Now it’s Personal
Now it’s Personal
Why finding top talent in the insurance industry can’t be automated.
By: Mike McDonough
Automation is changing the way companies do business. It can help accomplish agency goals faster, more efficiently, and even more accurately than ever before. But where automation falls flat is in relationship building. No chat or IM service will ever be able to take the place of a real professional providing service and answering questions. When you’re recruiting new talent for your agency, it’s more crucial than ever to provide a real face for your organization, not just a website and an email. Here’s how you can use real-world relationships to set yourself apart in the war for fresh talent.
Taking a leap, takes trust
If you’re looking for a new executive or management-level employee for your agency, you’ll likely be looking to draw someone away from a competitor or another company instead of just hoping for an active job seeker to fit the description. If you want someone to take a career risk and leave their current position, they’ll want to know exactly what kind of people and organization they’ll be joining. A personal relationship and interview process will go much further to convincing someone to join your agency than AI or an international hiring firm ever could. That personal touch could be the difference between a new hire and a long process.
Don’t miss on the details
Listing out job requirements on a hiring board or through a recruiting program will only tell part of the story. In our experience, finding the right hire for a company means taking culture, expectations, and past experience into account when recruiting potential hires. That’s something that a list of keywords will never be able to accomplish. You might feel like using an automated program will speed up your next hire, but you may just end up having to sift through piles of resumes and meet with a long list of applicants who aren’t exactly right for the opening. By working with a local recruitment group for your next hire, you can avoid all the near misses that come with recruiting by automation alone. That could ultimately save you serious time in the process.
The best don’t trust the big boards
These days, nearly 80 percent of job seekers look at job boards when they’re searching for a new position, but a much smaller percentage report they trust them. When talking to executive job seekers, they often don’t use the big job boards because there’s no opportunity for negotiation and explanation. A truly qualified candidate will want to go further into their accomplishments than what can be listed on a resume. They’ll also avoid jobs out of their desired commuting range, or slightly below their asking price, even though a company car or stock options might make those points a non-issue. Top candidates say they want a company who listens to them, understands them, and aligns with their goals. Those are aspects that are nearly impossible to communicate on just a run-of-the-mill job posting.
If you’re looking to hire a qualified, long-lasting candidate for your company, the personal route is really the only way to go. It lets you look for the intangibles your company needs in a new hire and eases any concerns a potential employee might have about the organization they’re joining and the people they’ll be working with. AI and offshore recruiting firms may seem like the cheap and efficient way to go when you’re hiring, but the impersonal approach could end up costing you time, money, and quality in the long run.
