Hiring guide
How to Hire an Insurance Broker
Licences to check, where to find insurance brokers, a market-placement work sample, red flags and onboarding for brokerages hiring producers.
The short answer
Hiring an Insurance Broker comes down to verifying commercial or personal lines technical knowledge, matched to your book, reading and comparing policy wordings, exclusions and endorsements and building complete underwriting submissions before you commit interview time. The process below runs 5 stages, screens on evidence rather than résumé claims, and scores every candidate against the same criteria.
- Watch for: Compares quotes on price without reading the wording differences
- Watch for: Cannot name the markets they would approach for a typical risk in your niche
- Score on: Identifies gaps in the submission and material wording differences
- Score on: Recommendation balances cover and cost with clear reasons
Paste your Insurance Broker job description; Cohesyve finds, contacts and tests candidates on the real work and ranks them. Ten candidates free, no card.
Applying for a role like this? Practise the assessment free →If you lead a brokerage and are working out how to find an insurance broker to join as a producer or account executive, look for someone who can understand a client's risk, approach the right markets and negotiate terms. The best brokers are technical, organised and trusted by underwriters. This guide covers where to source brokers, the skills to test, a market-placement work sample, red flags and onboarding.
Why this role matters
Brokers act for the client, so their advice shapes what the client is covered for and what they pay. A strong broker presents a submission underwriters take seriously, explains the differences between quotes clearly and fights for the client at claim time. A weak one sends incomplete submissions, misses exclusions in the wording and leaves your brokerage exposed to errors and omissions claims.
Where to find candidates
- State insurance department licence look-ups and NIPR, to confirm producer licences and lines of authority
- CPCU holders and candidates through The Institutes, and CIC holders through The National Alliance
- Big "I" associations and local insurance professional groups
- Underwriters at carriers who want to move to the broking side and already know how submissions are judged
- Account managers and broking assistants inside your own or competing brokerages
- In the UK, CII members (including Chartered Insurance Broker status) and the British Insurance Brokers' Association (BIBA) network; brokers must work for an FCA-authorised firm
- Specialist insurance recruiters for commercial lines and employee benefits
Skills to look for
Red flags
- Compares quotes on price without reading the wording differences
- Cannot name the markets they would approach for a typical risk in your niche
- Speaks of underwriters as obstacles rather than relationships to manage
- Unclear about their duty to the client compared with their commission
- Lapsed licences or vague answers about errors and omissions claims on their accounts
The interview process
- 1
Licence and track record check
Verify licences and lines of authority, and ask for a broad, anonymised view of the accounts they have handled: industries, sizes and lines.
- 2
Technical interview
Ask them to explain the main exclusions in a policy type they know well and how they would explain them to a client.
- 3
Market-placement work sample
Give a fictional commercial client profile, last year's policy schedule and two competing quotes with different wordings. Ask them to list what is missing from the submission, compare the quotes and draft a recommendation to the client. A job simulation of this real work is one option if you want every candidate assessed on the same case.
- 4
Client presentation
Have them present the recommendation to a panel playing the client, including a push-back on cost.
- 5
References
Speak to former managers and, where possible, an underwriter they worked with regularly.
Cohesyve
Start the Insurance Broker interviews from a ranked shortlist
Cohesyve takes your Insurance Broker job description, finds and contacts candidates and tests each one on an AI job simulation of the job, so the stages above start with people who have already done the work. Ten candidates free, no card.
How to evaluate
- Identifies gaps in the submission and material wording differences
- Recommendation balances cover and cost with clear reasons
- Handles client push-back calmly with facts
- Market knowledge relevant to your specialism
- Documentation standards that would stand up to an errors and omissions review
- Licences and professional qualifications in order
Onboarding
- 1Introduce them to your key carrier and wholesaler contacts in person or by call
- 2Walk through your submission templates, file standards and sign-off process
- 3Assign a renewal book with a senior broker reviewing their first placements
- 4Explain how commissions, fees and client disclosures work in your brokerage
- 5Share recent claims where your team made a difference, as examples of advocacy
Common questions
What is the difference between an insurance broker and an agent?
A broker generally acts for the client and approaches several markets, while an agent acts for one or more insurers. In the US the licence is often the same producer licence, so the role you are hiring for matters more than the title.
Should I hire a producer or an account executive?
Producers focus on winning new clients; account executives service and renew existing ones. Many brokerages need both, and the work sample should reflect which one you are hiring.
Is CPCU worth requiring for a commercial broker?
It is a respected sign of technical depth in property and casualty, but strong brokers exist without it. Use it as a plus and test technical skill directly.
Can a broker bring clients from a previous firm?
Check their current contract for non-solicitation and non-compete terms and take legal advice before relying on any transferred book.
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