Finding the 'sweet spot' in attracting millennials to insurance careers

While insurance will need to focus on the overarching goals that millennials have, the different skills sets and cultural backgrounds they bring to the table must be addressed as well. Why is a diverse workforce so necessary? Consider the following:

• Minority groups accounted for 87 percent of the national population growth between 2000 and 2010.
• Based on current projections, the U.S. will be a majority-minority country by 2042. That means that the majority of residents by that year will be comprised of racial or ethnic minorities, as opposed to white non-Hispanics.
• By 2028, 75 percent of worldwide discretionary spending will be controlled by women.

What do these statistics mean for insurance? Well, having a diverse workforce means your company will be better able to meet your customers’ needs that also include a diverse mix of life experiences, backgrounds and skill sets. The country’s largest generation grew up in the digital age, in which the world has slowly become smaller and smaller through the proliferation of technology. That means that millennials aren’t just more diverse in terms of backgrounds, but also in their ways of thinking. They’ve grown up in a world where everything they ever wanted to know was completely accessible — and they expect that the industries they choose to work in to embrace that fact.

According to Vertafore’s 2014 Young Professional Survey, 51 percent of millennials rate technology as “very important” to keeping them in the industry. Conversely, technology jobs within insurance continue to be the most in demand and are expected to grow at an extraordinary rate, with almost 75 percent of carriers expected to increase their tech staffs over the next 12 months.

With a view into the type of talent we need to recruit, the next question is what changes need to be made in order to accommodate this highly connected, diverse and tech-savvy generation? The answer lies in utilizing technology such as big data and analytics to help bring insurance into the 21st century. Even more importantly, there is an opportunity for tech-minded talent to help make the industry more nimble, efficient and able to create an engaging customer experience that allows insurers to attract and retain the best risks.

Insurance is playing catch-up in convincing the brightest talent that this is an industry ripe for innovation, especially as it pertains to the millennial generation. Weaving tech into the everyday analysis on how insurance is run is the key to keeping this diverse and dynamic workforce. While insurance may not have been “cool” for some time, there are ways to make it an attractive option by focusing on what the diverse millennial generation wants and needs — the ability to innovate and use technology to improve people’s daily lives.