[Insurance Planner Migration] ③ Seoul National University and Large Corporation Alumni Also Transition to GA

Competition to Recruit Experienced Planners
Some GAs Begin Training New Recruits
Preferred for High Loyalty and Low Turnover
Challenges from 20s Youth to 40s Career-Interrupted Women

Giving Up Career in Seoul National University Chemical Engineering... Full-time GA Planner

A (40), who graduated from the graduate school of Chemical Engineering at Seoul National University and worked as a researcher for 12 years at a major chemical company, decided to switch to a full-time corporate insurance agency (GA) planner this year. He became more interested in making a living than researching plastic properties. Because of the negative social perception of planners, his spouse and acquaintances initially discouraged him. However, after he read several related books and presented detailed plans to persuade them, they now actively support him.

A (40) is explaining the reason for challenging himself as a planner at Goodrich Financial Campus located in Jung-gu, Seoul.

In February, A visited the Goodrich Financial Campus operated by Goodrich, a domestic insurtech corporate insurance agency (GA) located in Jung-gu, Seoul. This place is Goodrich's training center for new planners. After the separation of insurance product manufacturing and sales ('Je-pan separation'), competition to recruit experienced planners intensified in the GA industry, so Goodrich established this campus to nurture newcomers and break away from this trend.

At this campus, A learned about basic insurance knowledge, computer system access methods, sales know-how, and overall tasks performed by planners. A said, "It was very impactful to hear the life stories of senior planners with long field experience in a one-on-one manner," adding, "I gained field knowledge that cannot be learned from books and greater motivation."

Working in Sales and Education... Challenged GA After Realizing Importance of Asset Management

Kim Jimi (35), who worked in overseas export sales and coding education instructor roles for 13 years in Daegu, is also a rookie planner. After having a child and starting a family, she deeply realized the importance of asset management and decided to switch to a planner full-time. Encouraged by the support from those around her who thought she would be good at sales, she boldly took on the challenge.

Jimi Kim (35) is being interviewed about her motivation to become a planner at Goodrich Financial Campus located in Jung-gu, Seoul.

Kim also had prejudices against planners. However, her thoughts changed as she faced challenges and studied directly. She said, "There is much more to study than when I worked in education, and in terms of expertise, it is by no means an easy field to approach," expressing her ambition, "I want to build professional knowledge about insurance and provide essential insurance information not only to my family but also to acquaintances around me."

Prospective financial planners are attending a lecture at the Goodrich Financial Campus located in Jung-gu, Seoul.

At Goodrich Financial Campus, various prospective planners dreaming of becoming planners were met, ranging from people in their 20s to women in their 40s who had career breaks. All of them had no prior experience as planners. Branches nationwide recruit insufficient personnel according to their TO (TO: headcount) and send them to the campus for training, after which they are assigned to the respective branches. Since starting the first course in September last year, 224 people have completed up to the sixth course as of last February. They will receive additional step-by-step training up to level 3 over the next year.

Frequent Job Changes Among Experienced GA Planners... Need to Increase Retention by Nurturing Newcomers

Goodrich invests in nurturing newcomers because the GA planner labor market is centered on experienced planners, resulting in frequent job changes. As of the end of last year, the average retention rate of planners at 10 large GAs with over 5,000 planners was 59.1%. Retention rate refers to the proportion of planners who have been newly registered and have conducted normal insurance solicitation activities for more than one year. This means that 4 out of 10 newly hired planners change jobs within a year.

The reason planners are experience-centered is that there is a lot of specialized knowledge to acquire, and the customer pool they already have determines short-term organizational sales power. However, newcomers also have advantages. Lee Cheol, head of Goodrich Channel Education Team, said, "Newcomers have higher loyalty to the organization and lower turnover rates compared to experienced planners," adding, "Since all are inexperienced, they do not use tricks and accept what they learn as is." According to an analysis of productivity based on monthly insurance premiums of planners from the Financial Campus, Goodrich found their productivity was 30% higher than average. Goodrich aims to maintain a 60% retention rate for new planners.

Lee Cheol, head of the Goodrich Channel Education Team, is explaining the reason for operating the Financial Campus.

With intensifying GA labor competition, the number of GAs operating their own training programs is expected to increase. iFA invested in the insurance planner education platform FP Partners in January and decided to jointly develop insurance planner education programs. AIA Premier Partners also announced at the Vision Declaration Ceremony held in January that they will operate various programs to nurture new planners.