20 Ways to Reinvigorate Your 2020 Recruiting

What grade do you give your agency’s 2019 hiring? If you think there’s room for improvement, my advice is not to expect that using the same old tricks. 2020 ushers in a great opportunity to test new, creative and edgy recruiting tactics. Projections show agencies will hire just as many client managers and producers with a sharp increase in management, analytics and technology openings.

Recruiting is best summed up in three categories: Identify, attract and retain talent. Here are 20 ideas I encourage you to try for 2020 recruiting.

1. Campus Recruiting. Attend a college fair to strengthen your organic pipeline.
2. Phone a Friend. Clients and social networks are invaluable for attracting experienced, non-insurance sales talent.
3. Don’t Post the Job. Job boards are effective for sub $65,000 jobs, but better resources abound for pricier hires.
4. Double Employee Referral $. For a tough-to-place job, double the employee referral bonus on that opening.
5. Make the Executive Cold Call. Hiring managers soon realize it’s not so easy to pawn recruiting off on HR. They will be more invested in the hiring process.
6. Change the ZIP Code. Give ‘remote’ a chance to fill a senior account manager job. You won’t be sorry. It will make the next service hire even easier.
7. Write a Blog. Advertise an opening in an article about your recent hiring success stories. Ask for referrals at the end.
8. Create a Video for LinkedIn. Pictures and videos generate the fastest ‘impressions.’ Those get shared and reshared all displaying your career opportunities.
9. Attend a Career Fair. You may be the only insurance employer, but if you’re looking for IT, HR, accounting and admin staff, there’s no better place to find them.
10. Recruit the Replacement. You just hired a new account manager. Who took his/her old job? Knowing that person = a promising future hire.
11. Compile an E-Marketing Brochure. How you sell to clients is how you sell to employees. Tout soft benefits, career advancement, volunteerism and company history. Send this to candidates before the first interview.
12. Find a Recruiter You Can Trust. Staffing firms are generalists. Recruiters are specialized. Identify difficult hiring projects and find insurance-specific recruiters with expertise on those positions.
13. People Love SWAG. If hotels dole out pens after a one-night stay, you can easily put together a care package for the new hire’s first day
14. Ask Vendors for Resumes. You may be surprised how easily resumes are shared. All you need to ask is, “Do you have an applicant like this in your database? Can I have their info?”
15. Write an Offer on a Napkin. The point is do not fall in love with the interview process. Don’t create steps for the sake of it. Make an offer after one meeting. Producers love it.
16. Signing Bonus. Relo assistance is not a dirty word. Nor is signing bonus or an employment contract. Want to lock great talent down quickly and for the long haul … provide an unexpected commitment.
17. Post Job Narratives Not Job Descriptions. The three-page resume is dead and so is a lengthy job advertisement. People read articles, not novels. Be concise and interesting; make every job (even if it’s the same title) appear unique.
18. Mock Presentations. Producers who can’t work a room have high failure rates. Forget about business plans. Set up a mock presentation on a different topic — Lebron or MJ: Who is the greatest ever?
19. Invest in Applicant Tracking Software. How many times is the right candidate sitting in front of your nose? HRIS, ATS and CRM software improves tracking, documents origination and matches skill codes for future positions.
20. Talk to Everyone. Are you guilty of negotiating away recruiting? Is it easy to prioritize other business projects? You don’t need to spend 35 hours of your week on recruiting. The easy fix with great results is to talk to every possible candidate. You gain market insight, find opportunity hires and build relationships with people that make it much easier to approach them about future roles.