Thinking About Hiring an Internal Recruiter? Here’s Our Advice to Get You Started.

In 2015, my partners and I started the buy-out process at Capstone. In 2018, the purchase was complete, but the real work had just begun. We thought about how to grow the company, which included hiring additional recruiters. For us, doing so is a decision based on our company’s growth, capacity of our current team, and skill sets that match our recruiting projects.

Can you relate? With your own company’s growth has come greater recruiting demands. You are thinking about hiring an internal recruiter, either the first one ever or an addition to your team. The challenge for you, as an insurance organization, versus Capstone, is that recruiting isn’t your field of expertise. Not knowing recruitment inside and out, these three questions are sure to arise.

Should We Hire an Internal Recruiter?

You’ve added other positions based on growth. For example, you need to hire a new commercial lines account manager because of all the new business coming in, growth on existing accounts, the capacity of your current service team, and the time required to deliver high quality service.

Apply the same thought process to recruitment. You are more likely to need an internal recruiter when:

1. Your hiring volume continues to increase to the point that you have 40-hours/weeks’ worth of recruiting activity.
2. You can save money because you pay external recruiting fees on more than 10% of the positions you fill annually.
3. Your HR team and hiring managers spend considerable time on recruitment activities (sourcing and screening candidates) that take away from their core job duties.

What Profile Makes a Good Insurance Recruiter?

There is no prototypical recruiter. The person that works best has a skill set that matches your unique hiring needs.

1. Define what recruiting means to your organization.

1. If you want someone beating down doors to find experienced producers at your competitors, you’re going to need a skilled salesperson without call reluctance.
2. If you want someone to pipeline your internship and newbie training programs, then you want a recruiter who likes going to job fairs and college campuses to talk with inexperienced people.

2. Be clear about your expectations.

1. If you judge the recruiter’s success based on sourcing and screening resumes, then you don’t need much of a technical expert, just someone who can learn insurance and knows enough about recruiting to pass off the right resumes to hiring managers.
2. If you want someone that’s a game-time manager, then consider reskilling insurance professionals. Account managers make excellent internal recruiters. They know insurance, can relate to service candidates, and like administrative and project management duties.

How Do We Train and Develop Internal Recruiters?

Retention is an issue within recruitment. Rarely do I have the same contact at an insurance organization for longer than two years. Too often, I see insurance agencies make the same mistakes regarding workload, institutional controls, lack of communication, and disengagement that lead to internal recruiter turnover.

Training is your most important retention tool for recruiters, regardless of experience and tenure.

• If you have recruiters on staff, select one with good leadership skills to execute a 90 to 120-day onboarding plan for new hires. Remember, the recruiter who conducts the training will need their recruiting workload substantially reduced.
• If you don’t have internal resources, find an external partner with recruiting expertise. A lack of insurance-specific recruitment training is why my company built its consulting practice. We teach and train recruiters at insurance organizations how to apply their skills to the insurance industry. We give them the support they need to confidently go into the job market to source and screen candidates. We get them on the phone quickly and ease them into a manageable number of recruiting projects. We also offer professional development for more experienced internal recruiters who want to sharpen their skills or branch into other types of recruiting roles.
• You must check in regularly. Recruiting is high stakes and stressful. Burnout is real. Whether your internal recruiter has a background in insurance, human resources, or another business field, it’s important to consistently ask about their career interests. A key question is, “Do you even like recruiting?” because the answer can change over time. Rather than find out the answer when the person resigns, see how they can be retained and upskilled in another part of your company.

Topics Talent