Does your organization have a positive public persona, or does your company’s image fall short? In today’s increasingly competitive labor market, having a strong, public brand is critical to attracting young professionals. In fact, 75 percent of job seekers consider a company’s brand before they even submit an application. Conversely, 72 percent of recruiting leaders view branding as a critical driver of their ability to attract and hire top talent.

We’ve heard it all—a slide to travel between floors, encouraging employees to use skates to move around the office and game rooms filled with arcade classics. Faced with an increasingly competitive labor market, businesses are going to extreme lengths to better attract and retain young talent.

Your company is only as strong as its employees. For insurance organizations in particular, engaging the next generation is critical to ensuring future success. Before organizations can effectively recruit and retain these individuals, they must truly understand what motivates and drives them. Despite speculation and numerous reports, today’s young professionals are not all that different from the generations of individuals preceding them. So what exactly do today’s young professionals really want in an employer? How can insurers effectively engage this next generation?

For years, the insurance industry has stood as a virtual island amid a sea of growing technological changes. While innovations and advancements transformed industries from banking, commerce, travel and more, insurers maintained business as usual.

But the industry can no longer silo itself against transformation. In fact, more than 80 percent of CEOs identify technological advancements as the top trend expected to transform the industry in the coming years. Today’s organizations are increasingly embracing the opportunities brought by technological advancements—driven by rising innovations, emerging disrupters and evolving business needs.

Insurance organizations are facing a perfect storm within their finance and accounting departments. Increased accounting-rule changes and regulations are driving insurers to grow their current finance and accounting departments. In fact, the accounting sector boasts faster than average job growth. Currently, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics projects an 11 percent growth by 2024—representing the addition of 142,400 new jobs. Unfortunately, this growing demand is being met with an increasingly shallow talent pool of experienced professionals.

Quick—what does the typical telecommuter look like? Did your mind conjure up an image of a young professional set up in the corner of the local coffee shop with a large coffee and laptop? Or perhaps you pictured a busy mom juggling school drop offs with conference calls? Do these fit your idea of the typical work-at-home professional? If so, you’d be wrong.