Navigating Through Compliance when Hiring in a Highly Regulated Industry

By Jessica Miller-Merrell

In part one of this series we took a look at best practices in hiring for the insurance and finance industry. This week we are taking a look at compliance issues that recruiters must adhere to when recruiting and hiring within high-risk industries. Institutions around the world need staff that are able to manage most fundamental business needs including driving profits and making sure compliance mandates are met.

Building a team with these skills has become more difficult as firms are facing situation in which the demand for skilled professionals often outweighs the supply. Here are a few of the top compliance issues that the human resources industry must face when it comes to hiring:

Audit Scrutiny. Audits and examinations aren’t something new for both financial and insurance industries. Newer companies are subject to higher levels of scrutiny on portfolios and investments, but in any case it’s important to hire someone with a strong background in performing internal corporate audits.

Data Access. In an era where data hacking seems like an everyday occurrence, regulators are tuning into how carefully client data is protected. Insurance companies are one of the biggest regulated industries because they hold extremely sensitive client data just like financial institutions. Hiring within this industry is more difficult because not only do you have to find someone with the proper skill set, but you also have to find the right personality to deal with a data that is extremely confidential.

Corporate Governance. One of the biggest buzzwords going around since the Sarbanes-Oxley first burst onto the scene post-Enron in 2002. The SEC and NAIC are taking a bigger part in how companies in highly regulated fields are running. Companies need to have groups that are making real decisions informed with real access to company information. At the same time regulators are looking more carefully at what decisions were made and why they were made. Recruiters need to take heed because in the insurance and financial fields hiring ethically minded individuals will keep your company from failing audits and big disasters such as Enron.

While compliance issues don’t necessarily go hand-in-hand with recruiting, it’s important that recruiters are looking with those who have the experience and capabilities in each of these areas to protect the company. Looking for these characteristics when hiring will make a huge difference in your company. Highly regulated industries require a certain mindset to be run properly and those in charge of hiring these mindsets plays a critical role.

Stay tuned for the next part of series where we take a look reaching a niche recruiting audience online.

Jessica Miller-Merrell, SPHR is a workplace and technology strategist specializing in social media. She’s an author who writes at Blogging4Jobs. You can follow her on Twitter @blogging4jobs. 

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