Sponsored content: Lea Cheesbrough, chief executive at Movo Partnership, discusses the need for the insurance sector to update its perceptions of what new industry talent looks like
The insurance sector often talks about bringing new talent into the industry. It’s a phrase that appears in boardrooms, recruitment campaigns and apprenticeship strategies.
But we rarely stop to ask the obvious questions – what do we actually mean by “new talent”? And, more importantly, who do we imagine when we say apprentice?
At Movo Insurance, we’ve learned that the traditional picture of an apprentice as the school leaver, the graduate or the 18-year-old entering their first corporate role is only one small part of the story.
In fact, it’s no longer the most relevant one.
The myth of the young apprentice
For decades, apprenticeships have been closely associated with youth. While there are clear benefits to bringing younger people into the industry, particularly in building long-term careers, this narrow perception can also hold us back.
In reality, some of the most capable, adaptable and high-impact apprentices we’ve welcomed at Movo are not young in the traditional sense. They are individuals who have built careers in other sectors, raised families, run businesses and gained experience far beyond the classroom.
These individuals bring something often missing in early-career hires – life intelligence.
Their resilience, communication skills, emotional maturity and ability to navigate complexity are not just theoretical. They are lived experiences.
If the industry is serious about attracting and retaining talent, we must broaden our definition of what that talent looks like.
A competitive advantage
At Movo, we’ve seen first-hand how valuable this shift can be. Mature apprentices often ramp up faster because they already understand how to learn, adapt and take ownership. They bring fresh perspectives because they are not constrained by legacy insurance thinking and they strengthen workplace culture through professionalism and accountability.
Importantly, they also challenge complacency. They ask questions others have stopped asking and they bring a level of curiosity that drives better outcomes.
Many quickly progress into leadership roles, not because they are artificially fast-tracked, but because they already understand people, pressure and responsibility.
The industry needs to catch up
If we continue to define apprenticeships too narrowly, we risk missing out on exceptional talent. The insurance industry is already facing a shrinking pipeline of younger entrants, more complex customer needs and an increasing demand for empathy, communication and problem-solving skills.
At the same time, there is a growing need for diverse thinking to drive innovation and challenge traditional ways of working. Mature apprentices are not simply a nice to have in this environment – they are a strategic advantage.
However, many organisations still design their apprenticeship programmes with the assumption that candidates are young, inexperienced and require significant hand-holding. That assumption is outdated and limits the potential impact of these programmes.
A call to the Industry
If we want to future-proof insurance, we must stop treating apprenticeships as a youth-only initiative and start recognising them as meaningful career-change opportunities for adults with untapped potential.
We should recruit based on mindset rather than age, ensuring we prioritise adaptability, curiosity and attitude over predefined career stages. We should value life experience alongside academic achievement, recognising that both bring different, but equally important strengths.
We must also create pathways that recognise and utilise transferable skills, allowing individuals to apply what they already know in new and meaningful ways. At the same time, we should actively celebrate the success of mature apprentices to help shift perceptions and inspire others to follow a similar path.
Finally, we need to challenge our own assumptions about what entry-level really means and move away from outdated definitions that no longer reflect the realities of today’s workforce.
At Movo, we are proud to champion this shift. We have seen individuals join us later in life and transform not only their own careers, but our business as well. The industry often says it wants fresh ideas, greater diversity and stronger future leaders. Mature apprentices consistently deliver all three.
It is time we recognised that.
