Everyone in our industry knows about the many great four-year college and university programs available to students who want to pursue an insurance career.
But not every kid is lucky enough to have the grades or the bank to attend a university. For them, community college is a viable pathway to an associate's degree and employment.
Unfortunately, employers often find a disconnect between the community college grad's skill set and the actual requirements for an entry-level job.
That's where Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel comes in. In 2011, the mayor launched the "College to Careers" (C2C) program, a joint initiative between the City Colleges of Chicago and local industry. The goal is to design curriculum based on real-world job requirements and produce graduates who move on to employment or a four-year program.
Insurance is big business in Illinois. A 2012 study by the Katie School of Insurance and Financial Services at Illinois State University finds that the industry employs more than 141,000 and contributes 4.2% of the state's gross domestic product—higher than construction, transportation and information.
Chicago's community colleges have low tuition and open enrollment, making them attractive to a diverse demographic of inner-city students. But the system's graduation rates have hovered around 7%, and post-grad employment can be sketchy.
Emanuel's solution was to turn each of the seven City Colleges into centers of excellence, each targeted to industries including health care, transportation, and culinary arts. Harold Washington College, with more than 15,000 students, was designated the center for business, professional services and entrepreneurship, including insurance.
Emanuel began approaching insurance leaders for input in 2012. Corporate partners included Allstate, Aon, Country Financial, Kemper, Willis and Zurich.
The insurance pathway courses at Harold Washington officially launched last August, says Paul Thompson, dean of the C2C program. Today, there are four classes: sales management, business processes, business communication, and advanced Excel and PowerPoint.
Classes were based on input from human resources departments on what skills were needed for entry-level jobs, says John Atkinson, managing director at Willis Group Holdings. "The Mayor wanted us to provide input and support the initiative, and to provide the opportunity to interview potential job seekers and provide internships, so we were thrilled to do it," he says.
Aon hired six interns from the program, two of which transitioned to part-time permanent positions, says Aaron Olson, Aon's vice president, global head of talent engagement.
One of these is Carmen Hines, who got her first experience learning about insurance at an educational forum at the college last summer. Along with her Aon job, Hines is attending Northwestern University. Although she's not sure if she'll stay in insurance, she would "absolutely" recommend insurance as a career path for her peers.
So far, 60 students have taken at least one of the four insurance courses, says Thompson. And as success stories like Carmen Hines' get around, Thompson expects to see more student interest in insurance as a career path.
Harold Washington also is working with the Katie School of Insurance on ways to market the C2C program to students, creating a pipeline of potential students to the Katie School.
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