Career survey outlines challenges in industry hiring 

Recruiting college students into the surplus lines section of the insurance industry can be challenging and members are seeking assistance in bringing graduates into the industry, according to recent survey by the National Association of Professional Surplus Lines Offices.

The survey of more than 1,100 member offices, which took place in September, showed that nearly 80% of respondents said that they were interested in recruiting college graduates with little specialty insurance experience. The survey also found that approximately 80% of members did not currently have a formal program to recruit college graduates and that 71% of members reported that it was “Very Difficult” or “Requires Significant Effort” to attract college graduates.

The surplus lines industry has grown significantly in the past few years and we have found it necessary to find a number of new employees to fill the spots in our industry,” said PastPresident Bill Newton. “To help our members over the past year NAPSLO has initiated a number of steps to encourage college graduates to consider joining the industry.”

In order to assist members, over the past year NAPSLO created a new Career section on their Web site with information on the industry and links to member firm’s employment Web sites; worked with a number of college career centers to promote the industry; and reached out to students through college publications and emails to encourage them to consider the industry. 

NAPSLO has organized a new committee to work directly on college relations and the new committee is expected to use the survey to plan actions for the committee for the year.

In the survey, members indicated they want assistance from NAPSLO, as 80% of respondents said that the Association could effectively assist in efforts to recruit new people to the industry. Areas members viewed as most important, and where NAPSLO could assist, included educating student and recent graduates about the industry and providing on-line job posting service. Other areas of interest were soliciting interest of college graduates and connecting them to members and providing members information and resources to use in recruitment.