This blog entry is part one in Jacobson’s Insurance Careers Month series, which features our own Millennial bloggers providing their unique insights and insider perspectives into insurance as a great career choice. It is my pleasure to introduce Steve Lessaris as our Millennial guest blogger for this latest post. Steve is a Client Development Manager with our Professional Insurance Recruiting practice. Enjoy...

The insurance industry stands at the cusp of a growing talent crisis. Nearly half of insurance professionals will be retired or on the verge of retirement within the next 15 years. To remain fully staffed, the industry needs to fill 400,000 open positions by 2020. Unfortunately, graduates from risk and insurance programs currently meet only 10 to 15 percent of this growing need. Adding to the challenge is the reality that less than five percent of Millennials are interested in working in insurance.

2016 is poised to be a year of rapid change and innovation within the insurance industry talent market. From the rise of flexible work options to the growing analytics revolution, the industry continues to be influenced by a number of key emerging talent trends. Here are the eight top insurance industry trends for 2016.

Nearly four million Baby Boomers nationwide are retiring each year, and they are leaving behind a growing executive skills gap that must be bridged. Luckily, today’s young professionals are poised to meet this impending need. How can the insurance industry adapt their current workforce culture to embrace and encourage this new generation of leaders?

In recent years, insurance organizations have renewed their focus on engaging young professionals. They have rethought recruitment practices and strategies, revitalized company cultures, and instituted company-wide policy changes in order to attract Millennials. As Kylee Lacson, a Millennial professional and National Territory Manager at The Jacobson Group, discussed in our latest edition of Compass, the industry must now shift their focus to transitioning their Millennial employees into the executives of tomorrow.

This blog entry is part one in Jacobson’s Generational Spotlight Series, which provides a general overview of the generations active in the workforce. While we understand that these overviews may include broad stereotypes that do not apply to all members of that particular generational breakdown, we believe there is value in looking at today’s professionals from a generational perspective in order to gain a better understanding of their viewpoints. 

The Millennial generation—currently 77 million strong—is entering the workforce in vast numbers. Currently, Millennials account for 25% of the U.S. workforce and are expected to form 50% of the global workforce by 2020. They are the fastest-growing generational cohort and are expected to shape the world of work for years to come.