Three tips for attracting underwriting talent

What do underwriters care about when considering a new role? We recently spoke to over 100 underwriting professionals to understand how they feel about working in the US financial services industry, and as part of this, we asked them to rank their most important motivators when considering a new job. Career progression and growth opportunities featured most prominently, followed by work-life balance and the stability of the company. Based on these responses, let’s look at three ways insurers can attract underwriting talent.

1. Help them grow

36% of respondents said career progression and growth opportunities were their most important motivator when changing roles. As soon as they join, give your underwriters a clear growth path so they can see there’s a long term future with your organization. This should include clear milestones tied into their personal objectives, and continuous learning opportunities to help them develop all the time.

AI and automation are playing an increasingly important role in underwriting as insurers look to simplify routine tasks, improve data analysis and gain deeper insights into risk. Training your underwriters in the latest technologies is not only essential to making better business decisions, but also in helping your people keep up with an evolving talent market. It’s incredibly valuable for them to know that you’re invested in their future careers.

2. Give them balance

Work-life balance was the most important motivator for 31% of respondents, which makes a supportive team environment and flexible working practices essential. There’s a lot of travel involved in the role of an underwriter, which can severely eat into their personal time. Some companies operate a hybrid working policy whereby days spent visiting a client count as time in the office.

Your underwriters could have very different needs depending on where they are in their career. More junior underwriters, for example, say they want to go into the office so they can learn, get quicker responses to queries and find role models. The only way you can understand your people’s varied needs, and cater your working policies accordingly, is through regular communication.

3. Offer them stability

19% said the stability of the company was the most important consideration when looking at new roles. When you think about the current state of the market, it’s hardly surprising. Underwriting is currently undergoing significant transformation due to economic uncertainty, tech acceleration and a host of other factors. Some insurers offer pensions or stock options to help their people feel like more than just employees. Even just being a publicly traded company is something underwriters view as stability.

An open dialogue is so important when it comes to keeping your people informed and reassured. Chubb releases a quarterly underwriting report to ensure transparent communication and share performance figures with its people. AM Best is a ratings company that uses underwriting profits to assess companies’ level of stability, upgrading or downgrading an organization’s rating according to its performance. A lot of underwriters use AM Best’s ratings to understand an organization’s stability and, therefore, its viability as a potential employer.

For more advice, speak to us

These insights are drawn from our Underwriting USA Workplace Attitudes and Salary Survey, conducted in August and September 2025. We’ll be publishing the full results towards the end of the year. In the meantime, if you’d like more advice on attracting underwriting talent or you need support making the right hire, please get in touch with me.