3 Crucial Tips for Recruiting Independent Insurance Agents

Recruiting independent insurance agents is crucial since the industry is expected to grow faster than average compared to all other industries, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. With insurance agencies needing more insurance agents to help with insurance sales, the ability to recruit the right people for the long term is essential.

We understand the importance of recruiting independent insurance agents for your insurance agency. In this blog post, you will spend time learning 3 crucial tips that will hopefully make your process and experience of recruiting better. You'll learn what makes a great independent insurance agent, where to go when you need to recruit insurance agents and tips from agent recruiters.

Know What Makes a Great Independent Insurance Agent

So, what makes a great independent insurance agent? Knowing what makes a great independent insurance agent is a vital piece of the hiring process. You want someone who will stay for the long term because they were a good fit for the qualities you wrote in your job postings and into your job description.

For example, insurance agencies need service-oriented agents. What does that mean? While job postings can't get into extreme detail, you can add a bit of detail to explain what is meant. 

When someone is a service-oriented agent, they work well with others. They should have the required knowledge of the insurance industry, life insurance, health insurance, and property and casualty insurance. If they are licensed but don't have the knowledge required for your agency because you sell a type of insurance they’ve not sold before, they should be eager to learn and apply that knowledge.

So, your agents need to be willing to contact their clients for additional insurance sales, look for other ways to conduct insurance marketing efforts, and continue to help grow their income and the agency's income.

When you know what makes a great independent insurance agent, you can write a better job posting, write a better job description, and hopefully hire the best insurance agent for your needs!

Where to Go for Recruiting Independent Insurance Agents

National insurance agencies have career pages. But where can you go to recruit independent insurance agents?

Of course, if you have a website for your independent insurance agency, you can set up a job postings page to receive applicants. But the downside to this method is making sure you have enough web traffic to get your job postings in front of the best potential independent insurance agents.

Another option is to utilize your social media accounts. Before using this option, you need to have either a career page on your website that has your job postings or have your job postings listed on a website that accepts job postings, such as Indeed.com, CareerBuilder.com, Monster.com, Glassdoor.com, or even LinkedIn.com.

It is beneficial for you to have your job posting placed on at least one job board. This will help get it in front of as many people as possible. It is essential that the job posting for your insurance agency is interesting, clear, and concise. 

Job applicants must understand what they need to do in the position, but they must also be excited about getting into the insurance industry or working for your agency.

From the Experts: Agent Recruiters Share Their Secrets

Agent recruiters are experts at recruiting independent insurance agents. As an insurance alliance of independent insurance agencies, SIAA is pleased to provide tips from experts to help make the recruiting process a bit easier!

First, ask independent agents that you know for referrals. Do they know anyone looking for a new position? The benefit of this is that you may get some very well-qualified candidates. The candidates may want a new challenge. They want to work for a different agency. Maybe the agency they worked with shut down, and they need a new position.

Second, consider the customer service or administrative support you currently have working for you. Is anyone currently working for you interested in becoming an independent insurance agent? They already know how your insurance agency operates and how to take care of your clients. They know some about insurance marketing for your agency. Why not consider helping them with the licensing process? As a long term employee, providing them with an opportunity for growth is an excellent, motivating factor to stay with your agency!

Third, keep your current independent agents from leaving by keeping an incoming flow of leads for them. While independent insurance agents typically handle their marketing to keep leads coming in, helping to shoulder this task can keep your agents happier and keep your agency more profitable.

Support for Your Independent Insurance Agency

As an independent insurance agency owner, you don't have the same support as a national insurance agency with a parent company. Insurance marketing, leads, the need to recruit insurance agents, management issues...where do you go if you have questions? SIAA is an alliance of independent insurance agencies providing resources, tools, mentoring, support, and more. Learn more about how we can help you!