Columbus, OH (PRWEB) March 08, 2012

In spite of record unemployment among recent college grads and other out-of-work professionals, there are plenty of well-paying career-track jobs available within the insurance industry. Yet professional positions go unfilled as agency owners and industry executives struggle to recruit and retain top-notch employeesparticularly highly prized Millennials under age 30to fill risk management, insurance, employee benefits, actuarial, underwriting, and other positions.

Whether you are a recent college grad embarking on your first job, or an established employee looking to make a career change, the insurance industry presents a wealth of opportunities. Fully 44% of insurance industry professionals surveyed in 2011 said they anticipate adding staff in 2012. Based on income and employment outlook, actuarial science consistently ranks among the top-10 jobs for college grads. Underwriting also is ranked as a top-25 job, based on income, environment, and security, said Jim Hackbarth, CEO of Assurex Global, the worlds premier network of independent insurance, risk management, and benefits brokers.

Despite a phenomenal 100% placement rate for risk management and insurance majors, college graduates simply do not gravitate toward insurance careers. Thanks to negative perceptions about the profession, a lack of awareness about rewarding careers, and a limited pool of trained talent, graduating students fill no more than 15% of the industrys hiring needs. The tendency to overlook insurance careers by both the Millennial Generation and Gen-Xers between age 30 and 51, creates an enormous challenge for an industry that anticipates a 50% workforce turnover in the next 15 years, said Hackbarth.

To help understand the career choices of Millennials and Gen-Xers, while shoring up the insurance industrys talent gap, Assurex Globalthe worlds premier network of independent insurance, risk management, and benefits brokersrecently conducted a survey of 4,986 insurance professionals employed by independent Partner firms throughout the United States and Canada. The Assurex Global Generational Workplace Audit is the first comprehensive, quantitative study of generations in the insurance industry.

The survey examines generational differences in the workplace among Millennials (ages 29 and younger), Gen-Xers (ages 3051), and Boomers (ages 52-69). It also provides employersAssurex Global Partners and other employers in insurance and other professionswith a strategic roadmap for the recruitment and retention of the next generation of business leaders and owners. Employers eager to attract the right employees are advised to consider the best practices-based guidelines detailed in the Assurex Global Generational Workplace Audit.

Key Findings of the Assurex Global Generational Workplace Audit

Workplace Priorities: What Generational Workers Want.

Millennials seek hands-on direction from supervisors, clear goals and rewards, and professional development. In other words, Millennials simply want more from their employers than previous generations. Gen-Xers also identify professional development as their number-one need. Unfortunately, Millennials need for structure tends to mystify Boomer business owners and Gen-X managers alike. Consequently, only 30% of Millennials would recommend their organizations as good places to work.

Lessons for Employers: To attract and retain quality employees, insurance brokers, agency owners, and other employers need to provide 20-somethings with a clear career ladder; mentorship; specific, short-term work goals; long-term professional development; regular performance evaluations; rewards for achieving job-related goals; and services including education assistance and financial planning to help handle lifes challenges. Boomer owners and executives need to provide Gen-X employees with professional development tools and training to help ensure that these managers in the middle are prepared to and interested in assuming leadership responsibilities as organizations retiring professionals relinquish their responsibilities. It will fall upon Gen-X managers, after all, to mentor Millennials and assume the mantle of leadership within brokerage firms and the insurance industry as a whole.