Robert Childs, Hiscox Bermuda?s new chief executive, brought a team of underwriters from the group?s London operation when he set up the group?s new reinsurer here last December ? otherwise he?s been busy recruiting staff on the Island.

In an interview from the company?s new Wessex House office (it moved in in recent weeks, after first renting temporary space in the IAS Building on Church Street), Mr. Childs said he?s come away from a round of meeting with candidates impressed with the high level of interest in the sector.

?I just recruited my first Bermudian graduate ? it was a big moment. I felt like we had arrived.?

Mr. Childs said those he has interviewed have come from a range of backgrounds ? from physics to maths to business degrees, something he cited as showing the wide cross-section that can find reinsurance a stimulating career option.

?It is commerical, and it is reasonably cerebral,? Mr. Childs said, adding that in Bermuda people here can see that combination. ?In a much bigger community your principal experience of insurance is buying your scooter insurance, which is not quite the same (as reinsurance). Reinsurance has a bit of a lustre to it here.?

Once the company?s final recruits join in coming months, Hiscox will have about a dozen Bermuda employees.

?I think it is always going to be around a dozen,? Mr. Childs said, adding Bermuda isn?t the type of place to try to attract those setting up a ?shoe factory? .

The company, at least for now, has reduced some of its staffing demands by outsourcing back office tasks to IAS, Mr. Childs said.