National Underwriter - April 18 2011

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In Talent Search, Producers Can Benefit From Others’ Blunders

Opportunity is knocking for insur- ance agents seeking to bring new blood into their agencies. All they
need to do is not follow the shortsighted
and discriminatory practices of which
some employers are being accused.
the discrimination i’m referring to
has nothing to do with gender, race or
sexual orientation. it’s the
policy some employers have
of seeking to hire only people
who are already employed.
the u.S. Equal Employ-
ment opportunity Commis-
sion recently held a hearing
examining the impact of this
policy where several experts
discussed how the practice
hurts people looking for
work. “Some employers may
use current employment as
a signal of quality job perfor-
mance,” testified Helen nor-
ton, associate professor at the
university of Colorado School
of Law. “But such a correlation
is decidedly weak. A blanket
reliance on current employ-
ment serves as a poor proxy for successful
job performance.”
Fatima Goss Graves, vice president for
education and employment of the nation-
al Women’s Law Center, called it a “trou-
bling development in the labor market.”
Christine owens, executive director of
the national Employment Law project,
added, “At a moment when we all should
be doing whatever we can to open up job
opportunities to the unemployed, it is
profoundly disturbing that the trend of
deliberately excluding the jobless from
work opportunities is on the rise.”
Several experts said that the actions
most severely affected minorities, who
hold a disproportionate share of the un-
employed numbers.
one group of professionals who should
understand how tough this economy has
been, and remains, is insurance agents and
brokers. i’ve spoken with more than a few
who have told me how they’ve experienced
declines in their business because their
commercial clients have had to lay off so
many workers. And we all know that more
than a few brokers and agents—both large,
publicly traded firms and
smaller, privately held ones—
have had to do the same to
survive the great recession.
i’m certain many prin-
cipals have fought to retain
those who they felt to be the
most capable. i’m also sure
there’s a few producers who
have let go an employee or
two whom they would hire
back in a heartbeat once their
business picks up. So when
members of the insurance
industry hear that there are
employers out there looking
for new employees, but these
firms will only consider those
who already have a job, i hope
producers just shake their
heads and ask, “What are they thinking?”
indeed, in an industry like ours where so
many talk about bringing new blood into the
fold, it would appear that this is the perfect
opportunity for agents and brokers to put out
the welcome mats and say, “unemployed?
We don’t care. We know it’s tough out there.
We’re looking for a few capable people and,
if you fit, we want you to join us.”
one employer’s loss can be another’s
gain. in this industry that finds it such a chal-
lenge to attract new and young members,
this would seem to be the perfect occasion to
offer a chance to people who have suffered
through the woes of long-term unemploy-
ment and show the generosity of opportu-
nity many producers talk about every day.
Mark E. Ruquet
Associate Editor
In an industry like ours where so many talk about bringing new blood into
the fold, it would appear
that this is the perfect
opportunity for agents
and brokers to put out
the welcome mats and
say, “Unemployed? We
don’t care.”