At-Risk Recruitment?

Mar 11

What Insurance Taught Me About Finding the “Right Families” (And Why Waiting Is the Biggest Risk)

When I tell education leaders that I used to be an insurance underwriter, I usually get a puzzled look. "How did you transition into education?"

Here's the truth: I never stopped underwriting. I just started underwriting something far more important than financial risk—I started underwriting partnerships between schools and families.

And that unconventional background taught me the most critical lesson about student recruitment that most schools miss: The best outcomes happen when you invest in understanding people deeply before asking them to commit.

The November Reality Check

It's November 2025. If you're planning to recruit students for the 2026-27 school year, you're already behind.

I know that sounds harsh. But here's what my insurance training taught me: Risk compounds when you delay assessment. The longer you wait to understand your market, identify families, and build authentic relationships, the more you're gambling with your enrollment outcomes.

In insurance underwriting, we never waited until the last minute to assess risk. We invested time upfront—analyzing patterns, understanding context, building relationships with brokers and applicants—because we knew that rushed decisions led to poor portfolio performance.

Student recruitment works exactly the same way.

What Insurance Taught Me About Recruitment

During my years as an underwriter, I learned to look beyond surface-level data to understand the real story. A zip code didn't tell me everything about risk. Income didn't predict commitment. Previous claims history needed context.

The applications that looked perfect on paper sometimes represented poor long-term partnerships. The ones that seemed risky often became our most loyal, engaged clients—once you understood their full story and built genuine connection.

Sound familiar?

Schools face a similar challenge, but with a crucial difference. In insurance, we were actually assessing risk and determining fit. In education, all families are the right families. The challenge isn't finding the "perfect" match, it's about building authentic human connections from the very first interaction.

This is where schools often go wrong. They treat recruitment like a filter, trying to identify families who meet certain criteria. But what if we approached it differently? What if recruitment was really about initiating meaningful relationships—understanding each family's hopes, values, and needs, then building partnerships that honor those from day one?

This isn't just inefficient recruitment. It's a missed opportunity to establish the foundation for lasting partnerships that support student success.

The Three Questions Every School Should Ask Right Now

My underwriting training taught me that success requires asking better questions—not to filter people out, but to understand how to build authentic connections:

1. How will you create genuine human connection with every family?

In insurance, I learned that the best client relationships weren't built on perfect risk profiles—they were built on understanding, trust, and authentic communication. The same is true in education.

Can you articulate how you'll make every prospective family feel truly seen and heard? How you'll understand their unique hopes for their child, their concerns, their values? How you'll communicate in ways that resonate with their individual priorities rather than sending generic messages?

2. Where are families in your community, and how do you reach them authentically?

In insurance, we used different intelligence data sets not to exclude, but to ensure we weren't missing anything and to make sure our outreach was comprehensive and our analysis were thorough.

Do you know which neighborhoods in your community have families you're not yet reaching? Which communication channels different communities prefer? How to craft messages that respect and honor diverse family contexts and priorities?

3. How will you personalize engagement at scale?

The insurance industry figured out decades ago that you can't build relationships manually with thousands of potential clients. You need intelligent systems that personalize systematically while freeing your team to focus on high-value human interactions.

Can your team deliver personalized, authentic communication to hundreds of prospective families—making each one feel like more than a number—while still having capacity for meaningful one-on-one conversations?

Why Starting Now Isn't Optional

Here's what the data tells us: schools that begin recruitment strategy in November for the following year consistently outperform those that wait until spring.

Early starters:

Build relationships before families enter active decision-making mode
Establish preference before competitors enter the conversation
Have time to personalize engagement based on family responses
Can adjust strategy based on early indicators rather than making desperate pivots mid-cycle

Late starters:

Enter when families are already overwhelmed with options
Compete for attention at peak noise levels
Resort to generic mass marketing because there's no time for personalization
Watch ideal-fit families commit elsewhere before they even hear your story

In underwriting terms, starting late means you're forced to adopt a reactive strategy because you haven't properly assessed the situation, and you need to meet your numbers. It's the definition of compounding risk.

Building Partnerships, Not Just Filling Seats

I transitioned from insurance to education because of a calling AND I saw how my skills could transform how schools build relationships with families. The analytical rigor, the pattern recognition, the commitment to understanding individuals within systematic frameworks—these weren't just insurance skills. They were exactly what organizations need to create authentic human connections at scale.

But here's what I learned that insurance could never teach me: The goal isn't to assess and select. The goal is to connect and sustain.

Now, when I work with schools and educational organizations, I bring that underwriting discipline combined with a deep commitment to human connection:

Create first connections that matter by understanding what each family truly needs and communicating in ways that honor their unique context
Use geographic intelligence not to target, but to ensure you're reaching all families in your community, especially those who've historically been overlooked
Personalize at scale through tools that make every family feel seen, heard, and valued—not processed
Build a partnership culture that extends far beyond enrollment into sustained relationships that support students, engage families, and strengthen your entire community
Develop organizational capacity for authentic engagement that doesn't burn out your team but actually energizes them through meaningful connection

This isn't just recruitment strategy. It's about transforming how educational organizations approach relationships from the very first touchpoint—and sustaining those partnerships in ways that create thriving communities.

Let's Talk About Connection

I love helping educational organizations transform how they build and sustain relationships—bringing that unconventional insurance background to bear on the challenge of creating authentic human connection at scale. Whether you're thinking about your 2026-27 recruitment strategy, wanting to strengthen family engagement throughout the student lifecycle, or looking to build a culture of partnership across your entire organization, I'd welcome a conversation.

Because here's what I learned in insurance and confirmed in education: The organizations that thrive aren't the ones with the biggest marketing budgets or the fanciest systems. They're the ones who understand that every interaction is an opportunity for human connection and who build the capacity to honor that opportunity consistently.

The foundation for next year's success, and for sustained thriving beyond that, starts with the relationships you're building right now.

Ready to transform how your organization creates and sustains partnerships? Let's connect. I'd be happy to share insights from my unconventional journey from insurance underwriter to partnership strategist, and explore how these frameworks could strengthen your community.

Marcela Andres