008: Using Education to Attract New Insurance Talent with Emma Ackers

How can insurance companies deploy educational material to boost talent acquisition and retention? What skills are needed for educative insurance roles? How can we use TikTok to change persisting misconceptions about our industry? In this episode, we’re very pleased to be speaking with Emma Ackers, Senior Learning Consultant at Empower Development! In conversation with Sandra Lewin, Emma highlights the opportunities available through TikTok and LinkedIn to promote the opportunities available within insurance to an external audience. Additionally, she impresses the importance of employer-employee trust as we transition into a broadly hybrid working industry. Quote of the Episode “If you want to apply for a job, but you don't think you're going to get it, just do it anyway. You need to put yourself out there. I think there's more people coming into the market now by choice than there were before. I've seen a massive shift in that, especially with the young people that I speak to now, they're actively seeking out these roles. I think the change here is… we use social media a lot more, and more effectively.”   Emma suggests that recruitment across insurance may soon be on the rise as companies increasingly learn how to harness the tool of social media to better advertise the various roles and opportunities on offer in an insurance career. We need to push ourselves out of our collective comfort zone as an industry, to explore how TikTok and other social media platforms could assist us in reaching new potential talent. Empower Development offers a free course called Into Insurance for people who want to learn about the industry. In one of the most recent cohorts, 98% of the attendees were drawn to the course from TikTok, accentuating the vast amount of talent that can be accessed through such platforms.   Key Takeaways Emma also highlights that social media can be deployed more effectively to educate those already within the industry. She notes that it’s impossible to know everything in our industry, as it is so reactionary to broader socioeconomic shifts and is constantly changing in accordance with them. If you wish to use TikTok or LinkedIn to encourage new talent to join the industry, you shouldn’t simply leap in at the deep end. It is key to devise a strategy of the type of content you would like to make. Showcasing insurance to a younger audience via social media can be achieved in so many different ways, and you don’t have to chase the prevailing trends. The personal nature of such content is often what people latch onto initially, so telling people how you got into insurance is a great start. You needn’t worry about whether you’re saying the right things. Telling your story is what an external audience are most likely to want to hear about. Whilst working as an Operations Coordinator (amongst many other roles) at an insurance brokerage, Emma discovered that the company was struggling with compliance in relation to client assets. Many people didn’t understand what the rules were, why it was important, and were making mistakes and omissions. This prompted Emma to devise some compliance-related training and deliver it to her company. She discovered that the best way to educate people about insurance topics is through anecdotes and storytelling, thereby bringing to life what can go wrong when different errors occur. This experience served as a springboard for her branching into insurance education. This is a role which may not initially come to mind when industry outsiders think of insurance. Yet, as Emma emphasises, there are so many roles that make up an insurance company. A role in this industry isn’t simply limited to being in a call centre with a headset on. Her storytelling and people skills ultimately guided her to an educational insurance role. Equally, your own unique skillset will also apply to a role in insurance. Furthermore, wherever you start in the industry, you can transition into as many different roles as you like until you find one that fits. Emma argues that in our increasingly hybrid working world, it is essential that companies trust their employees. This can be achieved by affording them the flexibility to start earlier and finish earlier, or start later and finish later. Furthermore, having consistently good communication with your team, reiterating the company’s broader goals and individual workers’ targets can foster a positive and productive distant working environment.   Best Moments/Key Quotes “I stayed in broking for a long time and progressed through lots of different roles. I've done every single role you could ever imagine. I think it's a great way to learn. I've even done credit control. I was like, ‘Yeah, I'll try it. Why not?’ It was a good way to learn all the different functions in the business.”   ‘There's a specific role for everybody in insurance, and I don't think a lot of people realise that.”   ‘As an industry, we can do better on talking about the variety of roles [available]?’   “I think about people who worked in London five days a week, [who] travelled hours to get to work. It's wild when we think about it now, that that's what used to happen… Being at home and feeling trusted, and having that flexibility, then you feel calmer as a worker. You're going to get more joy, and you're going to be more motivated, and you're going to be happier. And happier people produce better results.”   Resources Why Can’t I Learn Like I Used To? – Emma Ackers – CII Journal: https://thejournal.cii.co.uk/2023/06/20/why-cant-i-learn-i-used TikTok – EmpowerEmma: https://www.tiktok.com/@empoweremma TikTok – Empower Development: https://www.tiktok.com/@empower.development Empower Talks Podcast: https://shows.acast.com/empower-talks   About the Guest Emma Ackers is a Senior Learning Consultant at Empower Development, which provides training for insurance professionals across the London and Company Markets. Emma’s LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/emmaackers/   About the Host Sandra Lewin started her career in insurance as a broker and has since taken on many different roles. Alongside being a host of this podcast "100 Women in Insurance", she also specializes in helping insurance businesses and professionals establish a social media presence, delivers change programs, and provides one-on-one coaching for women looking to take control of their careers and lives. Connect with Sandra on LinkedIn and find out more: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/sandralewin