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Chapter 8- Finding the Perfect Employee - FISH Article (or, Fishing in an Empty Pond) |
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Lisa H. Harrington, CPCU,CAE, AAM, AAI, AIP Vice President of Education, FAIA The news is out. The secret has been leaked. The insurance industry is having a hard time finding capable, talented employees to handle our business. Really? If you haven’t heard that one, you’ve not been paying attention. Companies are just passing around the same employees over and over, moving employees from one company or agency to the next. But new talent (fresh blood?) has not been coming into our industry in significant numbers. It’s also no secret why: Unemployment is at record lows, between 3-5%. And it isn’t going to get any easier. Kiplinger estimates for 2008 are worse, and Training magazine reports that in 8 years our workforce will be 4.6 million people short! We aren’t alone, either. Every industry is having the same struggle we are. Competition for good employees is fierce, and the insurance industry has to catch up! We are in a DO or DIE situation, and I’m not talking about the hard market, which will seem easy in comparison in a few years. We have to decide now that we’ll be ready in 2008 when so many jobs will be vacant! Our industry has been slow to adapt to many things. (Remember SEMCI?) But we really can be ready for this, if we’ll just try to think long term and be a little less rigid about how we do things. This article will attempt to show you a strategy that will move us in the right direction. First, there are some unilateral truths to hiring. The latest information shows us that Generation X wants different things than Boomers or the "me" generation. IIABA has done an outstanding job detailing this phenomenon in their publication “Targeting Generation X, Preparing for Tomorrow…Today.” I won’t re-state their data. But realize this: whether you like it or not, that generation is our future! Flexibility has not been our strong suit in insurance. I know, I’ve been in this great industry for 20 years! We must learn to be flexible. We must hire people, not just fill jobs. What is the difference, you ask? Read on. If Kiplinger is right we better start thinking long term, which has also not been a strong suit for us. The most important order of the day is this: How do we keep the good employees we already have? Remember, the cost of turnover is very high. It’s common knowledge that turnover can cost 2-10 times the employees salary. More importantly, the impact on morale of remaining employees when a good worker is lost cannot be measured! Employees who have a high morale are more productive. Again, that part isn’t new news, is it? But what are we doing with all this information? What are you doing now to keep the best employees you’ve got? Will they still be around in 2008? Do you know what you’ll need in your office 5 years from now? How solid is your long-term business plan? If you are to have a full staff when the entire country is nearly 5 million workers short, you need to start today getting ready. And the single most important thing you can do is keep who you have now on your payroll, and keep them happy. If you want to know more about how to do that, ask them! This mind-set is different for most employers. Haven’t we always been able to pick from the cream of the crop? I’ve even heard the comment that if I died at my desk they’d just roll me out of the chair and put in the next person. One of my early career bosses actually said that to me. You can imagine how wonderful my morale was that day. But one of the unique features of the human brain is how well it adapts. So we begin by asking ourselves lots of questions, and the answers will tell the tale! In order to find good candidates you must FISH: FIND, INTERVIEW, SELECT, HIRE Once you're competitive, and making current staff happy, where do you FIND talent? First, are you properly prepared? Do you have complete, current job descriptions, proper, legal employment applications, and a full understanding of what you need not only in each position to be filled but also in your company culture as a whole? Don’t miss the opportunities right under your own nose. You may not be fully utilizing the talents of your own staff. Are your procedures efficient? Can you streamline the workflow and give more work to fewer people? Please note: I am not talking about creating cases of corporate anemia. Understaffing is a more deadly workplace disease than any other. But if you have multiple redundancies you may be able to create a more efficient structure. For example, are you scanning all the paper into your system but still keeping and filing the paper? Does the boss still open all the mail in your agency? Is one person still “sorting” all company incoming e mail, instead of each person having their own address? Don’t let anyone go as a result, though. That would only kill morale again. Unless you truly have dead wood to thin out, find new and interesting ways to use that talent to generate new business for your company! Have you asked the people who already work there how to solve turnover problems (before they leave)? Are your people promoted to their highest level of competence? Or have you moved them all the way up to their point of incompetence? Is your staff fully trained or are you sending them to the cheapest possible schools just to meet some artificially imposed quota? Is your staff bringing in new recruits? Do you reward staff for bringing new recruits? Are you the kind of employer that employees brag about to their friends? It’s easy to tell. Just get your coffee in the company kitchen every morning, instead of the executive lounge. In fact, close the executive lounge. You’ll find out more about how your company is really doing in the kitchen than you will from a financial report. How does your staff apply for different jobs in the agency? Can they move to another department without fear of retribution? When someone wants to move within the company, please use full application and interview procedures for that candidate. Test all skills, as if they were new. Moving within the company should be encouraged, but it should be a privilege earned. And, reject internal candidates, if needed, carefully. Be sensitive about the rejection, and encourage them that they’ll have another chance. Always find out why they wanted to move in the first place. You may have a problem in their original department that you can fix. College Campus Recruiting can be very useful. The Florida Association of Insurance Agents has a Turnkey Recruiting Kit on the website: www.faia.com in their online Education Library. You can use that as a model for building one for your state or company. Make a list of colleges in your area, and contact them about Career Days. You can also use the IIABA brochure "What Do You Want to Be When You Grow Up?" to show prospective candidates all the different possibilities in the insurance industry. There are over 350 careers available! Understand the demographics. Currently, our industry employs 2.4 million people just in the USA. There are about 70,000 independent agencies, 3,400 P&C companies, and we handle $735 billion in premium. We account for 2% of the total U.S. employment! What are the numbers in your area? Don’t forget to use your own personal contacts at colleges including alumni clubs or business fraternities. You can make presentations to the school's social clubs, fraternities, sororities and business clubs. Look for opportunities to build internships. The business colleges are almost always happy to work with you, to help place their students in jobs. Remember, insurance is a hard sell as a career due to public misconception about the industry. You have to overcome that by letting them get to know you personally! You can pull new candidates from other industries, but don’t use a shotgun approach. Recruit sales staff from industries you represent as an insurance specialist. Find administrative staff from (your competitor's) clients in the areas where you specialize. Networking is critical. Here’s a new concept: You should be as active looking for new employees as you are looking for new clients. Employment agencies can be useful if you’re short on time, or have to be very specific in your search. Be sure to check fees; it’s expensive. And you should set your procedure, not the employment agency. If you need sales people, they should have experience hiring sales people, not insurance people. Sales skills can be transferred from one industry to another with some additional training. Advertising has limited impact. Always use display ads, not classifieds. Make a clear point about the culture of your office. Sell them on why you have a great place for them to work. Use the online vehicles like Monster.com for out-of-state help. And remember the radio! It can be very effective. Your association can be most helpful. IIABA, for example, can provide information about InVEST graduates. Some local branches of various associations will have website resume posting services. Ok, you found someone to talk to about the job. Now, on to the INTERVIEW . First, d on’t be fooled by insurance experience alone. You can hire smart, organized people with or without an insurance background, and then teach them insurance. In fact, that is one of the major points of this article. We are short of folks in insurance, and we need to bring in new people. If you only look for insurance experience, you will continue to be frustrated! The Chinese definition of insanity, I’ve heard, is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. When hiring sales people, for example, you’ll have to distinguish the sale of intangibles vs. hard goods. But the skills transition well. Carefully review cover letters. These are a reflection of commitment and professionalism. Don't fall for glitz or style, read the use of words, and see if they just clicked on spell check or actually took the time to proof the letter. In the resume, look for: 1. Good grammar The interview is as much work for the employer as the candidate. You must be prepared. Read all information about applicant in advance. Don’t wait till they are sitting in front of you to review the information if an HR professional has done the initial screening. Bring all paperwork about the applicant and job description with you to the meeting. Know what you are going to ask in advance. You can use a checklist, but there is one caution: don’t be so focused on the checklist that you fail to engage in a real conversation. The checklist is a great way to be consistent so you can ask all applicants the same core of questions. Test all candidates on appropriate skills. Allow plenty of time (30-60 minutes) for each candidate. Do not allow interruptions or take calls! That’s just rude no matter who you have in your office. It’s a good idea to have more than one person interview the applicant. It gives you another perspective on them and it gives the candidate an idea of personalities of your staff. Never hire with less than 3 interviews! People are different in the morning than they are in the afternoon. Interviewing over a meal is a great idea too. See if they know about basic etiquette. Interview well! Open with a rapport builder; you want to really know this candidate, and set them at ease so they will relax and show their true personality. Ask open-ended questions to give them a chance to tell their story. Don’t be afraid of silence; let them think a moment after you ask a question. Never ask questions not related to the job (EEOC laws are tricky, get help with this if you need it from an HR attorney). Take notes! If you talk to a lot of people you want to remember one from the next. But never take notes on the resume itself (more EEOC stuff). Make a separate sheet of paper for each candidate. Listen, listen, listen! Do reference and background checks! Never omit this step. You must use consistency among applicants, or you can be accused of discrimination. Do the checks between 1st and 2nd interviews. Be sure to tell them you'll be calling references. A great interview question to ask is “What will your former boss tell me about you when I call there?” SELECT the right candidate. Be sure to hire to your culture. Of course, that goes back to knowing what your culture is, and what you need. Personality styles do absolutely make a difference in the long run. If employees don’t get along, they’ll move along – to another job. Don't be afraid of having to train the “right” person! There is plenty of training help available, you just have to choose someone with initiative to learn! Listen to opinions of others who interviewed; their impressions will be very valuable. Trust your instincts. Whew, you’ve finally decided on someone. Now you have to HIRE them! Make a competitive offer. You can only be competitive if you know what the market offers. A competitive offer is one that is reasonable and enticing. It should be at or above the market, never under it. If you are interviewing and selecting well, you’ll do well to offer something that is hard to resist. After all, you’ve worked hard to find just the right person. Show them you are serious. Build a complete remuneration package, including: 1. SalaryWhen you make an offer, it’ll include three steps. The verbal offer is first, and negotiations will follow. Don’t forget soft offers, like allowing them to have three weeks vacation from the start, if they’ve just passed that important threshold at the firm where they are now. These types of perks are great for negotiation, especially if you’ve maxed out your direct compensation dollars. You should also make a written offer/confirmation of terms accepted once the candidate says yes. Do get help for these letters or any employment contracts or non-piracy agreements from IIABA, or your industry association, attorney, or HR specialist. You’re done “FISHing!” But once you “catch” them, you're “On The Run” to: orientation, training, and retention. But that’s another story! |
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