Time to “bust that lack of talent myth”, says Idex Consulting CEO

Speaking at the recruitment session at the 2023 British Insurance Brokers’ Association conference in Manchester this week, Green warned that businesses are creating complications around wanting staff to work in the office while candidates want to work in a hybrid manner.

We’ve got candidates coming to us saying they want a new job but don’t want to be working in the office.

Matt Green, Idex Consulting

He said: “If you have walked around the conference, then you can see the quality of people that are in the industry. Our first challenge is to bust that lack of talent myth.

“One interesting issue is that we’ve got clients coming to us constantly asking for new people to join their business, but they want them to come into the office. And then we’ve got candidates coming to us saying they want a new job but don’t want to be working in the office.

“So, you’ve got a complex paradox between the two. That is going to be a real interesting challenge that will roll out over the next couple of years, and there are going to be some big winners and some big losers there.”

Diversity 

Green added that diversity is also a recruitment issue in the sector.

“We get clients asking for help to improve diversity within their business through the talent selection, but they also want people with experience,” he said.

“Clients want people with 10 to 15 years’ experience from a diverse background. The problem is that 10 to 15 years ago, there was not a spotlight on this issue that there isn’t a diverse talent pool. This will be another challenge for the industry.”

Battle for talent

Alan Vallance, CEO of the Chartered Insurance Institute, agreed the indicators do not point towards a lack of talent.

He commented: “There is a battle for getting experienced people to work for you. There are structured and alternative pathways to achieve this. Apprenticeships is one of the many growing numbers of alternative pathways for people to access that talent in the future.

“It is interesting to see how little is understood on apprenticeship schemes. It is a great training programme. It provides people who are 16 and over with great courses. There are also flexible apprenticeship schemes for people who are returning to work and want to explore different areas.”

Apprenticeships

Vallance stressed that apprenticeships are a way to access a different pool of people with different talents.

He added: “As an industry we need to get people to think differently about apprenticeships; they are not just for young people. We have just employed a sustainability director, and he was using the apprenticeship levy to pay for a Masters in sustainability.

“There is a misconception that it is age restricted. It can definitely help bring experienced people into the business.”

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