According to an analysis by the St. John's University School of Risk Management, every seven seconds a Baby Boomer turns 60. That means a lot of people will be retiring from the agency ranks in the next five to 10 years.
How will agencies fill that talent void? An increasing number are implementing internship programs as a way of identifying and recruiting top performers before they choose other careers.
One example is McGriff, Seibels & Williams, a national brokerage firm based in Birmingham, Ala., which has maintained for more than 20 years a formal internship program—whose primary goal is to recruit quality employees.
"Our interns are exposed to all areas of our business, working with many of our people during their six to eight weeks here," says Temple May, McGriff's HR director. "One week interns may observe and assist in the service area, and another week they may help prepare a proposal and accompany a producer on a sales call."
Asked why a firm's employees would want to spend time and energy on interns, May says, "They love what they do and want to share what they know. Most like being mentors to these young people."
If a position is available at the end of the internship, both parties determine if there is any interest in the permanent position. "We've had success with interns we have hired. Several former interns are still employed with us today," May says.
Mitch Watson, COO and CFO at Keenan & Suggs in Columbia, S.C., offers this word of caution, though, to agencies new to hiring interns as full-time employees. "Many college graduates want or expect to earn larger starting salaries than what our industry traditionally offers, but they don't have the experience necessary to warrant the compensation. If you want to keep these young people, you need to be able to show them a career path and what it will take to get there."
INFORMAL INTERNSHIPS
Structured internship programs such as McGriff's may not be appropriate for agencies that are unable to commit the significant resources needed to maintain a program, but internships can take other forms. Houston-based Swingle Collins & Associates, for example, offers part-time employment opportunities for college and graduate school students as well as others who are referred to the agency via local schools and a network of strategic relationships.
"We usually have two to three part-timers on staff to perform clerical functions, run errands and help with miscellaneous tasks that no one else has time to do but which have to be done," says Frank Swingle, principal. "It is entry-level work, but they do a variety of [tasks] throughout the agency, so they gain a pretty good idea of what we do here."
Swingle indicates that frequently one of these young people will show potential for a more demanding job in the agency. "Two of our newest employees stayed with us when they graduated. We offered one a job in our accounting department, and the other asked us to let him stay on and try his hand at production," says Swingle. "We knew they had good work ethics and were competent, so it was a good way to get a couple of quality employees."
CORRECT CASTING
As obvious as it may seem, successfully funneling interns or part-timers into full-time positions begins with hiring the intern with the best profile for the agency.
Mary Flynn, senior vice president at Harden & Associates in Jacksonville, Fla., says her firm implemented a formal internship program a few years ago specifically to target young people interested in becoming producers. Because of the significant commitment the firm must undertake with each intern, Harden uses the same recruitment strategies to find a good intern as to fill a permanent position.
"We pre-qualify all candidates to be sure they have the requisite skills and competencies to be a successful producer, have an interest in working in our geographical area, are committed to the program, and are considering the internship opportunity as a potential stepping stone to a permanent position after graduation," Flynn says.
To ensure that the intern stays on track an executive producer is assigned to the intern and is available to provide direction and guidance throughout the program, which has proved quite successful, Flynn says.
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