New talent is key to the future of captives
The next generation of talent must be identified and educated if the captive insurance industry is to thrive – and events like CICA can help with that goal.
That is according to Anne Marie Towle, chief executive of Global Captive Solutions at Hylant, speaking to Captive International ahead of the annual CICA conference taking place March 5-7 in California.
“I'm a big advocate for getting that next generation into the captive industry,” Towle said. “Especially when it comes to recruiting and working with interns and then hiring those interns as full-time employees. CICA is a supporter of that vision as well with their NEXTGen initiative, and they are really driving that forward.
“CICA is a wonderful opportunity, with the depth and breadth of the education sessions. There will be a significant number of captive owners or perspective captive owners at the conference. It’s important to engage with those attendees, plus the markets and others in attendance.”
One initiative sees CICA promoting its student essay competition at this year’s conference in an effort to find that talent.
According to Towle the captive industry needs to keep a focus on educating and working with young students early on, to help them learn and understand what the captive insurance industry is.
She pointed out that across America there is a focus on risk management programmes at the collegiate and university level, and that, historically, the captive industry has not been reaching out and attracting that young talent. As Towle pointed out captive insurance is a little different than traditional insurance, so educating people about it is key to future success.
“As we're looking to replacing leaders down the road, we need to make sure that we're recruiting talent; that means going to the colleges and universities and educating students on the captive aspect of insurance and highlighting how it can be a really exciting career,” she urged.
Towle agreed that the recruitment issue has been made more urgent by what's been going on recently in terms of the global workforce, with the ‘great resign’ resulting in people looking around for what they think might be better jobs.
Towle said that for many companies investing in talent takes time, such as working with and visiting colleges and universities, interviewing students, spending time educating them, mentoring them and any young staff.
However, she stressed that it's rewarding, because they’re that next generation, who will be taking over.
“The more you spend time with them and share your knowledge, the better off you're going to be because they're going to want to contribute,” she said. “This next generation has a lot of innovative ideas on ways we can do things in a more efficient manner, especially with the use of technology.”
