How to attract young talents for data scientist roles

As new technologies continue to emerge, organisations are finding more and more ways to utilise them to make positive impacts on their business and increase profit margins. Technologies like AI and machine learning are rapidly evolving and becoming ubiquitous in everyday life, often in ways most people are unaware of. These two technologies also have clear benefits for businesses, helping them to aid decision making, increase efficiencies and analyse and action data in timeframes that were previously unattainable to humans.

This uptake in AI and machine learning technology is particularly evident in the insurance sector, as skill shortages have resulted in a lack of qualified candidates, and businesses increasingly look to plug these skill gaps with technology. Alongside this, the allure of working with data science as opposed to the classic actuarial profession is usually stronger for graduates, so businesses are potentially missing out on qualified professionals because of the way they are positioning the work involved.

One of the main issues insurance companies face today in their recruitment process is effectively communicating the cutting edge technologies they work with as an attraction tool. Most graduates with less practical understanding of how insurance companies work are unaware that data science is becoming a key part of many roles within insurance. Communicating this effectively will attract a more diverse and able talent pool.

Contrarily, not all insurance companies are at the same stage of digitalisation. Some companies still rely heavily on older technologies, and while this may be maintaining a satisfactory level of business productivity, these companies often experience a smaller candidate pipeline due to the perception that they lack the foresight to adopt cutting-edge technologies.

With a shortage of talented data scientists in the insurance industry, companies should be considering adapting juniors with transferrable skills into data science more often, or adjusting their employer branding approach to attract data-science professionals. Good mathematicians often do not know that insurance companies are using technologies that will utilise their skills, and therefore applications form this demographic are low – in an area where skill gaps could be plugged.

No matter whether they want to stick to hiring data scientists or leveraging data-science related skills to fill positions, companies should look to communicate the technologies they are using a key attraction pieces, especially when aiming for ambitious and hungry young talent to join their business.

This article was provided by actupool Competence Partner JCW. Further information can be found here.