By Brendan Keating, SVP, Chief Operations Officer, Argo Surety
As more companies enter the surety space, competition for talent has increased.
Finding a good fit to fill surety underwriter jobs can be a struggle. This, along with the need for a combination of technical expertise and relational skills makes it challenging.
But with an innovative approach and unique hiring practices, Argo Surety has been able to overcome those challenges and set an example for how to attract and retain the right people for the right roles.
What makes a good surety candidate
- Flexibility and resourcefulness
- Financial and analytical competence
- Relationship management skills
Having the ability to perform rigorous financial and contract analysis is an important part of a surety professional’s toolkit.
But equally important is the ability to manage and maintain relationships through difficult decisions. Delivering tough messages is perhaps the hardest part of a surety underwriter’s job, but it’s often necessary in order to maintain consistent results.
Resourcefulness separates the great candidates from the good ones. When trying to determine who will succeed in surety, we ask ourselves, “Who’s trying to figure something out on their own? Who’s putting in the work instead of just saying, ‘How do we get there?’”
This doesn’t mean we’re looking for candidates who are eager to make decisions without oversight but rather for self-starters who work to develop their own resources.