Working through the recession: recruitment

Hays Insurance

The insurance sector is not being impacted as severely as others, but there is of course some caution. Given that London is the centre of insurance, demand for insurance professionals is still very evident.

We are seeing requirements in the South for anything from junior account holders and support professionals, earning £20-25k, all the way up to senior underwriters and senior brokers on six-figure salaries.

The North has been slightly more affected but there are still plenty of opportunities, particularly for senior professionals.

Overall, we are seeing a growth in demand for project managers; in light of the current economy many organisations are focusing on saving money and improving specific areas of the business in order to drive efficiencies, manage finances, and have a real impact on the bottom line.

David Carr, Hays Insurance.

IPS Group

As ever (and in common with all sectors) there are always winners and losers in the job market. It remains the case in the insurance and reinsurance markets that those with strong analytical, cat modelling and/or actuarial skills remain in high demand as do insurance experienced qualified accountants. This is largely due to continuing skills shortages in these disciplines.

Compliance and regulatory professionals also have more reason to be cheerful at present and remain in demand. The same is true of underwriters with strong broker relationships who work in some of the classes where rates are expected to harden imminently. It is also true that brokers with strong client relationships or a track record of winning new clients in any discipline are in strong demand.

If the wholesale insurance and reinsurance rates harden as anticipated, those in most areas of the Lloyd's and London market can afford to be more optimistic.

Moving on to the state of the insurance job market outside of London, there is a slightly different picture.

Vacancy levels in the regions are lower but not massively so, the main difference over the past few months is the time taken to complete the recruitment cycle and candidates being more cautious. Good candidates are likely to be in even more demand as employers focus on Value For Money. As usual in times when there are negative economic signals, many organisations will over react, but relatively soon (12 months) they will be looking to build up pools of new talent again.

Candidates will have to adjust and will not be able to be lazy in their approach to securing career moves; working with a capable recruitment partner will become more important.

For the last 12-18 months in the regions there has been more recruitment activity from Insurance companies but we have seen recently (last 3 months) more activity within the broking sector.

There are no really bleak areas for job hunters across the general insurance market but in times of 'belt tightening' it is always easier for individuals who work in profit centres than those in cost centres to secure a new opportunity.

Christopher Dickman, director, IPS Group.

Hillman Saunders

Although we understand that we are in a challenging economy, we are still actively recruiting across all insurance sectors and as a preferred supplier to most of the top brokers and insurers, we are continuing to see quite a high volume of recruitment requirements.

Couple this with our ever increasing candidate pool, we are experiencing a very busy market which is allowing us to very much trade profitably through this economic downturn.

Andrew Byrne, insurance manager, Hillman Saunders.