Talent is easy to find. On the surface anyway. Finding truly transformational insurance talent is less so.
A brief online search or a scroll through LinkedIn might identify someone with 7 years claims experience or 10 years of underwriting knowledge. Whatever the insurance leadership role you’re looking to fill is.
When seeking to attract transformational insurance talent to your business, you’ll encounter both active candidates and passive talent.
Active candidates make up about 30% of the insurance talent pool. They are actively and openly seeking a new insurance role.
These ‘active’ candidates may appear to fit into what you might categorize as transformational insurance talent. They may have the technical knowledge on paper, but could be far from what you’re really after.
When it comes to prospective hires and finding transformational insurance talent, you need to ask yourself:
Will they be a cultural fit or match our leadership style?
Can they shape others’ opinions?
Are they agile and adaptable to new organizational structures?
What type of communicator are?
Are they a modern, collaborative leader or more of an old-school manager?
Do they have the entrepreneurial flair to innovate and drive the business forward?
Leadership capabilities like this are usually the difference between a special hire or a terrible – and ultimately costly – one.
When looking at candidates, it pays to invest time and resource in to assessing whether they can:
- think strategically, bring opposing perspectives and embrace different viewpoints
- convert vision to day-to-day execution to get things done
- manage today whilst innovating for tomorrow
- communicate concepts convincingly and persuasively at all levels
- show empathy
- deal with challenges and handle the pressure
- take every opportunity to learn and stretch those around them
Attracting and harnessing transformational insurance talent requires a lot more than posting a job advert, filtering through a bunch of CVs or resumes and fishing in the most accessible or familiar talent pool.
To attract the very best insurance talent, you’ll need to look below the surface. You need to engage with the passive candidates.
It’s the iceberg effect. The true top performers are well below the surface.
Passive insurance leaders aren’t actively seeking to move. But they have ambitions and will consider opportunities to progress in their insurance career.
They make up about 70% of the insurance talent pool.
But they’re a savvy bunch and you might well need help reeling them in.
If you decide to engage the services of an insurance executive search partner, identifying the right recruitment partner is crucial.
If they’re going to help you attract the transformational insurance talent you crave, here are some suggestions to help with your decision-making.
Ask for details of their search process. They should have a step-by-step guide, breaking down the timescales, milestones and costs involved.
Understand how they will evaluate your business needs, your culture and the type of leader you are looking for.
Enquire how they find and assess insurance talent to match what you require.
And don’t be afraid to ask how they will carry out first interviews, present the shortlist and manage the offer. As well as any post-placement support.
Learn what their track record is like in delivering similar insurance executive search projects.
And would past clients use their services again?
Keep front of mind that transformational insurance talent are the top performers in the insurance industry.
They are in control of their careers, so you’ll need to have an efficient hiring process.
Get it right and you’ll be benefiting for years in to the future.
Book a call to find out how you can access passive insurance leaders through our transparent Search Process.
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