Is the industry missing a chance to use social media as a talent attraction tool?

A key challenge in attracting young talent from socioeconomically disadvantaged backgrounds, including those in the UK’s care system, into insurance jobs is reaching individuals who are not in full-time education, according to Simon Connolly, performance and leadership manager at Zurich UK.

Connolly explained this is because industry outreach efforts that raise awareness of insurance careers are typically focused on school partnerships.

For example, on 2 August 2023, the Chartered Insurance Institute (CII) launched a virtual programme promoting insurance as an accessible career path. The CII distributed this scheme through schools.

However, according to the Looked After Children Who Are Not in School report, published in May 2023 by the government’s Children’s Commissioner for England, 2.7% of children in care – approximately 1,370 of the 50,846 young people studied – are not attending school.

Children or young adults in care includes those in foster care, residential homes, kinship care or under social worker supervision while living with their parents.

Individuals in one of these care arrangements are protected by local authorities because of voluntary agreements or court orders that have been issued due to safety or family concerns.

Children in care might not be in school because of frequent geographical moves, emotional or behavioural challenges or difficulties accessing appropriate educational support.

For Connolly, therefore, “social media” is “critical” for attracting talent from low socioeconomic backgrounds, such as those in the care system, to catch talent that may not be in formal educational.

Social media

Connolly’s comments come after Zurich UK created its own TikTok accounts in 2023, called Life of a Grad and Apprentice Life.

TikTok is a social media app prominently used by Gen Z – those born between 1997 and 2012 – which enables users to create, watch and share short video clips. 

According to research by Statista, entitled Social Media Usage in the United Kingdom, published in November 2024, 97% to 98% of Gen Z and millennials are active on social media, versus 86% of baby boomers.

Life of a Grad, created in June 2023, is managed by Megan Jenkins and Felicity Irvine, two business management graduates that now work as underwriters at Zurich.

Meanwhile, Apprentice Life, established in January 2023, is currently overseen by Safa Saeed, a claims handler and level three insurance practitioner apprentice, claims handler Libby Llufrio-Maguire and Bailey Brasted, an operations and information technology apprentice.

Connolly believes that “social media is critical, especially for reaching individuals who may not engage with traditional education systems or institutions” because these individuals are less likely to engage with traditional recruitment methods.

Therefore, social media provides a vital platform for connecting potential talent with recruitment opportunities.

Both worlds

Although Zurich UK has identified TikTok as an important social media channel to reach potential younger hires, Jenkins explained that professional social media site LinkedIn is still useful too and can offer complementary benefits.

She added that LinkedIn is “fantastic for when you know what you’re searching for” and serves as an ideal platform for building a professional portfolio – something TikTok cannot achieve.

Michelle Ransome, talent acquisition manager at Zurich UK, noted that LinkedIn is a valuable tool for recruiters in the context of apprenticeships because it helps connect employers with parents, who often play an influential role in helping their offspring get on the career ladder.

She added: “This enables [the recruiter] to [garner] support from parents in guiding their children through crucial decisions related to their career choices or furthering their education.”

On the other hand, TikTok provides a marketing advantage over LinkedIn by enabling insurance companies to reach a wider and typically younger audience, facilitating career exploration for individuals that may not feel comfortable using LinkedIn as a platform.

For example, Saeed noted that TikTok’s algorithms predict and recommend videos based on each user’s preferences, meaning that the explore page ”is moulded into what the user is interested in”.

Although Connolly recognised that social media may not reach everyone – such as the small percentage of Gen Z individuals in the UK who do not use social media – but it does provide the insurance industry with an opportunity to connect with talent that might be difficult to reach through traditional school partnerships and programmes.

He said: “While social media [cannot] not reach everyone, it allows us to connect with people who might otherwise remain out of reach.”

Image problem

Connolly added that Zurich UK had “worked hard” to use social media to counter the widespread image of the insurance sector being “boring”, with Jenkins and Saeed confirming that they had created the insurer’s TikTok accounts in part to help address common misconceptions about the insurance industry.

They found that external perspectives of the profession often lacked a full understanding of the sector and were shaped by stereotypes.

Connolly said: “Those of us who work in the insurance industry know it is not boring.

“It offers enormous variety in career development across disciplines and geographies, which many other industries don’t.

“What our graduates have done with TikTok is innovative. They showcase their insurance experience in a relatable and often humorous way.”