It's a stark statistic: Nearly one-half of the professionals in the insurance industry today are 45 years or older—and one-quarter of the industry will retire by 2018. To address this trend, the industry can recruit and hire millennials, those born after 1980 and the largest-growing demographic in the U.S.

The problem is, a good number of these potential recruits think that an insurance career lacks the glamour of finance or other business careers on Wall Street, and that industry careers are restricted to sales. While longtime insurance pros know that that's a misconception, how can the industry get the word out that an insurance career has much to offer professionally, is a great contributor to society and the economy (a matter of great importance to this demographic), and offers a variety of job opportunities that utilize a multitude of skills?

"When we survey millennials, they know very little about the insurance industry and what they say they know is incorrect," says Anita Bourke, executive vice president at The Institutes. "They have a negative perception."