One Life Insurance Group goes on recruitment drive

Thursday April 1, 2021

The One Life Insurance Group has added new talent and prepared for a strong year ahead with a new recruitment drive, as the company MD says he believes the business has turned a corner after the Covid pandemic.

The Dorset-based insurer is looking to quadruple its advisor base to 20 this year, from an existing workforce of five. The One Life Insurance Group, located in Christchurch, is also seeking additional support staff for corporate functions such as marketing and HR.

Managing Director, Chris Booth, said that the past year had been incredibly tough, but the year ahead was looking far more positive, stating “we’re in a very different place and I’m excited and confident about the future.” He looks forward to growing the business once again and believes that Christchurch, Highcliffe and New Milton are home to plenty of talented individuals in the field.

His plan is to grow the business’s employee base threefold by the end of this year, to 30 employees, including support staff.

Mr. Booth, a father of two, launched the business with his business partner and old friend, Raymond Kidd, towards the end of 2019 – just before the Covid pandemic. Previously, he worked for insurers that included Castle Cover and RIAS, as well as Protect Line, based in Bournemouth.

A Challenging Start

One Life experienced a difficult start after promising leads didn’t materialise, forcing the business to cut its team of eight to four. Furthermore, the first lockdown led to technical difficulties for the business as staff adjusted to working from home. The business experienced days of complete downtime after struggling data providers withdrew their services entirely.

However, over the past few months, the insurer has seen its customer base grow to 800 from 300, offering policies that include mortgage, family, income protection, critical insurance, life, home, over 50s and funeral plans. One Life works with all of the major insurance companies, including Scottish Widows, Aviva, LV=, Royal London, National Friendly and Vitality.

A High Quality Business Offer

The Christchurch business prides itself on offering a superb degree of customer service and financial support and assistance through each stage of the insurance and protection journey. It is also FCA authorised and regulated, meaning that it can operate its own quality systems and processes and market directly to customers.

Chris explains that he had longed to run his own business for years, and had run a number of call centres. He admitted that his experience as MD was far harder than he’d expected, with a steep learning curve and the difficulty of going from a comfortable career and salary to nothing.

However, he is extremely glad to have made the shift and is excited about building a successful business that also gives back to the local Christchurch community; and in fact, the business is also looking for local partnership links with charities to support, together with partners such as estate agents and accountants.

The news of One Life’s growth will be extremely positive to local insurance talent looking for fresh opportunities in a rapidly growing firm with a strong, supportive and inclusive culture – and to any customers looking for tailored, top-quality insurance support for every aspect of their lives and family, all from a local business.

Its commitment to charitable work will also be a boost to beleaguered local charities in Christchurch, looking for support after a challenging year, and will offer interesting partnership and fundraising opportunities with a local partner business.

Preventing People Problems

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