Recruiting Employees

by Roger Herman, CMC, CSP

Insurance agencies must have good people on their team in order to function. Without competent employees who know the products, sales techniques, and the importance of customer service, agencies can't perform.

It's always been a challenge to recruit top people. As the expression goes, 'You have to kiss a lot of frogs before you find your prince.'

As the economy continues to expand in new directions, more jobs are being created - without qualified people to fill them. The competition for high-performance employees is intensifying. U.S. school systems are not producing the quality of work-prepared graduates needed in the industry. Employers are forced to invest valuable time and money educating and training employees to perform to required standards.

Insurance agencies seek new employees under two conditions: expansion or replacement of someone who left. These are a few recommended strategies for finding and keeping top people in your agency:

If you plan to expand, begin the recruiting process early. Identify potential candidates within the community - people who work somewhere else, people who left the work force temporarily for child-raising, students who will be looking for jobs soon.

Promote an image as a caring, dedicated employer, the kind of place where people would want to work. The objective is to have more interested applicants than you have openings. Of course, an enhanced image will help business (sales), too.

Focus attention on the good people who are already valued members of your team. The emphasis today should be on keeping the good people you have. Reduce uncontrolled employee turnover, and you reduce the need to find replacements on the open market.

Pay attention to the work environment. Do you provide comfortable surroundings? Are office colors conducive to high performance?

Support positive, cooperative relationships among team members. Help everyone work together by encouraging communication about how to make things easier for each other. Your agency should be a fun place to be.

Give people what they need to get their jobs done. If that old copy machine keeps breaking down, people become frustrated, irritated, and more receptive to outside job offers. Little things mean a lot.

Help your people grow. Enable them to learn more about your products, the industry, sales and service techniques, and even interesting knowledge that may have nothing to do with your business. Check out the continuing education offerings at the local community college.

People don't switch employers for monetary reasons. It's the non-financial issues that cause them to look for the greener grass. Take care of your people and they'll take care of you.