Finding exceptional insurance leaders can be challenging for many insurance businesses. Identifying and securing senior leadership insurance talent can be even more difficult.
The process of finding senior insurance leaders with the desired skills and capabilities to lead insurance businesses is time-consuming.
To find the very best insurance leaders requires expertise and knowledge of where to find them, because the chances are, they won’t actively be looking for a job.
You can read more about ‘Finding Passive Insurance Talent’
Despite the combination of skills and knowledge required to find top insurance leaders, boards or current leadership can be reticent to use an external search partner to support the process.
Although there’s a myriad of benefits to using an external search partner to attract senior-level insurance leaders – increasing the diversity and quality of candidates, as well filling insurance leadership positions with discretion and speed – there can often be internal resistance from leadership.
The common argument against using external recruitment support is often skewed towards cost – especially when it comes to a retained executive search assignment.
Read more about ‘The true costs of a making a poor executive hire’
But there’s far more to consider than price – because it’s usually a false economy to go it alone.
HR leaders and insurance talent acquisition professionals will recognize the benefit of having some external support, and how it can complement the valuable work they do to secure the best insurance leaders.
Here are 5 persuasive ways that will help convince the board or CEO.
1. Limited time and resource to deliver a comprehensive executive search
Top executive insurance leaders are ‘passive’. However, the process of identifying, attracting and hiring the best leadership insurance talent is far from passive though.
Finding the insurance leaders that match your recruitment needs and who are a cultural fit with the values of your insurance business is time-consuming. It often requires more than one team member too.
HR teams have broad responsibilities over and above talent acquisition. Time constraints may restrict them from the detailed forensic requirements of delivering an in-house executive search project.
In-house recruiters can also be more focused on less strategic roles. They are often tasked with recruiting hundreds, sometimes thousands of people into the organization each year.
Time limitations and limited resources may prevent them from delivering a comprehensive insurance executive search project.
Mid-market insurers have limited resources to match all the organization’s insurance talent attraction needs – from entry level to the c-suite.
That’s where the support and partnership of an external search partner – with experience of filling complex roles or more niche roles – can offer true value and be a cost benefit.
Having the backing of an external insurance executive search partner – who can work to agreed milestones on the hiring organization’s behalf – will help find the best insurance leaders and reduce the risk of costly hiring mistakes.
2. Bringing clarity and strategic advantage through market intelligence
An external insurance executive search partner will bring clarity around the density of insurance leaders available within a set geographical area or market niche.
They will possess the insurance market knowledge and have a detailed understanding of the compensation and benefits package required to attract top insurance talent.
HR or internal recruitment teams – with limited market data – may spend a significant amount of time trying to attract candidates with a benefits package that is out of kilter with the current expectations of senior insurance leaders.
Trying to attract insurance leaders with a $200k benefits package, when they are commanding $250k in their current insurance role, will not produce the desired results.
An executive search firm will act as an advisory partner, bringing current market knowledge and feedback to the hiring business. This will allow both sides to work together to ensure a robust strategy is in place to secure the best insurance leaders.
The best executive search partners – by the very nature of their business – understand what defines truly capable insurance talent.
They interview and evaluate insurance leaders on a daily basis and will bring this knowledge to the hiring organization’s recruitment process.
3. Reducing the burden of looking for a ‘needle in a haystack’
HR teams have far-reaching remits – compensation & benefits, rewards & recognition, learning & development, employee engagement, policy formulation, to name a few.
The elements of finding, attracting and securing senior insurance leaders with the perfect blend of skills and expertise is extremely time-consuming.
Partnering with an insurance executive search specialist can allow HR teams to allocate their time and resource elsewhere within the business.
An experienced insurance executive search firm will be a true insurance talent partner and will go over and above simply presenting a list of candidates with the right skills and experience.
They can work alongside you to understand your employer brand, value proposition and future goals. They will then be able to source and present a shortlist of ‘cultural-fit’ candidates with the insurance leadership skills and drive to match the business’ vision.
This again, will reduce the risk and cost of attracting insurance leaders, who are a poor fit with your organizational ambitions.
The very best senior insurance talent won’t be scrolling through websites or job boards, actively looking for a new role.
An external insurance executive search partner will have the network and insurance industry knowledge to connect with the capabilities to match what the hiring organization is looking for.
- The positive impact on DE&I
Whilst the composition of senior leadership teams and boards has changed in recent times, there is still much for insurance businesses to do.
When seeking to bring in senior insurance leaders, boards and leadership teams should understand the impact of using an external executive search partner has on driving forward the DE&I agenda.
An effective insurance executive search partner will look far beyond the usual referral networks and be able to identify the widest diversity of candidates. Diversity of gender, ethnicity, skills and thought.
Engaging an insurance executive search firm with a proven track record of placing diverse senior executives is an obvious way for insurance businesses to grow a pipeline of inclusive insurance talent.
- Supporting talent succession planning
It’s widely known that many of today’s insurance leaders are in the twilight years of their insurance careers.
There is pressure on internal recruiters and HR teams to line up replacements – insurance leaders with the skills to adapt to the changing risk landscape and the ambition to the lead the business into the future.
An external insurance executive search partner can offer and support internal teams with identifying the most business-critical roles and talent gaps.
Read our insight on 6 questions to help identify critical insurance job roles
A summary of the benefits of Executive Search to present to leadership:
When looking to secure senior insurance leaders, an external insurance executive search firm will act as a true talent partner and:
- Support limited, under pressure internal resource with the understanding and knowledge of how to fill complex roles or niche roles.
- Bring clarity and strategic advantage through market intelligence
- Understand where and how to find the insurance talent that is a cultural fit
- Have a significant and positive effect on DE&I
- Help deliver a robust succession plan
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