By Robin Chan

WHEN chemical engineering students start showing up at seminars for recruiting insurance agents, it surely reflects the desperation among job seekers in this bleak recessionary environment.

But Mr Philip Seah, chief executive of British insurer Prudential Assurance in Singapore, welcomes this as he seeks to add 1,000 more insurance agents to his current pool of 3,500 by year end. He said this is the best time to join the industry.

'By the end of the year, we would have hired more people for selling insurance and financial service products than in the past few years. I'm quite certain of that,' Mr Seah said in an interview with The Straits Times.

He believes that the tough economic times are ripe for insurance companies to expand their talent pool because more people - from fresh graduates to those in between jobs - are becoming more open-minded about what jobs they take on.

'We saw it as well in the Asian financial crisis and dot.com bust - more people are open to the idea of a career in insurance. Given that we have the aspiration to hire, and people are open to the idea, it is a good time to recruit,' he said.

'Even when the economy becomes more benign, we will retain a lot of them.'

Other insurance companies shared the same sentiments.

An earlier Straits Times report said that AIA hopes to add more than 1,000 agents to its pool of 4,000, and Manulife is looking to expand its agency strength of 1,300 by 15 per cent.

NTUC Income is also looking to grow its pool of 1,600 agents, while Great Eastern Life wants to add 60 to 80 agents a month to its current strength of 2,534.

Great Eastern's managing director for Singapore, Mr Tan Hak Leh, said the bulk of its new agents comes from the 21 to 35 age group, comprising fresh graduates and young professionals with a few years of working experience.

'These two segments have the greatest potential in contributing to the business,' he said.

He added that the company has already seen an upswing of about 30 per cent in the number of undergraduates and graduating students showing interest. It has also received about 15 per cent to 20 per cent more inquiries from postgraduate students.

More former bankers are also joining the company, he said.

However, this trend should not be too surprising as there is a correlation between an economic downturn and a surge in demand for products that offer protection. This means insurance companies can afford to have more agents on their books.

Mr Shaun Meadows, chief executive of Aviva Singapore, said: 'In the current climate, there has been a shift in preference from investment to protection and savings offerings with guarantees.

'While Singaporeans used to invest in protection and investments equally, more consumers are now shifting their focus to protection over investments.'

Selling insurance is not usually the career of choice for many, Mr Seah admitted.

'In good times, people want to consider a career with a base salary and to feel like they are employed.'

Insurance agents earn through commissions from the sale of policies and the services they provide to their customers.

Some agents have a bad reputation for being too pushy. But Mr Seah said it is not representative of the industry.

'We accept the fact that in any profession, in sales, there will be people who do it wrongly. So it gives the rest who are doing things right a bad name.'

He explained that with life insurance, a person is protected only if he or she already owns a policy.

'This is why agents need to be talking to people before they have a problem and not after.'

And he believes that newcomers have everything to gain by joining the insurance industry.

'Over the years, I know that people with sales and direct marketing experience are an asset to any company, not just life insurance, because that is the lifeblood of any company - to be able to generate value and sales revenue for the company.

'I can't think of any better training ground than coming into the life insurance business. It's not territorial, so long as it's within the geography of Singapore. And everybody has some kind of need for a life-insurance product.'

Nonetheless, he adds that it will be a challenging year even for insurance providers.

'Business is the slowest that I've ever encountered. The number of appointments that agents need to keep in order for the client to make a decision has gone up. As we take a look at premiums, the average has also come down. So more work needs to be done and more effort needs to be put in for the business to come in.'

This article was first published in The Straits Times.