in a position when
multiple candidates are well educated and/or certified.
While it may take additional time, looking into the schools
themselves may yield significant differences.
A certificate from the “University of Phoenix Online” is
worth significantly less than the same certificate from an
accredited educational institution but unless you look into
the credentials you may be tempted to consider them all
equal.
While education cannot be considered the end-all-be-all of
hiring any qualified candidate, a solid education from an
accredited institution reflects more than a knowledge of
the industry – it also reflects the job applicant’s ability
to write and present ideas clearly and also to stick with
something they have started.
And isn’t that a key feature in a candidate, whether the
education is necessary in their job function or not?
Experience
This is perhaps the most important factor in filling jobs
in the insurance industry (or any industry for that
matter). What you should be reading into their experience
is not simply the number of years they have worked in the
same or similar roles however. While experience in a
specific field lends itself to a strong understanding of
the ins-and-outs of it can also have its downside that must
be taken into account.
The value of experience in the insurance industry comes
primarily from the reduced training that will be necessary
to get the employee functioning. Knowing how to perform a
specific function, especially a complex function such as
risk management or loss control, can save a company
countless dollars in training.
The downside in experience that must be considered is that
an employee may not fully understand the processes and
procedures unique to your insurance company. No two
companies perform all their tasks the same way and an
employee who has performed a specific role for one company
may assume (incorrectly) that you do or should do it the
same way. This can lead to bottlenecks and sometimes even
conflict.
An additional drawback to experience that must be addressed
when filling insurance jobs is the knowledge that the
prospective employee has worked in insurance industry jobs
and has chosen to leave an employer. The last thing you
want is to fill one of your vacant jobs with an employee
who has a history of leaving related positions.
Both of these drawbacks can be addressed with a few simple
questions of the employee and to past employers.
Personal Skills
Personal skills are arguably one of the most important
criteria when filling insurance industry jobs. While the
importance of personal skill is obvious when hiring for
insurance agent jobs, these skills are equally important
when considering employees for administration and more
technical positions as well. While these people may not
necessary be dealing with the public on a regular basis
they will play a key roll in developing a productive work
environment.
Although the primary objective in any businesses is to
insure profitability, developing an enjoyable work
environment in which the various parties can communicate
leads to new ideas, higher productivity due to a
willingness of all employees to work together, and perhaps
most importantly – a lower employee turnover rate.
For some insurance jobs, personal skills are more important
than others however for every position they should be
considered. You may even want to consider having the
current staff who will be working closely with the new
employee meet during the interview process and provide
feedback. If your staff work well together their
productivity will naturally increase.
Conclusion
While every company and position within that company is
different, as long as the above three areas are considered
when hiring for any of the various insurance industry jobs
available, you as the employer are far more likely to
foster a positive, productive and in the end, more
profitable company. You will end up with a staff that is
properly educated, has good experience if applicable, and
works well together. Like any well-oiled machine – this is
the recipe for success when filling insurance related jobs.
InsuranceWorkForce.com
http://www.insuranceworkforce.com/
is an established, nationally recognized insurance and
financial services 'You-Post-It' job site. If you’re
looking to fill insurance jobs or are seeking employment in
the insurance industry visit InsuranceWorkForce.com. A
virtual one stop employment site, linking employers and
recruiters with qualified job seekers having the
experience, skills and specialized training necessary to
get the job done!
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