Aaron Olson

 

AARON OLSON, CHIEF TALENT OFFICER, AON

 

With global headquarters in London, U.K. and its Americas headquarters in Chicago, IL, Aon is a leading global provider of risk management, insurance brokerage and re-insurance brokerage, and human resources solutions and outsourcing services. It has offices in more than 120 countries.

 

As chief talent officer at Aon, Aaron Olson leads efforts to maximize the impact of its 72,000 colleagues around the world. Olson's team is accountable for global programs in the areas of talent management, leadership development, colleague engagement and diversity. He also serves as adjunct faculty at Northwestern University, where he teaches graduate courses in talent strategy and leadership development.

 

Prior to working at Aon, Olson served as adjunct faculty and leadership development program manager at North Park University in Chicago. His areas of expertise include talent strategy, leadership development, executive succession, corporate learning and organizational development.

 

Equal Opportunity

 

How is diversity part of Aon’s culture?

 

Aaron Olson

 

Aon has a strong commitment to diversity and inclusion across all of its offices. We formally began to develop strategies about how to better embed diversity in our culture, both externally with our talent recruiting, and internally within the company, when we relaunched our talent agenda in 2011. It was supported by Aon’s CEO, Greg Case, and Aon’s global head of diversity and inclusion, Nichole Barnes Marshall, along with the executive committee.

 

A part of the strategy is Greg and the executive committee spending two days each year reviewing Aon’s pool of talent and high-potential employees and examing the diversity of the group and the pipeline for diversity going forward. The team also sponsors employee resource groups that support and connect diverse colleagues around the world.

 

We are particularly proud of our Women’s International Network, or WIN, which equips women throughout the firm with the tools to pursue career opportunities, further drive results for our clients and connect to our communities.

 

Equal Opportunity

 

How does Aon recruit a diverse workforce?

 

Aaron Olson

 

Investing time and resources to train our managers and recruiters about how to include diversity considerations in how Aon attracts and recruits talent is a top priority.

 

Specific recruitment efforts include working with groups such as the National Black MBA Association, and forging targeted partnerships with colleges and universities. We are especially proud of our partnerships with community colleges, which offer a diverse source of talent, in terms of career background, professional experience, ethnicity and gender.

 

We’re building on this effort via the creation of our U.S. apprenticeship program, which will launch in Chicago. The city owns and operates a series of community colleges that are a great source of talent. In community colleges you can find individuals who are quite talented, but not actively recruited by our industry.

 

For example, Aon works closely with Harold Washington College. A few years ago the chancellor of the city colleges in Chicago and the mayor started an effort to relaunch the community colleges, designating a specialization for each college and a business partner. Aon is the lead partner for Harold Washington College, which was designated as Chicago’s business college. As the lead partner we host career talks, send our employees to lead classrooms discussions and work with faculty to align the curriculum to the skill requirements needed to succeed as a professional, both at Aon and in general. Through this partnership, we have developed strong relationships with students and faculty that have opened up opportunities for individuals while also creating a pipeline of talent for Aon. We have employed about 50 students from our community college partnership in the last three years through a combination of internships and full-time positions. As a next step in this relationship, we’re building our U.S. apprenticeship program on the foundation of this relationship.

 

Equal Opportunity

 

How would you describe the apprenticeship program with which you are involved?

 

Aaron Olson

 

In March 2016 we hosted an executive round table in partnership with Zurich North America and the U.S. Department of Labor to discuss the opportunity to establish an apprenticeship model for the insurance and financial services industries, starting here in Chicago. Since Aon and Zurich North America both have successful apprenticeship programs in Europe, we are using that experience and bringing it to the U.S. Fifteen companies joined us for the round table.

 

In addition to the round table, we announced our plans to launch Aon’s first apprenticeship program in the U.S. For the program we’re partnering with Harold Washington College to offer students the opportunity to earn their associates degrees while getting on-the-job experience. Students in the apprenticeship program will spend 20 hours in the classroom and 20 working each week during a two-year period. The students involved will be paid for the work they do, and their education will be subsidized.

 

At the end of the two-year period, they’ll have three options: they can start a full-time job with Aon; they can use their education and relevant experience to get a job elsewhere in the industry; or they can stay with us full-time and continue on to get their bachelor’s degree, for which they will receive tuition reimbursement.

 

The idea behind the program is to give people who are struggling with the cost of education both work experience and a degree. Instead of going four years before earning any money, with the apprenticeship model, they are able to work and study at the same time right out of high school.

 

Our apprenticeship program will launch in January 2017.

 

Equal Opportunity

 

What is the best piece of advice you can offer to help others achieve their professional goals?

 

Aaron Olson

 

We have a lot of internal programs around career planning, and something we discuss a lot is owning your potential. My advice would be to take ownership, being proactive and seek out opportunities. Don’t wait for things to come to you.

 

We find people who take ownership and educate themselves about the company and industry don’t just wait for their managers to communicate something. These individuals are seeking opportunities. They might take on project work that lets them demonstrate how they go above and beyond their peers. They might network with the group of which they want to be a part. They might volunteer to get involved. Those who take ownership of their potential will demonstrate a positive track record, and build a network of people who know them because they have been working hard and taking their career goals into their own hands.

 

Equal Opportunity

 

How would you describe Aon’s culture? Why is it a great place to work?

 

Aaron Olson

 

We have four attributes that define our corporate culture: impact, people, opportunities and support. They’re defined as follows:

 

Impact: Make a difference. We deliver unparalleled value every day by empowering our clients, engaging our colleagues and supporting our communities.

 

People:Work with the best. We inspire one another by sharing knowledge and ideas, collaborating to achieve excellence and taking pride in our work.

 

Opportunities: Own your potential. We achieve our own success through unmatched global opportunities, tools to help us grow and guidance from leaders who care.

 

Support: Value one another. We recognize what matters by appreciating contributions, embracing perspectives and supporting one another professionally and personally.

Equal Opportunity

 

What qualities do you seek in a new hire?

 

Aaron Olson

 

We seek either subject matter expertise in human resources or risk management, or the commitment to develop that expertise. We also seek leadership: individuals who can help us drive value with our clients and be leaders inside the organization.

 

Equal Opportunity

 

What types of jobs are you looking to fill?

 

Aaron Olson

 

For individuals just coming out of school, we have programs that help them get started in the risk solutions business and in coordinator jobs in human resources. We currently have an 18-month introduction program for individuals who first come into the firm to help them learn about our business and our industry. For more experienced job seekers, we are seeking expertise in human resources, risk management, global insurance and re-insurance.

 

We employ a wide range of people with a broad range of skills. For example, we have nurses on staff that help us with our healthcare plan and a Ph.D. who does modeling of weather forecasts to anticipate and manage the impact of weather on cities for insurance purposes. Several members of our IT team focus on analytics.

 

Visit jobs.aon.com for more details.