Industry Recruitment: Lessons Learned

Call it a mid-life crisis.

A “come-to-Jesus” moment. Corporate existential angst.

It was early 2022, and our organization–Insurance Agents & Brokers (IA&B), the association for independent insurance agencies in Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Delaware–was at a crossroads. Our leadership recognized that the industry’s talent crisis was deepening. We knew we needed a plan to sustain our member agencies and, in turn, our own organization.

Enter Minding Your Business (MYB), a consulting and research firm that specializes in the association space. MYB led the IA&B board of directors and senior management through an extensive research process and intensive in-person planning retreat. The outcome was a five-year plan to position the association and its members for the future, with an identified priority of talent recruitment and development.

What Gen Z Wants (That We Have to Offer)

Our market research focused on high school and college students. We attended classes and career fairs and spoke to students about their professional goals, career aspirations, and top motivators. We also talked with current young agents to gauge what they value most about their jobs.

We found that Gen Z’s aspirations were shaped by technology. Dubbed “digital natives,” they grew up immersed in the internet and expect agility and flexibility in their career as a result. They also experienced the pandemic and resulting economic upheaval at a young age, which contributes to their desire for stability. Overall, we found that this generation prioritizes a flexible schedule, professional pay, job security, and growth potential when considering a profession.

What’s reassuring is that these traits can be found in an independent insurance agent career. In fact, they fall in line with Insurance Journal’s 2025 Young Agents Survey results, in which respondents reported that they most appreciate that their job allows “freedom, quality of life, opportunities to grow, challenges and the ability to solve them, the people and relationships built, the compensation, and of course, the satisfaction that comes with helping others.”

What Independent Agency Principals Need

We also worked with MYB to conduct focus groups of our member agency owners and principals. We wanted to understand their experiences with recruitment, as well as their needs as employers.

Participants expressed the desire for help positioning the independent agent career more positively to attract candidates. They also shared frustration in the time required to onboard industry newcomers. They told us that young, new hires often needed handholding–from explaining the ins and outs of daily agency operations to teaching soft skills for handling client calls and emails.

Again, these findings echo Insurance Journal research, this time the 2025 Agency Salary Survey, which highlighted the importance of employees’ soft skills and emotional IQ to ensure client satisfaction.

Where to Go From Here

“Knowing is half the battle.” (There’s a G.I. Joe cartoon quote that Gen Z won’t recognize.) Once we knew what the next generation of prospective insurance professionals wanted and what support insurance agencies needed, we felt confident in working toward our goals of talent recruitment and development.

I’m proud to share IA&B’s resulting accomplishments from the past two years. We hired a Director of Career Services, a full-time recruiter who targets diverse, new talent for the industry. We also developed the Insuring Careers Certification Program (ICCP), an online, flexible program for industry newcomers. ICCP goes beyond state licensing exam prep and provides education on insurance basics, the technical side of insurance, application of the material to real-life scenarios, and soft skills training.

Our industry and its career opportunities are exceptional, and we can offer what the next generation of professionals want. Collectively, what we need are ways to engage diverse, new talent and support hiring agencies. I firmly believe that together we can accomplish this, and I hope that our lessons learned will aid others’ efforts and work toward our common goal of sustaining the independent agency channel.

Ernest, Esq. is president & CEO of Insurance Agents & Brokers.