Recruiting not a challenge for Northwestern Mutual

Time after time in the insurance sector we hear about the “graying of the industry”—the massive wave of soon-to-be retired professionals heading towards their golden years. Many companies see this as their biggest challenge since attracting the millennial generation to a career in the industry is no small feat—and many have failed to put in place a contingency plan that somehow replaces the current workforce that has one foot out the door.

Northwestern Mutual has seemed to buck that trend, however. Today, the company reported that it is on pace to break recruiting records for the second consecutive year. For 2013, Northwestern Mutual has recruited more than 1,100 financial planning professionals across the country, representing an 8% increase from last year. This announcement comes at an interesting time as the Department of Labor recently released its June unemployment statistics, showing the nation’s unemployment rate has held steady at 7.6 percent.