The Challenges of Insurance Recruiting: Navigating Common Issues Agencies Face

As your company evolves, you’ll face growing pains and recruiting strategies that worked three to five years ago but might not hold up in today’s job market. Recurring issues often signal deeper problems within an agency’s recruiting process. If you encounter the same challenges repeatedly, it’s a good time to reassess your methods and consider significant changes in your approach.

1. Unqualified Applicants

Despite operating solely within the insurance sector, my team consistently receives applications from unqualified candidates. Do you experience the same thing? Job boards simplify the application process, which results in candidates applying without reading job descriptions. This influx of applications takes time away from connecting with genuinely qualified candidates.

To address this, revisit your job advertisements. Focus on crafting concise, clear, and direct posts rather than using the entire HR job description. Regularly rotate and recycle job postings to prevent “retread applications” and poor responses.

2. ‘Gotcha Moments’

Unexpected revelations during interviews, such as discovering a candidate seeks a higher salary, has strict non-compete clauses, or holds other offers, throws a huge curveball into the hiring process. It also leads to feelings of frustration–specifically lost time, resources, and confidence–between hiring managers and candidates. Take “Gotcha Moments” seriously because even just a few indicate serious issues with a company’s due diligence and candidate management.

If you’ve had one too many surprises with candidates during the interview process, I recommend re-evaluating your intake process, interview follow-up, and candidate management practices to ensure you’re asking the right questions and probing for essential details that are communicated in a clear and timely way with everyone on the hiring team.

3. Ghosting

Ghosting is a frustrating reality in today’s job market. My team experiences it just as I assume you do, too. On average, if we have 10 calls scheduled with job seekers, about half follow through. The stunning part is these are people who reached out to us and are presumably actively in a job search.

If you experience the same, there’s not much cause for alarm; however, it can still be a good chance to make sure you’re doing everything possible not to contribute to the problem. Double check the tone of your follow-up messages as well as the speed of your responses. Aim to reply to job applicants within 24 hours to avoid missed opportunities.

Ghosting farther into the interview process is less frequent, even compared to candidates that decline job offers or accept counteroffers. Having said that, if a candidate ghosts you after an interview, this should be taken very seriously. It may indicate something happened during the interview that drove them away. Candidates typically avoid confrontation rather than share feedback about interview questions or situations that made them feel uncomfortable.

Finally, ghosting goes both ways. An agency’s reputation for poor communication can severely hinder recruiting efforts. In an industry like insurance where people know one another, word travels fast about insurance agencies that fail to follow up with job seekers.

To prevent being part of the ghosting issue, you should implement structured steps within your interview process. Each step should have a specific timeline, such as conducting interview debriefs within 24 hours and providing final interview feedback within 48 hours. It’s crucial for hiring managers to be held accountable to ensure that each candidate receives timely feedback, whether they progress or not.

Process Is Fundamental

Recruiting can often feel like a daunting task. It’s not only time-consuming but also emotionally taxing. Each hiring scenario is unique for managers, and many insurance agencies encounter frustrations when things don’t go as planned. While perfection is unrealistic, streamlining the process to achieve consistency is a worthwhile goal.

Topics Agencies Talent