Why insurance should be winning the war for talent

Dozens of industries are fighting the same battle right now – a war for talent. 

Skilled people are in short supply, expectations are rising, and sectors from tech to energy are competing for the same bright minds. 

Something we don’t say loudly enough is that insurance should have the edge in this fight.

Our industry offers some of the most varied, interesting and globally connected roles anywhere in the UK economy. 

For people who are curious, analytical, and hungry to learn, it provides faster progression, broader exposure and earlier responsibility than many supposedly more glamorous sectors.

People who join our business in junior roles or as apprentices have multiple opportunities to progress their careers. 

The opportunities to move laterally, develop specialist expertise and work internationally remain a real differentiator. Ambition and mindset are what matter.

Misconceptions

One of the biggest barriers we still face is outdated thinking about what a career in insurance looks like.

Firstly, you don’t have to be in London to succeed. There’s a stubborn perception that exciting insurance careers exist only in the Square Mile. That simply isn’t true. 

Our regional operations are expanding and many of our most dynamic roles sit outside the capital, not to forget the global opportunities large businesses like Zurich can offer.

As a multinational insurer, servicing a flourishing mid-market sector, our teams in the regions are central to our growth strategy, strengthening the face-to-face broker relationships that drive our success. 

Graduates leave with a panoramic understanding of how sustainable energy risk is evolving and the opportunity to continue doing fascinating and relevant work.

Frank Streidl, Zurich UK

They’re high impact, commercially strategic positions in places where people want to live, from Leeds and Birmingham, to Glasgow and beyond.

Secondly, the preconceptions of the type of people who work in insurance are out-of-date. 

Historically, our industry relied on narrow recruitment channels and informal networks. 

Thankfully those days are in the past as the industry embraces diversity of thought as an essential tool for dealing with the complexity of today’s risk landscape.

At Zurich, we invest in people based on mindset and potential, balancing academic credentials with desirable characteristics such as curiosity, adaptability and the ability to think critically. 

Different generations, different skillsets and different individual experiences all contribute to stronger decision making and better outcomes. 

Innovation happens when you combine perspectives, not when everyone looks and thinks the same.

Creating new pathways

One initiative I’m particularly proud of is our Green Grad programme, which I initiated in 2023. 

We deliberately partner with universities outside the traditional circle, focusing on institutions producing diverse thinkers with strong technical skills.

The programme gives participants a unique runway: rotations across underwriting, risk engineering and claims, all within the context of supporting global clients through the energy transition. 

Graduates leave with a panoramic understanding of how sustainable energy risk is evolving and the opportunity to continue doing fascinating and relevant work. 

Alumni from the scheme are now working in frontline roles where they can help shape the future of energy insurance. That’s the type of career progression young people want to have within their grasp.

Artificial intelligence

Technology, and the industry’s attitude to artifical intelligence in particular, is another weapon to use in the war on talent. 

While other industries fear AI will eliminate roles and hollow out their junior ranks, insurance wants its talent to utilise AI and drive forward its adoption.

People aspire to roles where they can learn, apply judgement and have impact. Across our commercial business, employees are using AI‑enabled tools to reduce administrative tasks, analyse information quicker and focus their time where it adds the most value. 

AI helps strip away low‑value tasks and accelerates development, particularly for those earlier in their careers. 

It also creates new career pathways for people with technical, analytical and hybrid skillsets who might not previously have seen insurance as a natural home.

AI is a capability to be learned, not a black box to be feared. My view is that AI can only replace you if you don’t use it. 

If you embrace it to speed up analysis, enhance decision-making, super-power your productivity - you become indispensable.

Flying the flag

Insurance is a sector rich with opportunity and open to those with curiosity and ambition. 

By challenging outdated perceptions, investing in regional talent, and creating innovative entry routes we’re proving that great careers in insurance can start anywhere and evolve in multiple directions.

At the same time, embracing AI empowers our people rather than replaces them, and should be a selling point for the workforce of tomorrow. 

If we continue to champion diversity of thought, harness new technology, and broaden the ways talent can enter and thrive in our industry, insurance won’t just compete in the war for talent, it can win it.