Insurance exec questions Lloyd's market's hiring policies
Lloyd's of London, as a market, should adjust its hiring policies and diversify away from recruiting mostly middle-class graduates, said Derek Hansen, head of property for Sompo Canopius. By focusing recruiting on too-narrow a segment, insurers may miss out on candidates with strong communication skills and an ability to facilitate deals, said Hansen. His firm has suspended its graduate recruiting programmes, opting to sign up for an initiative dubbed Connect Mentors aiming to diversify the background of employees the firm brings on board. 

Derek Hansen, head of property and facultative at insurer Sompo Canopius, said that the problem with graduates is that while they have strong academic records, they lack personal and communication skills, as well as the ability to relate to people and do deals.

He said that the insurer has frozen its graduate programme while it looks at how it can attract recruits with a broader range of skills.

To help it do this, it has signed up to Connect Mentors, an online mentoring programme, to help it find people from marginalised and unconnected backgrounds.