Next Generation: Why Education, Culture and Opportunities for Growth Matter
By Andrea Wells
Opportunities to grow, identifying challenges and having the ability to solve them, finding the right people and building strong relationships, and the satisfaction that comes with helping others–those are a few reasons that young industry professionals cite as why they enjoy the opportunities that a career in insurance provides.
Insurance Journal spoke to a handful of young professionals making their mark in the insurance world. We asked them to share why they chose a career in insurance, what they love about their job, and what they’d tell other young job seekers looking for guidance in the sector.
Culture Matters
While some people value compensation and benefits, 23-year-old Grant Harper, insurance commercial consultant at Higginbotham, said nothing beats his agency’s culture. Sure, pay is important–but that’s not always consistent day-in and day-out.
For independent agents, there are weeks when the pay is great, and then there are weeks when the pay is terrible, Harper said. “But even when pay is up and down, the culture is always going to be good,” he said. “100%. I value the culture here the most.”
His office in Springfield, Missouri, is “awesome,” he said. “All the guys I’m working with, my coworkers, we’re friends,” Harper said. “I talk to these guys every single day. We’re on the phone, even weekends. It doesn’t even feel like a job at times. It’s very enjoyable.”
That’s not to say that being an independent agent is easy. It can be very difficult at times, Harper explained. “There are days that who knows what fire I’ll get thrown into, but I still feel very fortunate to be with Higginbotham. Very, very lucky. Joyless is far from what my job is. I have lots of fun days.” Sure, it’s a sales job. “You need to sell, and if you’re not selling, you work more,” he said. “But if you are selling, you can play hard, too.”
Harper never expected to land a career in insurance, but it’s where he plans to stay after meeting a rep from Higginbotham at a college career fair.
“It was actually the first booth I stopped at,” he said. After an informal lunch with two Higginbotham managing directors, he decided to apply for a summer internship. “I ended up getting into the summer internship program and wasn’t ready to leave; the three months went by too fast,” Harper said.
“I was like, ‘Man, I wish I could stay out here full-time, and they actually allowed me to stay on through my senior year of college,” he said. Then after graduation, he joined the agency full-time. “I haven’t looked back since,” he said. “I really don’t want to ever work for any other company. It’s been great.”
Find a Niche
For Alex Dantzig, senior vice president at Heffernan Insurance Brokers, a career in insurance wasn’t always top of mind even though he heard plenty about the industry at the dinner table growing up. Dantzig’s grandfather was one of the first employees at Heffernan. His father and aunt also worked for the agency. So, landing an internship at Heffernan during college seemed apropos.
From there things began to fall into place, he said. “The office was only 20 minutes from my college, so I began working there about 20 hours a week doing inside projects,” he said. He started to enjoy the agency’s culture and people. “And then my dad was like, ‘Hey, you seem to like it here. Do you want to give sales a shot?'”
His initial two years of sales were spent calling on small religious businesses around the country. “My family had built a church business, church programs by denomination; that’s what my grandfather, dad, and my aunt did,” he said. “We insured thousands of churches across the entire U.S., so when I first started, I just called on small churches.” Then Dantzig began to explore other areas, targeting larger accounts in transportation, when he landed on an underserved market for ambulance and non-emergency medical transport companies.
“It was a niche that Heffernan had never really focused on prior to when I started,” he said. “No one else was going after them, so I started going to all the conferences.” He joined the California Ambulance Association and now sits on a few committees. With the help of those relationships, Dantzig has been able to build a significant book of business in the space.
“It’s a very niche-focused and very
difficult market, so there’s not a lot of insurance carriers that play in that space,” he explained. That specialty expertise has attracted clients and carriers alike. “Just based on the volume, we’re able to get market access for a lot of the carriers, so that’s been helpful.”
For 27-year-old Chase Del Biaggio, an employee benefits consultant at Heffernan Insurance Brokers, that niche was healthcare. “It doesn’t take rocket science to figure out that healthcare in America is challenging and troubling,” he said. “That’s why I chose the health insurance side of the industry–I saw an opportunity to hopefully make a difference.”
The healthcare industry’s challenging landscape is a motivator for him. “I like the problem-solving aspect of healthcare,” said Del Biaggio. “It’s great knowing that when you work with these groups, there are 100, 200, 300, maybe a 1,000 people that you get to actively help or guide through the medical system,” he said. “At the end of the day, we’re just trying to help people that don’t understand the system.”
Dantzig’s advice to younger producers: “Pick a couple niches and then just drive them really aggressively rather than being more of like a generalist,” he said. “And get involved at the association level–that is really important.” But he also admits there’s no real secret to sales success other than relentlessness. “For me, it was really just finding niches, becoming an expert in that niche, trying to drive the relationships, and then just opening as many doors as possible.”
Del Biaggio, agrees, adding that being “hungry for knowledge” those first few years in the career is just as important as being hungry for sales. “Don’t treat it as a job. It’s fun to learn stuff.”
Growth Opportunities
For Cash McMillen, partner, executive vice president, operations, at The Cashion Company in Little Rock, Arkansas, and current chair of the Big I’s Young Agent Committee, a career in insurance came after a completely different first career.
McMillen entered the natural gas industry right after college. He spent more than eight years in the sector until the industry crashed throughout the state. “A lot of us were laid off at the time,” he said. Then a good friend from college helped him get into the insurance industry.
He started at a national insurance company from the ground floor. “I took a 75% pay cut when I got into the industry, but I just knew there was opportunity. But at the time I knew nothing,” he said. “I needed to learn from the bottom up,” he added. “I started out training on how to rate and process endorsements, rate new business, rate renewals, how to process things. I learned coverage forms. I took every class I could get my hands on, and I asked for every opportunity to train and grow my knowledge,” he said. Within 18 months, he was promoted to an underwriting assistant.
Soon after he was offered an opportunity to interview for an underwriting role at a different carrier. “I didn’t know anything about underwriting other than the rating piece, so I told them, ‘I don’t have underwriting experience, but I promise you I can learn it faster and better than any other candidates that you have.’ The regional vice president at the time–I still consider him a friend–he took a chance and hired me.” That is when he began working with independent agencies, which eventually led to his transition to the agency side.
For 34-year-old Austin Gallo, commercial lines agent at Garrison Insurance Group in Lilburn, Georgia, insurance came as a second career as well. She was a stay-at-home mom with two young children but working small jobs on the side. One day in 2019 she found herself cleaning the Garrison Insurance Group office. “I was actually cleaning the office and filing paperwork when the owner offered me a job,” she said. A few months later she began working full-time. “I love what I do and the flexibility and opportunity to still be involved with my kids,” she said
Gallo began writing personal lines but now focuses only on commercial lines business. With just six people in the agency, she relies on the agency’s network, Renaissance, for help with market access and educational opportunities. “Learning is never done in insurance. I learn something new every single day, especially in commercial lines,” she said.
Starting out on the ground floor in whatever role can help build skill and insight into the entire process of insurance, McMillen said. Starting off at the bottom of an insurance carrier, learning each role and perspective in the insurance value chain helped build his skills and industry knowledge, he said.
“But there’s lots of different paths to success throughout the industry,” he said. “No matter what role you’re hired into, be eager and get involved,” he suggested. “Always ask for more training, so that you can learn and grow.” And get involved with industry groups like the Big I’s Young Agents Group, he recommended. “That really changed my path through the insurance world.”
Innovation Matters
Tori Sarmiento grew up in the insurance world. Her mom led the underwriting department for a large insurer.
“My first internship in high school was working for that insurer, literally working in filing cabinets, printing and working off an Excel spreadsheet,” she said. It wasn’t the most exciting work. “I was like, ‘Oh my goodness, I’m never getting into insurance,'” she laughed.
After graduating with a degree in marketing, Sarmiento joined a global technology firm. “I really liked the person-to-person interactions in marketing because I knew I wanted to do something that wasn’t just behind a desk,” she said. “Like an insurance broker and agent, I wanted to be in front of people.”
After a few years, Sarmiento took a job with a large insurtech firm and was surprised by what she discovered. “When I first came into insurance, I expected the industry to be a lot slower moving than what it actually was,” she said. By comparison to other industries, she thinks insurance gets a bad rep when it comes to modernization and tech innovation.
“The pace of innovation in the insurance world, especially the past two years, has really surprised me,” she said. “All these big insurers, even small startups, have technology on their mind, all have technology road maps, all are implementing AI in a number of different ways,” she said.
Sarmiento, now senior sales executive at Instanda, encourages young professionals, especially recent college graduates, to explore the insurance world. “There’s a whole realm of different opportunities within the industry to explore; whatever you’re interested in, there’s something.”
Mentors Matters
Insurance is all about relationships, no matter the sector.
“I’ve been in the industry for a relatively short time, about seven years, but it’s all about networking and relationships,” Sarmiento said. “And everybody wants to help.” One mentor often leads to another, she added. “When you find someone, they’ll introduce you to someone else … It’s not hard to find a mentor. Just get out there in front of people and ask for that mentorship,” she said. “It’s a lot about relationship building, so tap into your network, ask questions, ask to talk to people.” Then remember to pay it forward, Sarmiento said. “Be a mentor to others that are coming through the door.”
McMillen agrees and likes to remind the young professionals he has mentored to be open and learn from their mistakes. “I had a great mentor, a seasoned underwriter,” he said. “When I made a mistake, she poured into me,” he said. “But my attitude has always been when faced with something like that to accept responsibility and learn how to avoid it next time.” Being able to take constructive criticism is a very important skill to have, he said.