CII seeking serious sea change

At last it looks as though the insurance industry is going to get the campaign it deserves to tackle the dearth of interest in it from graduates and school leavers.

The first brave step in this process by the Chartered Insurance Institute was to conduct research, which spelt out with depressing clarity what everyone knew anecdotally - that 90% of graduates would not consider a career in insurance.

However, as Steve White of the British Insurance Broker's Association said, presumably the other 10% considered it but then said 'no' anyway.

If this is true that means the number of graduates entering insurance is nearer to nil - starkly illustrating the scale of the problem for the industry, and the size of the task facing this CII-led initiative. Looking at it another way though, it would seem there is everything to play for in attempting to attract the interest of a talent pool where both quantity and quality exists.

The fact that going to university is not the elitist preserve it once was - with greater numbers than ever before now attending - must surely bode well for the success of the CII's campaign.

The greater numbers taking degrees is also due to easily obtainable credit, for which there is no shortage of willing lenders. Research by the Association of Investment Trust Companies shows the national average debt on graduation is currently £13,500.

Furthermore, according to the Association of Graduate Recruiters, a proportion of graduates fail to find employment within a year of graduating, so the CII and others may find more attentive ears to all that insurance has to offer at this point.

The AGR also cites a lack of soft skills as the reason many are unemployed after a year, but this fact has not escaped the CII, which can cater for an individuals' soft skills gaps.

That said, the CII and the projects' stakeholders should aim for the finest graduates available, and I wish the CII and all involved the very best in promoting a world class industry and one which, in my view, holds part of the responsibility for preventing the UK from falling off the world stage completely after its industrial decline.