Protecting the Future
Insurance Industry Grapples with Need for Young Talent
By Joe Bednar, BusinessWest
Considering that landscape, Sam Hanmer, president and CEO of Rush Insurance Group in Chicopee, said it’s valuable to work with community colleges and high schools to recruit through internships and generally expose students to opportunities in insurance.
“We have plenty of work, and they’re paid internships, so we hope we can get some young people to stick around,” he told BusinessWest. “We’ve even reached out to local high schools as well, creating opportunities for them. We want them to come work after school, do some data entry work, that kind of thing. We’re talking to guidance counselors about the potential for them to send over kids who are looking for after-school jobs.”
Hanmer noted that the Isenberg School of Management at UMass Amherst has put together an insurance club — one more oriented toward the carrier side of the business, not the agency side, but it’s a start toward exposing more young people to career opportunities.
“These are good jobs; they’re actually very-well-paying jobs relative to Western Mass. It’s really about educating people, getting them interested in trying this career path,” he added. “And the interns, we’re paying $22 an hour to keep them engaged. Minimum wage is not going to keep them engaged.”
