Workers from industries hit hardest in the Covid-19 economic downturn are looking to the financial services industry for sales opportunities, according to test data from LIMRA and LOMA.

LIMRA and LOMA, which assist the industry in assessing both advisor and home office employee candidates, found that there is a spike in the number of candidates for field assessments from the hospitality, transportation and health care industries. In fact, testing from the hospitality sector is up 100% over the first six months of 2019; transportation is up 31%; and health care is up 21%.

The U.S. life industry trade associations found that during the first six months of 2020, field assessments were up over 18% from 2019 and home office testing was down 40%. These are consistent with prior economic downturns, the data showed.

The reduction in home office testing is attributed to the cutting of expenses, hiring fewer people and possibly instituting layoffs. But the associations noted that as unemployment rates go up, more people are open to the field sales role. Therefore, field offices test more candidates for a potential fit for those positions.

Peggy McManus, LIMRA’s assistant vice president of research and predictive analytics, noted that there has been a nine percent increase in the number of individuals passing the assessment, which measures readiness for a financial services career, and that’s good news for recruiters looking to fill career agent positions, she said.

But she pointed out that having more candidates does not necessarily mean an increase in field agents brought into the industry. Prior LIMRA research showed the number of recruits contracted for career agent positions is down 18% from the first half of 2019.

LIMRA and LOMA said the onboarding delays could be attributed to shutdowns from the pandemic that has hampered new-agent licensing and background checks.

McManus said recruiting numbers may be more robust in the second half of the year as companies are working to keep candidates engaged in the process until they can move forward. “Companies may be holding back on making new hires because they feel the current environment makes it very difficult for them to get started,” she said.