Recently, unemployment rates have begun to drop, and there are a lot of small business owners who are looking for new employees that can help them run the business. If you are an insurance agent, you might find yourself in the same position. You have probably heard that it is hard to find good help these days, but there are ways you can find good employees. If you are interested in locating the best employees for your company, what do you need to keep in mind?
Take a look at a few important tips below, and put them to use if you want to find good employees for your insurance agency.
1. Know How To Recruit
If you are interested in finding good employees, you need to know how to recruit. There are a lot of small businesses that are interested in hiring people with the same skill set that you are looking for. Therefore, think carefully about how to recruit. What do you need to do if you want to get your name out there?
A few tips you should keep in mind include:
- Use social media resources, such as LinkedIn, to help you find the best employees.
- Understand if you want to reach out to a professional recruiting service that can help you.
- Talk to your current employees to see if they have any friends or family members who are interested in openings.
- Consider targeting employees at larger insurance companies who might have the same skills you need.
If you think carefully about how to recruit, you may have an easier time attracting talented employees to your business.
2. Think Beyond a Competitive Salary
Of course, if you want people to work for your company, you need to offer a competitive salary. On the other hand, you need to think outside the box if you want to convince talented employees to work for your business. Research has shown that some employees are willing to leave a higher-paying job for a company that has a better culture.
Some of the ways you might be able to set your insurance agency apart include:
- Consider offering some extra time off. Work-life balance is more important today than it has ever been in the past, so consider offering your employees some extra time off.
- Consider putting aside money to help employees cover final expenses. Even though you are probably thinking about offering health insurance, you might want to offer some additional benefits to cover emergency bills.
- People want to work for a company that has a positive impact on the local community. In addition to vacation days, you might want to give your employees a few volunteer days. These are not vacation days, but they are days that your employees can spend outside of the office if they are volunteering with a local nonprofit organization.
If you think beyond a competitive salary, you might have an easier time convincing people to work for your insurance agency.
3. Keep the Job Posting Short and Sweet
You might have also heard that people have shorter attention spans today than they did in the past. That is why you need to keep your job posting short and sweet. If it takes longer than a few minutes for someone to review the job posting, they are going to move on to a different job posting with another business. When people see a job post that has a lot of details, they see an employer who is overbearing and micromanages everything. That is not the impression you want to give off, so make sure your job posting is short, sweet, and to the point.
4. Think About Retirement Benefits
As an insurance agent, you run a small business, and there are a lot of expenses you need to absorb. At the same time, if you want to attract talented employees, you need to think about retirement benefits. There are different ways you can set up a retirement plan for your employees, and if you show your employees that you are thinking about their future, they will know that you genuinely care about their well-being. For example, you might want to explore offering a Keogh Plan to your employees as a retirement plan. By offering a retirement plan, you also show your employees that there is a future with your insurance agency, and you might have an easier time convincing them to come and work for you.
5. Foster Strong Teamwork
As an insurance agency, your team members will have to work together. You might have multiple people in the office, and they all have their strengths and weaknesses. You need to show a potential candidate that all of your employees work together to solve problems. You advocate for your policyholders, and you need to work together to find the best solution to specific problems.
There are several ways you can foster better teamwork in your business. A few options include:
- Take team outings to various locations.
- Offer happy hours from time to time.
- Order lunch from a local restaurant occasionally.
Then, make sure you show a potential candidate just how strong your teamwork is. Brag about these outings when people interview, and you might have an easier time convincing them to come and work for your company.
6. Have a Streamlined Onboarding Process
Do you want new employees to come and work for your company? If so, have a strong onboarding process. This means you need to train your employees appropriately. You do not want to waste your employees’ time training them on tasks that are not going to be relevant to their daily job, but you need to give them the tools they need to be successful. You might want to talk to your current employees to see how you can improve the onboarding process. If you can do so, you will have an easier time attracting the right candidates.
7. Focus on Employee Retention
Finally, if you want to find good employees, you need to keep the right ones around. You need to survey your current employees early and often. Just as you provide feedback to your employees from time to time, you need to collect feedback from them. If you show your employees that you care about improving the workplace, they will be more inclined to stick around. Then, when new employees notice that your current employees have been around for a long time, they will know that they have found a great place to work. They will be more inclined to come and work for your business.
Contact American Agents Alliance To Learn More
If you want to find good employees, consider putting these tips to work for your business. There are a lot of challenges that come with running an insurance agency, but it can also be a very fulfilling career. We are the American Agents Alliance, and we have a variety of resources that can help you run a more efficient insurance agency. If you would like to learn more about the resources we have available, contact us today to request more information. We would be honored to help you.
