Lack of people with diverse backgrounds able to fill roles needing years of experience

Businesses in the insurance sector are looking to improve diversity in the workplace – but there is a lack of people with a diverse background who have the right experience to fill the roles.

That was according to Matt Green, chief executive of recruitment firm Idex Consulting, who said there was not a diverse talent pool to “fish in”.

Speaking at a session about recruitment in the insurance sector during the Biba conference yesterday (11 May 2023), Green explained that clients would come to the firm “all the time” to help improve diversity in their business.

“But, they also want people with experience,” he said.

“So, they want people with 10 to 15 years’ experience as an accounts executive, for example, but they want us to find people that are from a diverse background with that level of experience.

“The problem is that 10 to 15 years ago, there was no spotlights on this issue.

“So, there isn’t a diverse talent pool to fish in. So that’s a challenge.”

New talent

Meanwhile, Ella Wardleworth-Phillips, from The Careers and Enterprise Company, felt young people have a perception around what the insurance sector is, but that “the reality is something completely different”.

When asked how new diverse talent could be attracted to the insurance industry, she said: “There are a vast number of roles that those young people aren’t exposed to, they won’t even have an idea around what they could get involved in.

“So really, it’s about ensuring that young people have got a real informed choice around what pathway they take and where that might lead them to.

“So, the way in which you engage with education, the way in which you make those encounters really meaningful and that you can show young people the art of the possible, is the way in which you’ll be able to attract new talent.”