Insurance industry jobs get a trendy makeover to appeal to millennials

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Iowa brokerage Holmes Murphy is taking aim at old stereotypes of dullness and daily tedium.

The vice president of Iowa brokerage Holmes Murphy, Cameron Burt, is more than familiar with the reputation of dullness that is associated with insurance industry jobs, but at a time when it is becoming difficult to fill these positions, his firm is seeking to show the millennial generation that times have changed.

The image of an insurance job doesn’t seem to have changed for two solid generations, losing all appeal.

However, Burt and his firm are hoping to be able to overcome that obstacle and change the reputation of insurance industry jobs. Their goal is to show millennials that these positions have come a long way and that working for an insurance company, brokerage or agency isn’t the same experience that it once was. “The reputation of the industry was that it was the industry your grandfather worked in, or if you couldn’t do anything else, that’s what you ended up doing,” he explained.

The brokerage is only one of many in Iowa that are working to change the view of insurance industry jobs.

millennial woman insurance industry jobsThe hope is that a whole new younger generation of workers will see a different side of insurance jobs and will begin to view these positions as an appealing career option. According to data from the Pew Research Center, millennials are now composing the largest portion of the American workforce, making up one in three workers, last year. This share of the workforce is only growing as baby boomers continue their rapid retirement wave.

Still, despite the fact that insurance companies are looking to hire people in the 25 to 35 year old range, individuals in that generation simply don’t see the draw. This is a generation that, according to a recent Fidelity study, gives greater priority to the quality of the working experience over the size of the salary. In fact, that research indicated that this age group would sacrifice an average of $7,600 in added pay in exchange for a more favorable employment situation such as one with a better balance of work and personal life or a better opportunity for career development.

That being said, insurance industry jobs have not managed to build and maintain that type of reputation among millennials. As associate professor and TriStar risk management fellow at the University of Iowa’s Tippie College of Business, Thomas Berry-Stoelzle explained, “Insurance is not one of those sexy industries every child dreams of working in.”

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