Shortage of talent in insurance sector

06 November 2007
Shortage of talent in insurance sector

PETALING JAYA While some players in the insurance industry are scouting around for talents and others are trying to retain their existing scarce pool.

According to industry players, this scenario is due to the entry of new players, coupled with the growing economy and ongoing mergers and acquisitions in the sector.

Manulife Insurance (M) Bhd president and chief executive officer Peter Robertson told StarBiz: “There is definitely a shortage of professionals in specialist areas, such as actuarial, underwriting and product development.

“The insurance industry is growing every year and, with the emergence of takaful companies, we are all looking for high-calibre people.”

Allianz General Insurance Co (M) Bhd head of human resources Mohd Parrish Abdul Hameed, in agreeing with Robertson, said there was also a shortage of marketing talent.

According to Parrish, human capital is important to the insurance industry as employees are the most valuable asset because they are the link to customers, agents, intermediaries, suppliers and the community in general.

To address the talent shortage, Robertson said the industry should first develop the skills of its internal staff to allow them to undertake different job functions as part of their career development in the company.

Second, the industry must encourage fresh graduates or school leavers to look at insurance companies as potential career options. And third, it should also look at people in other industries with related skills, albeit no insurance expertise, such as product development or account management, Parrish added.

Manulife has an ongoing process to seek talent. “It may be a fresh graduate who shows potential or an experienced person who can add value to the organisation,'' he noted.

Parrish said the grooming and growing of internal talents via exchange and exposure within the group's network and resources worldwide was one of the ways to increase the talent pool.

Recruitment of young and bright graduates and giving them intensive technical training as part of a succession planning strategy is one of the other ways of overcoming the talent shortage, besides encouraging merger and acquisition exercises in Malaysia.

Asked if Allianz was looking to employ new staff at different levels, Parrish said: “We are not on a recruitment drive at the moment, but we are looking at ways to retain and sustain good talent as we do not want to lose them to competitors. In short, we want to manage and retain the right talent.”

AXA Affin General Insurance Bhd president and chief executive officer Jahanath Muthusamy said the company had outlined some programmes that it hoped would attract talents and enhance its human capital. They included AXA Mobility, management trainee and executive development programmes.

Some of the talents that AXA is aiming to attract are accountants and actuaries, marine underwriters and front-end sales personnel, including quality and performing agents.

Source - The Star