Members of WSIA’s Career Development Committee know that theneed to recruit new talent into the E&Sindustry is a mounting concern for many WSIA members, and they arefocused on work to address that challenge.

Related: Bridging the talen gap

Committee members engage in a variety of tactics to reachstudents and inform them about career opportunities, specificallyin the E&S sector. A primary approach is to target schools withRisk Management and Insurance majors or concentrations and toconduct outreach with those students. That outreach is achievedthrough on-campus presentations, electronic communications,engaging students at career fairs and by offering potentialinternships and scholarships.

Outreach continues to expand

Davis Moore, co-chair of the Career Development Committee andPresident/CEO of Worldwide Facilities LLC, said that WSIA’scareer-development outreach continues to expand. “During spring2017, committee members and member volunteers delivered 24presentations or events reaching more than 1,200 students at 32schools,” he noted. “That kind of reach is really important for theperpetuation of our industry. We know that member-driven,individual contact is impactful for students and it allows them toask questions and fully consider the variety of great paths andopportunities available in the wholesale, specialty and surpluslines industry when we can talk to them in classroom and careerfair settings.”

Bryan Sanders, Career Development Committee Co-Chair andPresident of Markel Wholesale, said the committee will continue touse this member-driven approach this fall. Committee members eachhave a list of assigned schools at which they will connect withstudents in a variety of ways, including in-person presentations.Those college presentations increase students’ awareness of careeropportunities in different facets of the industry, Sanders added,and utilizing the energy of WSIA’s U40 members to speak at theiralma maters or visit schools near their current homes isparticularly effective. “Students like to hear about what it’s liketo work in the field from recent graduates, and they appreciate theenergy and honesty that dynamic brings to the conversation,” saidSanders. “This program is so effective in raising awareness becauseof the time that so many volunteers are willing to commit.”

Speaker bureau

Other committee goals for enhancing career development work includeleveraging a speaker bureau subgroup that will enhance WSIA’sability to present on campuses, as well as a case studies subgroupthat will develop a set of special case studies during campuspresentations to better engage students and provide insight intospecific skills and types of candidates that are needed in theindustry.

Related: Keys to finding & keeping the rightemployees

The Derek Hughes/NAPSLO Educational Foundation’s scholarshipprogram also plays an important role in WSIA’s career developmentinitiative. Brady Kelley, WSIA Executive Director and FoundationTreasurer, said that the Foundation selected 15 students to receive$5,000 scholarships for the 2017-2018 school year: “The scholarshipprogram is a great complement to the other career developmentinitiatives that happen throughout the year. They’re an investmentin the future of not only that student but also in the industry.It’s a nice way to help bring our outreach goals full circle.”

Symposium participation

The Career Development Committee also continues to align itsefforts with the Foundation in its symposium participation. TheFoundation participates in two symposiums annually, the Excess& Surplus Lines Symposium hosted by Troy University, and theExtreme Risk Takers Symposium presented by Illinois StateUniversity, where students can learn more about careers in surpluslines and employers can connect with young prospects. New in 2018will also be the Wholesale and Specialty Symposium, hosted byArizona State University.

Related: Education and the looming talentgap

The Foundation also supports Gamma Iota Sigma and its annualInternational Conference. These outreach opportunities createaccess to talent for WSIA members who participate in the careerfair components where they can recruit students to careers in theE&S industry.

“We are very focused on how to facilitate and enhance the workthat WSIA members currently undertake to attract new talent to ourindustry,” Moore added. “There’s really a huge amount ofopportunity and those of us who work in this space know that it canbe a really rewarding career. We want to make sure that we have thebest and brightest in place to help fill the pipeline.”