tial hires? When I walk into tired-looking offices … that are lucklustre and lacking energy, is it any wonder that insurance firms are having trouble with recruitment? Once you look in the mirror – you will not like what you see. Change, be dynamic, be creative, be fun, be high energy.”

One individual who is working hard to change the industry’s image in the eyes of potential recruits is Mar-garet Parent, director of the professionals’ division at the IIC.

Parent, who heads up the institute’s Career Con-nections programs, be-lieves that “a career in in-surance is not typically on most people’s radar … but it should be.”

“Recruitment issues have become an industry-wide concern,” she says from her Toronto office. “Above-aver-age growth for property and casualty insurance prod-ucts and a poor industry image among consumers mean that we face a bigger challenge than most other industry sectors as we try to recruit from a common pool of candidates.”

Beyond educating stu-dents in high schools, col-leges and universities about career opportunities within the insurance industry, Ca-reer Connections focuses on creating greater awareness among people already in the workforce who may be con-sidering a career change.

“The nice thing and in-teresting sell about insur-ance is that a lot of what you’ve done, your past work experience and knowledge often translates into trans-ferable skills to our indus-try,” Parent explains.

“Say you’re a nurse and you’re tired of being on your feet all day or just looking for a change. There’s lots you can bring to the table if you’re considering a career in insurance. A lot of the medical knowledge you al-ready possess is really useful

ly value college and uni-versity students, some-times it’s not necessarily the recent grads that have enough experience to be a broker or an adjuster,” says Parent. “[Those types of jobs] often come with a bit of experience, so any-one interested in a career change is considered a real asset.”

Of course, some educa-tion and certification must be achieved before one can enter the industry. Study materials can be obtained from the Insurance Insti-tute of BC, while licensing for insurance professionals is controlled by the Insur-ance Council of BC.

“Essentially you can take something you’ve al-ready been doing and, if we can teach you the insur-ance and risk-management aspects around that, you can make the switch to in-surance,” Parent adds. “It’s not as onerous a process as having to go back to school for two years in order to make a career change to insurance.” •nglouberman@biv.com

in helping people to get the right kind of health cover-age, for instance.”

In fact, she says, many professions enable similar knowledge transfer to the insurance field, including

police officers, construc-tion workers, auto mech-anics, civil and mechanical engineers, salespeople, farm operators, health and en-vironmental scientists and marketing and communica-tion reps.

“Though we certain-

The insurance industry wants youProfessionals looking to make a career change need not necessarily go back to school to enter the insurance field

By Noa GlouBermaN

The insurance sector, like many other indus-

tries in Canada, is facing a real recruitment challenge.

The pending retirement of the baby boomers – men and women born after the Second World War, be-tween 1946 and 1964 – indi-cates that there will be many jobs opening in the field of insurance in the coming years.

In a study entitled “A Demographic Analysis of the Property & Casualty In-surance Industry in Can-ada, 2007 to 2017,” the In-surance Institute of Can-

ada (IIC) found that:■ nearly half of all insurance employees are between the ages of 41 and 60;■ insurance employees tend to retire two to three years earlier than workers in all other Canadian sectors; and■ 25% of the current labour force will likely retire be-tween 2012 and 2017.

“Most companies in our industry … comment on the difficulty of sourcing enough talent to fill the va-cant positions they have,” reports Patrick Belton, for-mer president of Clover In-surance Brokers Inc., in an October 2010 article writ-ten for Canadian Insurance

World. “We hear this men-tioned at almost every in-surance gathering.”

Canada, he says, faces “an economic and societal reality that we do not pos-sess enough workers to fill our job vacancies”; he goes on to suggest that insurance companies across the coun-try “need to get creative in attracting and retain-ing new talent and workers. One practical thing that we can do is to pay hiring bo-nuses to new employees to win the fight with other in-dustries for that worker.”

Another suggestion: “Look in the mirror. What are you offering new poten-

What’s nursing got to do with it? The insurance industry welcomes health and other professionals seeking a career change who possess transferable knowledge and skills

insurance

FOCUS ONinsurance | accounting | supply chain management | human resources

PROFESSIONALCAREERS

BIV Media Group | Employment Paperwww.employmentinvancouver.com

spring 2010

Todd PolichProgram Graduate & Ownerwww.earthfoundation.ca

Your Career: Own it.Since 1995, more than 3,000 businesses have been launched through the Douglas College Self Employment Program.Practical training, business advice and group support. Income support available to those who qualify.

To see if you’re eligible for our FREE program call 604 527 5020 New Westminster Campus604 777 6012 Coquitlam Campus or visit douglascollege.ca/selfemployment

11-058

“The nice thing …

about insurance is

that … your past work

experience and knowledge

often translates into

transferable skills”

– Margaret Parent,director,

professionals’ division,Insurance Institute of Canada

If you are looking for a professional and rewarding career, you should consider an Insurance Career at Canadian Direct Insurance.

Canadian Direct Insurance is entering its 15th year of o�ering personal insurance direct to consumers. Our mission is to provide a fast and convenient way to purchase insurance while still providing excellent customer service at competitive prices. We are proud of our success and attribute this to our outstanding people. Our team consists of enthusiastic and committed employees who are focused on providing better insurance for less money.

Most of us are mindful of the need for insurance to protect our belongings, which has been particularly evident due to the number of natural disasters that have recently occurred around the world. But a career in insurance is not something that is normally “top of mind”. It is however, a highly rewarding and respected career, particularly if you work for an innovative market leading company like Canadian Direct. A company that has the most satis�ed customers in the marketplace while being part of an organization voted one of the “50 Best Employers” in Canada. If this sounds like a company you want to work for, you should contact us. With a head o�ce in downtown Vancouver, we have Human Resources, Business Development, I.T., Finance departments and, because of our insurance specialty, we also have Claims, Underwriting, Sales and Customer Service departments.

Canadian Direct Insurance supports and promotes continuing education. Insurance courses such as training for a level one insurance licence and training for a Chartered Insurance Professional (CIP) designation are fully funded by the company and we encourage our employees to develop their skills. To learn more about Canadian Direct Insurance, please visit us at www.canadiandirect.com. Canadian Direct Insurance is a member of the Canadian Western Bank Group..

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May 31–June 6, 2011 Business in Vancouver 19Professional Careers: Special Report from Employment Paper

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after achievement in SCM in Canada; it sets the national standard for excellence in the profession. A comprehen-sive accreditation program certifies that the SCMP has attained the highest level of competency. Adherence to a code of ethics ensures the highest level of integrity.

Employers benefit from SCMPs’ unique and distinct-ive competence. SCMPs are recognized as strategic SCM professionals who provide enterprises with innova-tive leadership to achieve a competitive edge in a global marketplace.

The BC Institute PMAC is pleased to deliver its pro-grams through its education partners at Simon Fraser University (continuing stud-ies, management and profes-sional programs) and Doug-las College (continuing stud-ies). The BC Institute PMAC is also working with SFU’s learning strategies group

toward a possible executive program. ECONOMIC CONTRIBUTIONThe SCM profession makes a significant contribution to Canada’s economy. PMAC members control more than $130 billion in annual spend.

The standard of living we all enjoy through time-ly, cost-effective access to a range of innovative, high-quality goods and servi-ces is directly linked to the practice of SCM. The pro-fession influences the so-cial and economic success of Canadians and citizens worldwide.

Organizations cannot compete solely as individ-ual firms. Increasingly, they must rely on effective sup-ply chains to win in the net-worked economy. With re-lationships extending be-yond traditional enterprise boundaries, organizations are managing business pro-cesses throughout an inte-

For more information about supply chain education and training visit www.bcipmac.ca.

grated value chain of mul-tiple companies – from the ultimate supplier to the ul-timate customer. •

Career opportunities in supply chain management80,000 supply chain management recruits will be needed for new or vacant jobs annually says Canadian Supply Chain Sector Council

Supply chain manage-ment (SCM) is the pro-

cess of strategically manag-ing flows of goods, services, finance and knowledge, plus relationships within and among organizations, to sup-port and achieve enterprise objectives.

SCM involves the integra-tion of core areas of know-ledge (procurement, oper-ations, logistics) and sup-porting knowledge areas (marketing, finance and ac-counting, human resources, knowledge management).

Globalization, sustain-ability, information technol-ogy – these are just a few of the many issues that busi-nesses today wrestle with. In this dynamic environment improving supply chain per-formance has become essen-tial for companies to remain successful. It’s a growing trend that will only intensify.

REWARDING CAREERSSCM professionals occupy influential positions across

organizations. They work in senior management, consult-ing, procurement, operations, logistics, transportation and trade.

According to Statistics Canada data, the supply chain sector is expanding. More than 700,000 people are employed in some aspect of SCM in Canada today. Annually, 80,000 SCM re-cruits will be needed for new or vacant jobs, says the Can-adian Supply Chain Sector Council.

Approximately 150,000 positions in the supply chain are at the professional or managerial level. These pos-itions demand professionals who are both supply chain specialists and strategic busi-ness managers.

Organizations seeking to hire skilled SCM person-nel increasingly seek individ-uals accredited by the Pur-chasing Management Asso-ciation of Canada (PMAC) with the supply chain management professional

Supply chain management spans all movement and storage of raw materials, work-in-process inventory and finished goods from point of origin to point of consumption

20 Business in Vancouver May 31–June 6, 2011Professional Careers: Special Report from Employment Paper

Discover more at www.bchrma.org/chrp

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May 31–June 6, 2011 Business in Vancouver 21Professional Careers: Special Report from Employment Paper