Well, the holiday season is here, and you've got to get a giftfor that soon-to-be college graduate. How does this sound as asuggestion? Give them something that will cost you nothing to give,but will be of greater value than anything this person gets thisyear, or in the years to come.

It's something of great value, but they most likely don't knowthat to be true, and will miss it if you don't tell them. It issomething that will bring years of personal satisfaction andfinancial reward. What is it that I'm talking about?

For those of you old enough to remember the movie “TheGraduate,” Dustin Hoffman was given the career advice,“Plastics…The future is plastics!” What we should be telling thegraduate today is that there's a great future for them in“insurance–the sale of insurance.”

Why? Because it's true! Those of us in the insuranceagency/brokerage business are in a great field and a greatindustry. It has its challenges, but when you consider all of itspositives, and when you consider its future, it is a great businessindeed. Here are a few reasons why:

o Young people who are reasonably intelligent and willing towork hard can make a great living.

o If you have the ability to sell and you have technicalinsurance knowledge, you can get a job anywhere in the country.

o The work can be extremely rewarding.

o If you find the right situation, you can own something and youcan create a great deal of equity.

o In the process of making a great living, you can also providea valuable service to businesses and individuals.

In addition to all of this, the long-term future of the industrylooks bright.

Our industry isn't going away. A lot of changes are taking placewithin the agency/brokerage business and–as viable as it istoday–there is still lots of room for improvement.

Our industry needs many talented young people with sales,technical, management and leadership skills that can helpperpetuate our firms and take them to the next level.

If it's such a great opportunity, why do we have to be passingthis message along?

We have to because most young people don't have a positive viewof our industry.

If they have talent and ability, many of them are conditioned tofeel they need to consider something more meaningful–such asmedicine, law or finance.

We have done a poor job of reaching out and proactively sellingthe benefits of our industry to talented young people.

In addition, very few agents and brokers have been in a positionto provide a training and development platform that will allow themto hire untrained, talented young people and develop them tomaturity.

With the average age of agency owners increasing every year,long-term success will require that agents and brokers developtheir training, management, mentoring and people-developmentcapabilities in order to put themselves in a position to bring thenext generation of producers, managers and owners into theirorganizations.

To get the best, they are also going to have to be moreproactive in identifying, selling and recruiting these candidatesinto the agency/brokerage business.

Once they get these talented young people, they will have toinvest in them to give them the skills and knowledge they need toflourish.

These are not things that should be done. For most agents andbrokers, they must be done.

Well, it's your choice: You can get your graduate something likea Rolex watch or a new automobile, or you can get something forthem with a lot more value. You can convince them to get into theinsurance agency/brokerage business!

If you succeed, you'll do them and perhaps yourself a bigfavor.