9 Talent Acquisition Goals for Insurance Organizations in 2023

Sourcing is the number one problem most insurance organizations tell me they have with recruiting. While finding candidates is important, that’s like saying your company’s revenue will grow if you get more prospective clients. We all know there’s a lot more to the equation than cranking up the cold calls.

To achieve meet your 2023 hiring goals, I recommend using what works in sales and service for recruiting. Below are ways you might look at to help you run your business more successfully. It can also be applied to talent acquisition.

1. Create Efficiencies

How do you determine if your recruiting is efficient? Do you use data or feelings? Numbers are the only way to optimize your process. Data examples include:

• Number of openings and hires
• Average time open
• Candidate database growth
• New hire compensation
• Recruiting costs.

2. Expand Initiatives Enterprise-Wide

Is your company’s recruiting proactive or reactive? Reactive is common for most insurance organizations but not a good approach. Consistent, company-wide talent management starts with:

• Monthly discussions among executives about talent acquisition
• Collaboration between hiring managers to share information, successes and best practices
• Talent acquisition/HRs can become more consultative versus transactional.

3. Build Communication Cross Channels

When you elevate discussions about talent acquisition these benefits emerge:

• Hiring managers feel more supported by HR and Operations
• The candidate experience improves
• Career opportunity engages increases.

4. Define and Refine Roles

Did you know some of the largest independent agencies have their internal recruiters consistently working on 50-70 job requisitions? That volume is insane and unsustainable.

• Hire more internal recruiters to reduce workloads;
• Create specialists for each part of the process;
• Segment teams to manage workflow;
• Leverage technology (ATS and HRIS systems) to build a meaningful candidate database.

5. Process Consistency

The president of 400-person independent insurance agency said, “We do such a great job hunting and dragging new business opportunities in the door, turning them into clients, onboarding and managing them. Why can’t we do that with employees?”

• Where does your process break down — sourcing or screening candidates, setting up interviews, candidate communication, offer prep and presentation, competing against counters or reneges during onboarding?
• Do hiring managers ask recruiters to work on openings that have no chance of being filled?
• Do internal recruiters have difficulty generating multiple/comparison candidates?

6. Feedback Drives Decisions

You know what your clients need, right? You know when they are ticked off about their insurance, correct? Well, do you know how candidates feel when they interview with you? Job seeker feedback is just as valuable to your recruiting process.

7. Brand Differentiation

There are thousands of jobs posted online that look like yours. What makes your opportunity stand out? Marketing prominence is critical to recruiting success.

• Social media is a non-negotiable. If you don’t get it, care to get it or understand how to make it work in recruiting, hire someone who knows how to leverage it.
• Stop posting job descriptions. Start writing compelling job advertisements.
• “What is your value proposition as an employer of choice?” The lack of an answer or very inconsistent ones among hiring managers needs to be cleaned up.

8. Balancing Short and Long-Term Needs

9. You Are Driven by a Will To Win

“There are more candidates out there,” is the biggest lie about talent acquisition. Hiring managers who buy into this lie will never adhere to a process. If they believe more candidates will materialize, then they never make timely hiring decisions and compete for available candidates.

Competing for top talent means:

• Every hiring manager adheres to a consistent hiring process.
• A candidate database means you know the candidate before the job is open.
• You do not make excuses for or negotiate away time and resources for recruiting even when other business objectives seem more important.