“Region's insurance companies look to hire”

Region's insurance companies look to hire

Posted: 30 Jan 2011 01:26 AM PST

Lansing-area insurance companies hope to boost their payrolls as the economy picks up - and they're looking for more than just math wizards or sales gurus.

Jobs at insurance companies include everything from claims adjusters and actuaries to positions in customer service, marketing, finance, information technology and management. Many are in demand locally, where several big insurers and several smaller but still sizable operations are located.

"Sometimes, people think they're just math jobs or just sales jobs," said Lori Conarton, spokeswoman for the Insurance Institute of Michigan, a trade association for property and casualty insurers. "Don't just assume that your background wouldn't fit with the insurance industry."

IT in demand

Information technology professionals are in demand as companies automate their processes. Those with IT backgrounds can work in software development and engineering or in data centers. Salaries for computer system analysts or system engineers are in the $70,000 range, said Rich Howard, director of Greater Lansing Insurance and Financial Services Council.

Insurers also employ customer service representatives, which typically don't require colleges degrees and start at around $30,000 a year, he said.

The insurance industry employed about 6,000 people in the Lansing area in 2009, according to the most recent data released by the Michigan Department of Energy, Labor and Economic Growth. The financial services sector, which is often lumped in with insurance in labor numbers, employed nearly 4,000.

Howard said he expects roughly 800 new insurance jobs and 250 to 300 new financial services jobs in about five years.

The Lansing region boasts a concentration of large, locally based insurance companies, such as Auto-Owners Insurance Co., Jackson National Life Insurance Co., Accident Fund Insurance Co. of America, Delta Dental of Michigan and Farm Bureau Insurance of Michigan. Other insurers, such as Accident Fund's Detroit-based parent Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan, also have sizable area operations.

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Growth picks up

The sector's growth slowed during the recession but has started to pick up again, Howard said.

Auto-Owners added more than 200 new positions in Delta Township last year and has more than 50 local job openings, spokesman Tom Shields said. In addition to IT employees, the company is looking for business professionals with bachelor's degrees in any concentration that can be trained for various positions.

Auto-Owners also is looking for 55 college juniors and seniors for paid summer internships in various departments, he said.

The company plans to start work on expanding its Delta Township headquarters next year with the help of tax incentives that call for 800 new jobs to be created over 10 years.

Accident Fund Holdings Inc. is spending $182 million to transform the former Ottawa Power Station into its new downtown Lansing headquarters.

The company, whose operations include worker's compensation insurer Accident Fund Insurance Co. of America, plans to hire 500 workers in Lansing over the next 10 years. It already has 650 employees in Lansing.

Human Resources Vice President Darcy Kerr said hiring has slowed currently but Accident Fund still is confident in its long-term growth projections.

As the economy improves, Kerr said she expects to hire employees to handle claims, customer service and other core insurance operations.

More specialized positions are harder to fill, such as loss control, experienced claims examiners and underwriters, she said. They require very specific education and training combined with institutional knowledge.

Student 'pipeline'

The company keeps an eye on Michigan State University and Olivet College, which offer insurance programs.

"Even though we're not actively hiring at the rate we thought, a lot of focus is making sure we're making those connections ... so when things turn around and we're ready to hire, we've got a great pipeline," Kerr said.

Olivet College has one of the largest insurance and risk management programs in the country, with about 120 students.

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MSU will start offering a bachelor of science degree in actuarial sciences in the fall semester.

MSU has offered an actuarial sciences specialization for 10 years but decided to offer the full major in response to student and industry demand, said Albert Cohen, the actuarial sciences program coordinator.

About 100 students are pursuing the actuarial specialization, he said. And their efforts might pay off.

This month, the Wall Street Journal picked actuaries as the best job in the country for its high demand, favorable work environment and high pay.

The average salary for an actuary in the Lansing area was $85,720 in 2009, according to state labor statistics.

"You have a lot of job security, and if you don't like where you're working, there are a lot of companies that would hire you," Cohen said.

Needs vary

But it takes a lot of training to get there.

"You sit through very rigorous, difficult professional exams," he said.

The types of insurance-related job openings depend on the company.

Lansing-based Physicians Health Plan of Mid-Michigan, for example, employs nurses, pharmacists and physicians in addition to call center staff, claims handlers and financial staff.

"The more knowledge you have about health care, the better you are," said Scott Wilkerson, president and CEO of the health insurer run by Lansing's Sparrow Health System. "It doesn't necessarily have to be a degree, but you could have been a medical assistant, certified coder, have bookkeeping experience. Those credentials matter."

PHP, which employs about 120, launched the state's new high-risk insurance pool last fall. It added about three to six positions in the last few months and is waiting to see how the new pool pans out before deciding to hire more people, Wilkerson said.

'Fast growth'

American Physicians Capital Inc. in East Lansing also is going through some changes that could mean more local jobs.

The medical liability insurer was purchased last fall by The Doctors Co., a California-based firm.

Doctors Co. plans to retrain some of its 110 employees in East Lansing, Regional Vice President Bill Fleming said. They will take on more duties.

The office eventually will serve as an operations hub and should add staff "in the near future," Fleming said. He wouldn't provide details.

The positions would include insurance professionals, information technology and finance positions.

Jackson National Life Insurance Co. is one of the fastest-growing companies in the area. It hired more than 150 people last year and now employs 1,800 people in Lansing and at its headquarters in Alaiedon Township.

"We've really had such a fast growth that we've had to juggle to find enough space for people," spokesman Tim Padot said.

Despite its name, life insurance accounts for less than 1 percent of JNL's annual sales. It focuses on financial planning and retirement solutions.

JNL had sales and deposits of $15.2 billion in 2009.

IT positions are in demand, because JNL's Lansing facilities handle all the data processing and storage for its parent company, United Kingdom-based Prudential PLC.

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