Demand for sales and distribution staff in the life insurance industry is booming, according to recruiter Profusion Group.

“We have found the average life insurance sales and distribution teams are now 35% bigger than they were 18 months ago,” Director Ashton Bilbie told insuranceNEWS.com.au.

“From mid-2008, there has been consistent demand and the number of new life insurance jobs available in the second quarter of this year was up 27%.”

He says there has also been good demand for other roles in life insurance such as actuaries, claims, underwriting, valuation and pricing staff. 

“There is strong demand for life insurance people across the board, but the emphasis is on sales,” Mr Bilbie said.

Demand for sales people has also pushed up bonuses and for the first time they have overtaken those in the asset management field.

“In the past two years, business development manager salaries have been higher than similar roles in asset management companies,” he said. “We are seeing bonuses paid to life staff starting at $50,000 and going up to $300,000.”

Mr Bilbie says because competition for candidates is very strong employers are often paying premium salaries, guaranteed bonuses and sign-on payments.

The strong remuneration packages are also encouraging people who work in asset management to switch to the life industry.

“Life insurance is now a suitable career path for some asset management people,” he said. “But there is still a lot of poaching going on between the life companies, especially for sales staff.”

The growth in demand for life insurance sales staff is attributed to many financial planners now providing life insurance advice in addition to investments.