Agency Internships
Independent agencies often struggle to find qualified staff, especially as Baby Boomers retire. However, help is closer than you think. The future of the insurance industry in North Carolina is bright, thanks to the talented students in Risk Management & Insurance (RMI) programs at Appalachian State, East Carolina, and UNC-Charlotte. These programs produce skilled graduates each year. The challenge is connecting them with careers in independent agencies.
IIANC is tackling this by partnering with RMI programs through scholarships, classroom engagement, networking opportunities, and sharing job and internship openings. We also provide resources like an internship guide and grants to support agencies.Now we need your help! If your agency can host an intern or has a job opening for an RMI graduate, let IIANC know. Together, we can recruit top talent for the future of independent agencies!
See below to learn more about the IIANC resources available to help your agency with providing an internship or advertising full-time job openings.
Agency Internships
A great way to bring more young people into the independent insurance industry is to provide internship opportunities in your agency. Not only does it give your agency some additional help for a few months, but it promotes the awesome career advantages that working as an independent agent offers. It’s also a great opportunity to get these top-notch students “in the door” before someone else does and take a risk-free look at a potential future employee.
Where does my agency begin?
If your agency is committed to providing an internship opportunity during the summer or coming school year, we invite you to reach out to the RMI programs at App State, ECU and UNCC. If you would like to meet students face to face and promote your agency's internship (and/or full-time job openings), the RMI Programs host Career Fairs each semester.
What would an intern do at my agency?
Hosting an intern is made simple with the Agent's Guide for Internships. This guide walks you step by step through a 10 week summer internship so that you can provide a learning experience that is beneficial to both the student and your agency. The guide can be customized for your specific agency but it takes all of the guesswork out of what projects, responsibilities and training should be part of the internship. Included are sample interview forms and evaluations, orientation schedules, intern assignments and more.
IIABA's Invest Program also offers numerous FREE internship guides that are available to you on their website. Click here to access them.
How do I fund a paid internship?
Grants are available to help with the costs associated with a paid internship. Thanks to funding from the IIANC Education Foundation, IIANC is offering a limited number of grants of up to $1,000 to assist IIANC member agencies in offering paid internships this year. The deadline to apply for a grant is June 1 (funds are available on a first come, first served basis; IIANC reserves the right to stop accepting grant applications should funding run out.)
We also offer an additional internship opportunity - our HBCU Diversity Internship Scholarship Grant. Also funded by the IIANC Education Foundation, this internship offers a limited number of grants of up to $2,000 for those agencies who hire an intern from a HBCU (Historically Black College & University.) Funds are available on a first come, first served basis; IIANC reserves the right to stop accepting grant applications should funding run out.