Issue link: https://nebusinessmedia.uberflip.com/i/1150997
12 Hartford Business Journal • August 5, 2019 • www.HartfordBusiness.com By Sean Teehan steehan@hartfordbusiness.com F or many computer-science majors, interning at a major tech company can often be the goal or dream. But Dylan Leonard, a computer-science major who gradu- ated from UConn's engineering school in 2017, followed a different, some might say non-traditional path. He interned with Bloomfield health insurer Cigna during his 2016 spring semester. "I think the [insurance] industry wasn't a primary [focus] until I real- ized that there's an opportunity with Cigna, that people don't just come to Cigna for their health insurance any- more," Leonard said. After graduating, Leonard took a full-time job with the company, where the 27-year-old is currently a lead ana- lyst working on a health and fitness app for subscribers. Lenoard's not the only UConn engi- neering student to opt for a job with a local insurer, once a career choice mostly sought-after by business ma- jors. In fact, this year represented the highest percentage of recent engi- neering grads working for insurers since UConn began tracking it four years ago. And that percentage will likely continue to grow, officials said. Insurance companies in Greater Hartford — and around the globe — are increasingly tapping technology to streamline their operations and adopt new services, making engineering stu- dents a highly sought-after commodity. Manufacturers are still by far the largest employers of UConn engineering students, said Eran Peterson, a career consultant at UConn's engineer- ing school. But the proportion of students opting for insurance jobs is slowly ticking up. Three-percent of class of 2017 graduates worked at insurance companies six months after graduation. That number ticked up to 5 percent for 2018 grads, and is on track to be even higher for the class of 2019. Cigna and property-and-casualty insurer Travelers Cos., which have both been major inves- tors in Hartford's insurtech accel- erator, are the two most prominent insurers hiring UConn engineer- ing grads, the school said. "[Insurance companies] re- ally are trying to market themselves as technology companies," Pe- terson said. "They need engineers, STEM students, they need to have a whole bunch of that sort of analytical talent in their pool." That insurance companies are seeking out and hiring engineering grads in larger numbers shouldn't be a surprise, said Susan Winkler, executive director of Connecticut Insurance and Financial Services, a division of the MetroHartford Alliance. With the advent of insurtech and an industry-wide shift toward adopting innovation strategies over the past half- decade, the need has risen for software engineers, me- chanical engineers and other employ- ees with technical skills, Winkler said. "The industry has changed so dramatically that it's become an op- portunity to allow for different types of talent to come into the industry," she said. "Because of that movement of more analytics and digitization and different types of ways to do business, they reach now into the engineering departments of the schools to seek that talent." From intern to employee Cigna has a history of recruiting out of UConn's School of Engineering dating back to at least the early 2000s, when the company began Tech DP (short for technology development program). The program offers paid internships that students can complete at Cigna-owned labs at the school's Storrs campus. When the program first began, those who enrolled tended to be business majors who, while often versed in tra- ditional data processing, were far from computer-science engineers, said Mark Boxer, Cigna's executive vice president and global chief information officer. Today, Cigna is a top 10 hirer of UConn engineering grads. "A fair number of them were com- ing out of business school with general degrees; not computer science and en- gineering, but more in traditional data processing," Boxer said. "There clearly was a shift from more business-oriented degrees to much more technical disci- pline degrees, and now we're recruiting students that would be recruited by companies like Google and Amazon." In a state where already a larger percentage of the population works in insurance, the fact that companies are expanding hiring beyond business- focused candidates is significant, said Michelle Rakebrand, a lobbyist for the Connecticut Busi- ness & Industry Association (CBIA). "They're a huge factor, and they make up a very large part of our economy," Rakebrand said of insurers. In fact, there were more than 60,000 full-time insurance jobs in the state as of last year, according to a PwC study. About 24,000 of those jobs are in health insurance, Rakebrand said. Early recruits As insurers look to ramp-up their tech workforces, they are also trying to lure recruits at younger ages. For example, at UConn, Cigna also runs the Bridge Program, in which the com- pany hosts events like breakfasts and barbecues for incoming fresh- man to showcase itself as a desir- able workplace. Additionally, in- surance companies have been offering job shadows and other career support for high school students attending High School Inc., a public school in Hartford focused on workforce de- velopment, said Winkler, who added insurers will likely only increase their efforts to woo engineering pupils. "No question," Winkler said. "It's not going to change, this will continue to trend in the same direction it is right now." Engineering Recruiters These companies (in alphabetical order) are the most prominent hirers of UConn engineering students. Cigna Cognizant Electric Boat Fidelity Lockheed Martin Pratt & Whitney Raytheon Tallan Travelers United Technologies Source: UConn Tech Talent Insurers emerge as major hirers of UConn engineering grads Mark Boxer, Cigna's global chief information officer, said the health insurer is hiring more computer-science and engineering college graduates. PHOTO | CONTRIBUTED Susan Winkler, Executive Director, Connecticut Insurance and Financial Services, MetroHartford Alliance Eran Peterson, Career Consultant, Engineering School, UConn PHOTO | CONTRIBUTED An increasing number of UConn engineering students (including members of the class of 2018, shown here) are working for insurance companies after graduation.