P R A D

industry, one firm’s gain is another’s loss. There is no net influx of sales talent. This is an overall industry problem. • The amount of hiring from college was surprisingly low, likely a reflection of some of the challenges many have faced in hiring young candidates without insurance experience. • The success rate for producers bringing books is the highest for obvious reasons. • The average success rate for all other categories of hiring is fairly consistent. • Results of the top and bottom quartiles vary widely and reveal the disparity of hiring results being achieved. • The best course of action is not necessarily where the most people in our industry hire or even where the best results are achieved. We need to look at additional data and ask relevant questions to determine the best strategy for each firm.

Hiring By Gender

The production side of our industry has historically been male-dominated. The data shows that hiring over the past five years has continued to be heavily weighted towards males. Feedback from top performers suggests an industry shift, perhaps more quickly in benefits and personal lines than commercial. While only 15% of commercial lines producer hires were female, over a quarter of benefits hires and over half of personal lines hires were females.

There is also very little difference in the success rates of male and female hires – males succeeded overall at a rate of 61% and females succeeded at a rate of 63%. However, there were pockets where the success rates did differ. In college hires, employee benefits, and hires from the insurance industry without sales experience, there were pronounced discrepancies in success rates between genders.

Hiring by Gender

15%

21%

26%

55%

85%

79%

74%

45%

All producers

Commercial lines

Employee benefits

Personal lines

Male Female

Source: Supplemental survey

19 Producer Recruiting & Development Study