A long-term informational campaign launched by leading insuranceeducation groups to raise awareness about careers in the industryis a good start towards recruiting more young talent into abusiness starved for new blood.

Three years ago in this space, I wondered what the insuranceindustry might do to overcome a generally poor reputation, ascattering of resources, and the lack of a unified message torecruit more high school, college, and graduate school students.The collaborative outreach effort known as “MyPath” might be justwhat the doctor ordered.

The program is the culmination of an initiative put in play backin September 2011 by The Griffith Insurance Education Foundation,which hosted a Summit that drew over 100 representatives frominsurance companies, brokerages, associations, universities, andaffiliated entities (including yours truly from Deloitte, which wasone of the Summit's sponsors and is represented on the foundation'sboard).

Also on hand at the Summit were an impressive collection ofinsurance and risk management students that gave me hope for thefuture. Still, I realized the industry needed to infuse many moresuch talented individuals into its ranks to replace an expectedjump in the number of retirements over the next decade, as well asto up their game with fresh ideas and relevant skills.

As I noted in my blog from that Summit, the goal was to identify obstaclesmaking it difficult for insurers and brokers to attract the bestand the brightest graduates (recapped above in my secondparagraph), as well as to consider how such barriers might besurmounted.

It took some time to do the necessary research and spadework toget the main response we came up with off the drawing board — thatis, establishing an online hub to provide information about theindustry, while promoting the benefits of a career in insurance.Although still a work in progress, that hub — www.InsureMyPath.org — is now areality.

The site is the brainchild of The Institutes and its affiliates,which includes Griffith, the CPCU Society, and the CPCU-LomanEducation Foundation. It is also supported by over 20 industrypartners from across the insurance spectrum.

While www.InsureMyPath.org may be abit skeletal at the moment, it establishes a solid foundation andbrand on which the insurance industry can build to recruit youngtalent and better inform those who influence a student's careerdecision.

The website has a section emphasizing the critical role playedby the industry in protecting individuals and businesses, as wellas in supporting the economy and society as a whole. Looking toconnect on a personal level, MyPath points out that “[f]rom aidinga family struggling to rebuild after a disaster to bringing peaceof mind to a first-time business owner, insurance is a great way tomake a difference in the world.”

The site also makes a compelling, practical case for why oneshould consider working in the business, noting that “a substantialportion of today's insurance professionals will retire by 2020,creating a projected 400,000 open positions,” citing U.S.Department of Labor statistics.

A second section focuses on helping people “find your path” intoinsurance, by outlining a wide variety of specific career roles.Included are titles with skill sets that insurers have been hardput to land, such as data scientists (which the site characterizesas “Master Mathematicians”), actuaries (the “Grand Poo-Bahs ofProbability”), business analysts (the “Swamis of Smooth”), andagents/brokers (the “Quarterbacks of Coverage”). The rosterincludes explanations of the function and characteristics ofworkers in claims, customer service, human resources, marketing,tech support, risk management, and a number of other positions.

The site offers the ability to search by state for insuranceinternships, which MyPath notes can often provide an entrée into afulltime industry job. Indeed, this is a critical component of theindustry's outreach efforts, as research by Griffith found thatthree out of four companies use internships to recruit entry-leveltalent.

There's still much work to be done. The site's organizers arelooking to add partners, content, and capabilities, includingcareer simulations. The more interactive and “fun” the site gets,the better, as the industry looks to shake off its stodgy image.(My personal preference would be a campaign with a tag line, “Ilive for risk,” showing all the ways insurance industry personnelsave lives, property, families, and entire communities fromphysical disasters and financial ruin.)

To succeed, the industry will have to get the word out about theexistence of the program and website. There's talk of a nationwide,multi-media advertising campaign in the works to alert students andtheir parents, as well as educators, about the website'savailability and purpose. Considering the difficulties many youngpeople are having these days leveraging their expensive educationsinto good-paying, satisfying jobs, MyPath's message about apotential future in insurance may resonate fairly quickly.

At the very least, young people now have a centralized point ofcontact to learn more about how they might make a living in theinsurance industry, as well as what they could do to get theirinsurance careers started. It provides a common platform to promotethe industry's many individual internship, scholarship, andrecruitment efforts.

If you ask a classroom full of grammar school kids to revealtheir dream jobs, it's unlikely many will say they want to be aninsurance adjuster, underwriter, or actuary. But as kids grow upinto teenagers and young adults, it's important they at least aremade aware of insurance as a viable career option, and potentiallya very fulfilling one.

For more information about MyPath, go to http://www.insuremypath.org/contact.

Sam J. Friedman ([email protected])is the research team leader at Deloitte's Center for FinancialServices in New York. For many years, he was the Editor in Chief ofNational Underwriter's P&C edition. Follow Sam onTwitter at @SamOnInsurance,as well as on LinkedIn.