The insurance industry in the West Midlands has been urged to overhaul its image in order to counter an increasing recruitment problem.
The warning comes as a result of new research into recruitment within the professional and financial services industry, commissioned by lobbying groups Birmingham Forward and Birmingham Future, and Birmingham and Solihull Learning and Skills Council.
The research found that the industry’s reputation for being boring and unexciting was discouraging graduates from joining the sector, leading to problems with recruiting the right staff.
David Slade, chief executive of broker Perkins Slade said: “Typically, the insurance sector has not provided the same level of in-house training as other professional services sub-sectors.
“However, the developing skills gap which we are experiencing has led to more companies improving their own internal training schemes.
“While developing our own resources is clearly important, more needs to be done generally to encourage people to join the industry in the first place.
“One of the key findings of the research is that we need to become much more effective at communicating the benefits of working in insurance to prospective recruits. We have a wide range of challenging career opportunities available to both school leavers and graduates which local educational institutions need to made more aware of.
“It is therefore essential that we establish stronger links with local FE colleges and universities to help combat this negative image and revive our sector.
