What do students looking for jobs in the risk and insurancefields expect of their future employers?

Among the many factors that affect the success of the employmentrelationship are expectations and perceptions.

While compensation, work load, responsibility, and support ofvarious types are all vital to the total relationship, happyemployees are not necessarily the highest paid. Moreover, thehighest paid are not necessarily happy or loyal. Add ingenerational differences between management and employees, (thenewest generation is never as good as the last one), and workexperience, (for new hires about zero, for lateral hires adifferent culture), and the possibility for misaligned expectationsand perceptions is a major factor that employers and employees haveto surmount.

The risk and insurance fields are keenly aware of the need torecruit young staff, because of the aging of the workforce, asmany studies and articles have shown.

The recruiting practice for a century has been to hire recentgraduates of any college major. Most people in the field admit theymajored in anything but insurance, and that they stumbled into thefield late. In fact, the current president of RIMS told theaudience at the annual conference that she was an art history major.

Providing A Head Start

The expansion of the college curriculums to offer at least somecourses in risk and insurance gives college students an earlyawareness of the risk and insurance fields. There have been a fewcolleges with large, well-regarded and long-standing riskmanagement programs that grant a degree in the field, which havealways been a source of new talent with a head start in the subjectmatter. There are ever more colleges with small programs, oftenwithin other business majors like finance and real estate. A fewcolleges dropped their small programs following the economiccollapse in 2008 – exactly when many people first startingwondering about risk management in business and economics.

If there are more college students with at least anawareness—if not a dedication—to the career possibilitiesin risk and insurance, then it is fair to ask what the studentsexpect in their first jobs. From the other side, what mightemployers anticipate of their new recruits?

An informal survey of some students in the large risk managementprogram at Georgia State University (GSU), and the small program atUniversity of Colorado-Denver, gives a little insight of studentexpectations.

Please keep in mind this was a conversation, not a study.Furthermore, not all of the questions were exactly the same betweenthe two groups. Students were told that Claims Magazinewas interested in their views about future employment, and thestudent comments would be without attribution. With theselimitations, the comments are a useful insight as to what studentsexpect as they search for jobs in the risk and insurancefields.

Perceptions and Expectations

College students often press themselves to map out their entirecareers and get their first jobs exactly right. Usually they seemto shoot at multiple targets because they do not yet know which onewill suit them best. Sometimes the targets are in different fieldsentirely (finance and insurance and real estate), sometimes indifferent roles in an industry (broker, underwriter, risk manager),because the students usually are unaware that life will probablyshift them around with several jobs and perhaps a few differentcareers over their 40+ years of work.

So we started our questions on this topic: do you needto get your first job exactly right? Asking the studentsthis question showed they put a little less pressure on themselvestowards this notion than customarily thought, although the age ofthe students seems to play a part in their perception. Severalstudents said they had to get the first job right, and it would“map out the career,” but most were flexible on the point. Manysaid the first job would “set the tone” for one's career, at leastas to contacts later or as a foundation “to learn and developskills,” or because it is “important to do well and make a goodimpression.” A few students seemed more aware that the first jobwould show them possibilities within the field, whether theparticular work they were doing was interesting to them or whethersome other aspect might be more appealing.

When pressed on the number of careers and jobs they expect,answers ranged from 2 to 3 careers (one person went to 5), and 3 to7 employers. Retirement age is likely to 70 years old.

Starting salary expectations seem reasonable, based on publishedsalary ranges that some students cited. At least in the risk andinsurance fields, students interviewed are not expecting to hit$100,000 in annual compensation too soon, although a few studentshad the idea that prompt raises would bring them to near that levelwithin 5 years.

Students who are working now are dissatisfied with raises. Therecognize the reality that raises , if any, are maybe matchinginflation, and business are still shaken by the economic collapseof 2008, but did not think this compensation adjustment isfair.

Benefits were also important, and not just usualhealth-dental-vision package. Fitness centers, child care, andwork-at-home options (at least for family reasons) were mentioned.Interestingly, some students listed mentors and other types offellow-employees as guides to be valuable benefits. Whether this isin line with the oft-remarked observation that the new generationis used to having their parents and teachers show them how to doeverything, or a recognition of the long-standing truism thata mentor relationship advances a career by helping the young workerlearn the ropes and avoid the dumb mistakes, is hard to say. Eitherway, it is an employee benefit they recognize, and one that isinexpensive and valuable to both employers and employees.

Some students remarked on the need for obtaining furthercredentials such as the insurance and risk management designations,although sometimes the tone of RMI students seems to be acredential per se, to be acquired as easily as possible, ratherthan an acquisition of detailed knowledge that the credentialreflects. A few students mentioned obtaining MBA or other mastersdegrees.

When asked how they would respond to the perception by employersthat the new generation has a sense of entitlement, meaning theyare entitled to jobs and to rewards for doing their jobs, somestudents were aware of the perception of their generation. Thequeried students disowned this notion, saying “if you do your job,that's what they pay you for,” and in this economy “they only thingyou can ask for is more work.”

Relocation brought a variety of responses. Many were keen on anemployer offering them relocation, or students seeking ouremployers in other cities or countries they might like to try,including some international opportunities.

None of the students mentioned Silicon Valley-type perks likesushi on-site, dogs at work, or play rooms.

The Role-Hedging Debate

One of the things that comes across is that risk and insurancemajors seem to have a decent idea of wanting to be in the field.They should—one does not stick with a risk and insurance withoutsome sense of what is ahead, even if the specific role is yet to bechosen. There is also the role hedging debate, which is probablytrue for all new college majors. That is, should one start inunderwriting and then go to brokerage, or the other way around, orif corporate risk management is the goal then where should onestart, assuming a direct opportunity is not available? Thesequestions are probably comparable for most majors such asaccounting and finance. Ask experienced workers for advice on thisand the answers will likely be as varied as the number ofrespondents.

While there are some generational differences as the newgraduates move into the work force, as employers always discover,overall, it seems, risk and insurance employers should beharnessing the strong interest of candidates that comes with thededicated course of study of risk and insurance major. Unlike theusual broad array of students who have traditional enter thefields, this group will not mishear “underwriter” as “undertaker,”and confuse “enterprise risk management” as an office pool forbetting on football teams or buying lottery tickets.