How deliberate, diverse recruiting can fill brokers’ talent gaps

Property and casualty (P&C) brokerages continue to report trouble finding qualified new recruits. That’s led many in the P&C insurance industry to suggest firms widen the hiring lens and open recruitment to a more diverse range of candidates.

It seems like a simple solution, but a high percentage of respondents to a brokerage industry survey earlier this year suggested diversity mandates make an already difficult job even harder. With the support of Sovereign Insurance, Canadian Underwriter conducted an online survey in January and February 2023 tallying 322 broker responses. This is the second consecutive year the research has been conducted.

During a panel discussion examining the research during the summer, participants examined the question: are hiring mangers at P&C brokerages across Canada applying the steps needed to ensure diverse candidate pools?

Craig Pinnock, chief financial officer of Northbridge Financial Corporation, shared an example of a time he was on a hiring board that found its candidate base had a largely homogenous educational background.

“We expanded the number of schools we went to, and wouldn’t you be surprised, we found great candidates,” Pinnock said. “What came with that wasn’t just the understanding, the ability, the quality and merit that we all talk about….We found diversity of experience [in candidates].

“That became incredibly important [for] interaction [with] customers, growth and development of the employees within the organization, and quite frankly, the [management team] grew and developed because they got greater exposure to different experiences.”

Improving recruiting

When it comes to recruitment, efforts to expand diversity start at the frontline with HR professionals.

It’s also crucial to have recruiters trained to ensure job postings use inclusive language and are free of unconscious biases, said Colette Taylor, Sovereign Insurance’s chief operating officer.

For example, she noted job postings using the words ‘recent graduate’ could discourage older candidates, even if they’re new to the industry. Likewise, ‘strong English skills’ could discourage non-native English-speaking candidates.

Those views contrast with answers from many survey respondents who insisted a brokerage can only be as diverse as its surrounding community, and that diverse candidates simply aren’t applying for roles at their firms. “How can there be a ‘diverse’ workplace when the population of the agency’s town isn’t diverse?” asked a millennial respondent in a rural Western brokerage.

What’s more, as in the 2022 survey, many of 2023’s verbatim survey respondents said merit-based hiring can organically forge diverse workplaces.

“Hiring people based on talent alone is the best action,” said a millennial respondent out West. “A company that hires to make up numbers to look good isn’t really promoting diversity. Diversity is about seeing people for what they offer regardless of background.”

This story is excerpted from one that appeared in the October print edition of Canadian Underwriter. Feature image by iStock.com/Dilok Klaisataporn