Finding the Best Employee ...

[GXR2]

I'd like to hear everyone's opinion. What type of person makes the best P&C insurance agent/employee?

Qualities would include: Works hard. Goes above and beyond. Excellent work ethic - When not in the office is actually out getting business and not goofing off. Low drama with low/no personal issues/responsibilites that would require constant time off. Solid producer.

1) Single woman
2) Single man
3) Married women no childern
4) Married man no childern
5) Married woman with childern
6) Married man with childern
7) Divorced man or woman with childern

2nd part of the poll: Personality traits.

Type A personality traits

Type A personalities are competitive, high achievers and have a high sense of time urgency. Often tightly wound and stressed. Can come across as overly aggressive and/or roughly made or done, lacking subtlety or sophistication.

Type B personality traits

Type B's are the opposite of type A's. They are relaxed, laid back and not easily stressed. While type B can be achievers too still they won't be as competitive as Type A's.

Type C personality traits

Type C personalities love details and can spend a lot of time trying to find out how things work. Type C are not assertive at all and they always suppress their own desires even if there is something that they dislike.

Type D personality traits

D stands for distressed, Type D's have a negative outlook towards life and are pessimistic. A small event that is not even noticed by type B can ruin type D's day.
Type D might become socially withdrawn as a result of fear of rejection even if they like to be around people.

Keep in mind that insurance companies do their own type of profiling to get and keep the best risks. It's called underwriting.

When answering please state why..

 

[todd02]

Lmao, Man if this somehow works for you let me know. For 7 years I've been throwing all sorts of people at the wall seeing who sticks. I've noticed one thing and one thing only that makes a good employee "Great." Drive. This is a high volume business. So look for individuals who have been the "Top" in some other industry or sales preferably. These are the people that will excel given the training you provide is top notch and consistent. Rinse and repeat.

Oh and pay them ABOVE average when you find them. Get them locked in with higher renewals but keep a carrot dangling like production requirements to bonus out.

 

[GXR2]

The agency recently hired a female producer who's married with kids. She out of the office more often than not with personal drama, kids and husband stuff. We don't have the funds to hire an office manager /servicing agent. So consequently the other producers are constantly having to service her walk in clients. One agent had to issue a policy on her behalf for a client she previously quoted because the current policy was ending that day. She leaves early every day due to "family" responsibility, leaving valuable production time on the table. The producers are strictly commission so committing the agents to consistent office hours is tough. She writes decent business though and keeps her numbers up. But It's not fair to the other agents. The agency has had this problem with other female producers. The men though, especially the type A's, I've noticed tend to soldier on regardless of circumstances, often working 16 hours a day hitting production home runs.

Wondering if it's a demographic/personality trait one can look out for when hiring?

 

[Josh]

It's illegal to discriminate the way you're describing.

Coincidentally, success has a lot more to do with the person than their gender and marital status.

 

[GXR2]

The agency I work for feels it's not discrimination but finding the best fit for the job. I was chatting with the agency owner and this is how he assesses producers. I'm not an agency owner nor hiring. I disagreed with him and in defence he stated that many companies require candidates take personality assessment tests such as meyers/briggs as part of the employment process.

Just so you'll know, you're being discriminated against every time you fill out the affirmative action portion of an employment application, and even more so if you leave it blank. You can thank our government for that. Just saying.

 

[Josh]

Personality tests actually assess the individual based on who they are. You can color it any shade you like, but if the hiring decisions are based off of gender, age, or marital status, it's 100% illegal.

Might there be a higher chance the right personality or person comes from a particular group? Sure, but if the agency owner won't hire people based solely off being a man, he's an ***. He's especially an *** for explaining this to you because while it can be incredibly hard to prove discrimination, literally telling your employees you're doing it makes it much easier.

 

[GXR2]

if the hiring decisions are based off of gender, age, or marital status, it's 100% illegal.

It's called Affirmative Action. Happens every day. In an effort to help disadvantaged groups who suffer from discrimination, the actual use of that policy is discrimination.

But I guess if the government spins it it's okay?

Everyday you write an insurance policy you're engageing in some form of discrimination.

You'd be shocked what I've heard agency owners say about their producers and hiring practices.

 

[insurance1822]

Wow...talk about a bigot here. GXR you're deplorable

 

[dean8287]

GXR2, is this a joke or are you serious?

 

[GXR2]

Wow...talk about a bigot here. GXR you're deplorable

Haha! LMAO! Finally you responded. What took you so long? Okay so I lost a bet. Given all your previous derogatory comments on here I guess you do have a limit of how low you will go.

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GXR2, is this a joke or are you serious?

A joke. A ruse. Damn, now I'm out $100 bucks. See above.