What Do Today’s Students Want from Insurance Employers?

Meet our speakers

Speaker

Grace Grant

Executive Director, Gamma Iota Sigma

Speaker

Michael F. Klein

Executive Vice President; President, Personal Insurance, Travelers

Key takeaways

• GIS is an international professional student organization with 120 collegiate chapters, 6,000+ students and 35,000 alumni that promotes careers in insurance, risk management and actuarial science.
• Students are pushing back against the narrative of insurance being an “accidental career,” indicating a more intentional and strategic approach to entering the industry. 
• The insurance industry is expanding its talent pool by successfully attracting applicants from academic backgrounds beyond traditional insurance or actuarial programs, including marketing, finance, data analytics and general business. 
• Students prefer face-to-face interactions with employers and seek work-life balance, valuing companies that support their mental well-being and their desire to engage in purpose-driven work. 
• In Gamma Iota Sigma’s 2024 survey, 84% of students identified mentorship as important, highlighting this as a key differentiator companies should prioritize in their talent programs. 
• The insurance industry may lose top talent by waiting until junior and senior year to offer internships, while competitors successfully recruit freshmen and sophomores, when students begin seeking internship opportunities.