Reach for the stars: outreach programmes need to beat the competition

Graduate outreach programmes run by captive insurance companies need to get better, if they aren’t to let any identified talent slip through their fingers.

In the third of our articles looking at recruiting talent in the captive insurance industry, Captive International asked some of the judges for our FORTY Under 40 project if the graduate outreach programmes being run by companies go far enough.

Gary Osborne, vice president–alternative risk at Risk Partners, said that reaching students is difficult because even though the industry needs people, its needs are minute compared to competing employers like the tech industry.

To make matters worse, tech employers tend to be located in places that people are attracted to such as New York, Austin or Boston. In comparison, he said, the captive industry is spread out and it’s not even clear where the opportunities lie in the industry: Burlington, Charleston or Honolulu?

He stressed that the outreach has to be focused on the student populations where there are meaningful job opportunities.

“The outreach in Vermont and South Carolina to the appropriate colleges is beginning to help—but what is the industry looking for?” Osborne asked. “Accountants? Or is it morphing into more insurance underwriters or sales professionals? How many jobs is any one company looking to fill in any year—for Marsh maybe 10 to 15? And in my company: one or two a year?”

According to Nick Hentges, chief executive of Captive Resources, due to the disruptions caused by COVID-19 and a job market in flux, outreach programmes are “a bit muddy at the moment”.

Hentges said that the captive insurance industry began outreach in earnest just prior to the coronavirus outbreak, when it began to recognise the number of retirements the insurance industry was facing. Unfortunately, the pandemic delayed additional efforts further. As a result, he feels, it may be too early to measure their effectiveness.

“We’ve no doubt made progress, as more and more professionals in our industry have come to recognise the importance of the issue and become involved—but we have more building to do,” Hentges told Captive International. “Have we done everything we can/should do? Not yet.”

“Not yet” were words almost repeated by Anjanette Fowler, managing director and senior vice president, Insurance & Specialised Industries Group at PNC Institutional Asset Management. She told Captive International that in her view the industry’s outreach programmes are “not quite there yet”—but she does believe that the industry is making progress with awareness programmes through associations such as the CICA, scholarships such as that supported by Hylant, and outreach initiatives that CICA’s Amplify Women is currently focused on in which seasoned captive professionals go out to college campuses to speak and bring real-life experiences to college campuses.

However, Fowler added, there is a need to go bigger in educating the graduating talent pool for example that a career in captives encompasses those with marketing, accounting, finance, law, and general business degrees, given the broad spectrum of service provider work involved in establishing and managing a captive entity.

“Going beyond those focused degrees, I know we have some very successful and talented individuals in our industry who come from teaching and other non-business focused backgrounds,” she added. “It’s an exercise in letting folks know that it’s a dynamic and fun space to work in.”

Phillip Giles, managing director of MSL Captive Solutions, was more critical, saying that some outreach initiatives have not been strong or clear enough. As he explained, when he entered the insurance industry, formal, postgraduate corporate home office training programmes were the norm. However, those don’t seem to exist any more. New professionals need to be able to gather knowledge and learn on the fly.

“A good mentor is essential,” he stressed. “Current practitioners need to realise that as alternative risk professionals, we are stewards of the captives industry. We are each responsible for perpetuating continuous development, growth and evolution of our industry. Part of our promise to our clients and colleagues is to contribute our time and expertise to the betterment of this industry as a whole.

“Assertive recruitment and development of young professionals needs to be an ongoing initiative throughout our industry.”