February was Insurance Careers Month, a time often used to attract the attention of college graduates and professionals from other industries to the benefits of working in the insurance industry. While I’m all for that hype, dare I say that there is a missed opportunity to talk about what experienced insurance professionals want?

Your first recruiting priority for insurance agencies should be retention. A mindset focused on employee retention makes recruiting easier.

“Search Motivations” are something my team hears multiple times a day from insurance professionals who want to explore the job market. While reasons are unique to each person, there are some common themes that should give you pause on where your recruiting and retention is vulnerable.

No Remote Policy = No Candidates

Trust me, insurance carriers and agencies of all shapes and sizes have remote roles. If you’re totally unwilling to offer remote work arrangements, or you’ve started bringing people back into the office with only one or two days a week working from home, you won’t meet the demands of most insurance professionals. Desiring 100 percent work from home prompts a lot of people to look for a new job. With such low unemployment, they know they can find what they want, and their demands will be met.

You may not want to employ people 100 percent remotely, but think about the benefits it offers to retain and attract experienced insurance professionals.

• When Capstone recruits 100 percent work-from-home insurance jobs, we receive nearly 10 times more applications as compared to jobs that require office hours. This is consistent for remote “nationwide” as well as remote “local” applicants.

• Remote jobs fill faster than office-based positions. In 2023, my team saw a typical account manager search take approximately 60 days to fill remotely, whereas the same position that require local candidates to commute had an average time-to-fill of four to five months.

• From December 2023’s Ask the Insurance Recruiter’s column, when Capstone asked insurance professionals about their desired flexible schedule, almost 50 percent said that 100 percent remote was their top choice in contrast to options like a three-days-at-home/two-days-in-the-office hybrid or a four-day work week.

Compensation May Be the Only Differentiator

Money sits right near the top of Capstone’s April 2023 LinkedIn poll as a major reason insurance professionals will consider a job change.

An interesting trend I’m seeing is just how many insurance professionals will start or end their job search based on compensation. A lot has to do with the gap many agencies have closed with benefits offerings, remote work schedules and other perks that would normally separate one company from another. If all things are equal, then the only way job seekers will invest time interviewing or seriously consider a change is based on a significant increase in compensation.

Your Staffing Issues Lead to Their Burn Out

The close relationship between recruiting and retention is never more apparent than when staffing shortages lead to turnover. Have you considered how much burnout motivates insurance professionals to resign? The person quoted below could easily be your employee.

“I am ready to find a new job. I currently manage 30 accounts that total $2.5M revenue. It’s a huge book, and I am the only service person. I share an assistant with four other AEs. I’ve told my company for months that we need more help. They can’t hire anyone because their pay is low, and they want processors to work 5 days/week in the office. I’ve had enough.”

I know hiring is risky, so you want to hire the ideal candidate. However, when a job has been open for months, there’s a real opportunity cost to your current staff. The best advice I can give is to be as open-minded to all possibilities as early in the process as possible. That means considering less-experienced people who could be trained in the time you’d wait to find an experienced hire. Consider remote candidates and pricier salary ranges to increase your talent pool, finding someone sooner rather than later to relieve the pressure on current employees.

*This article was originally published by Insurance Journal, CM’s sister publication.