Leadership

Leadership plays a huge role in my internship as I have to take the initiative with agents to contract them, inform them about the products, assist them with trainings, and working to make sure everyone understands the product and the premiums. Outside of my internship, I have to demonstrate leadership everyday with the organizations I run at ASU.  Leadership and learning leadership skills area huge part of my life.  

My supervisor always answers any and every question I have, mentors me on how to be more personable with the agents, allows me to take my own initiatives and try out new practices, and offers me flexibility in my schedule.  It is a truly rewarding experience working here!

Free Write- Graduation and Grad School

Between the last batch and this one, I finally finished up my application for graduation.  It is surreal that I am almost done with school, undergrad at least.  Back during freshmen year, I dreaded school.  I felt like it was going to never end and I would be stuck here for a long time.  Looking back on that now, I cannot believe how truly fast it went by.  I know a lot of people say that, and now I fully understand what they mean by it.  I have enjoyed my time immensely here at ASU, but I am definitely ready for a new chapter in life.  Now I have to make the decision regarding where I will be attending grad school, although a little time off is definitely necessary before I jump into that!

Supervisor Interview- Steve Insalaco- General Manager

I had the opportunity to sit down with my supervisor, Steve Insalaco, this week and ask him a few questions regarding his role with Silverside Insurance.

Steve's main job responsibilities as General Manager include:
  -Oversee all daily operations
  -Recruiting agents and training them
  -Communicating with insurance carriers
  -All hiring and training for Silverside
  -Coordinating all departments within Silverside

Career Choice:

Steve had always worked in advertising and marketing.  Steve worked in and out of many different insurance fields.  He did not want to be a personal insurance agent and have to meet with clients at their home. Felt he worked better by being knowledgeable about the products and marketing them to the agents.

He served as a health agent for a while and due to a bad experience, knew it was time to make the switch.

Training and Education:

Some things that are necessary are life and health insurance licenses, sales training (including specialized training), and management classes are necessary as well.  While you do not need a degree for sales, having a degree allows for a better understanding of the field, best practices, and allows for promotion.

Field Advice:

-Have the desire to know multiple products
-Be able to communicate effectively
-Listening skills and knowing how to formulate answers

New Trends:

A new trend in the insurance field is many agents are getting out of the health insurance industry due to Obamacare.  It is much more difficult to draw up new business with all the changes in the healthcare system.

Career Services- Post Undergrad/Pre-Graduate Program Seminar

For my career services assignment, I attended an online video conference with a graduate programs advisor at both NAU and USCD.  I am exploring some options for a graduate program right now because I believe having a masters degree will be highly beneficial in terms of advancement in the business/business development field.  I definitely want to pursue a MBA with an emphasis in either Marketing or Finance.

In terms of when, I am debating starting after I finish my undergrad degree or waiting a year or two and getting some work experience in first.  A lot of MBA programs desire a few years of work experience before pursuing a MBA.  I contemplated law school for a while as well, but ultimately feel as though business is the best fit for me.  I have been fortunate with my undergrad that it has been a mix of public policy and business.  It has opened a lot of opportunities to check out both private and public industries and make the decision on what I wanted to do after I graduate.

-Brady

Free Write- Oct 8th- End of the Week

Good Evening All,

Well even though this has been a short week for me, it was extremely busy playing catch up from last week and preparing to be gone for fall break.  While I had intended to blog last night, my fraternity brother was taking out the trash at his apartment and managed to cut his leg on a sharp piece of glass that was sticking out of the bag.  Needless to say and two hours later at the walk in clinic, he was all stitched up and good to go.  This just goes to show how unexpected things in life usually are and they come at the last minute.  I am looking forward to the long weekend and getting away from work and school for a bit!

Hope you all have some fun plans for the weekend and got caught up on everything you needed to do!

-Brady

Free Write- October 8th- Stress Management

Happy Almost Weekend-

As much as I enjoy my internship and working, I have also learned it is also important to invest time in self care and make time for fun with friends and family.  I am leaving early tomorrow for a weekend in California with my roommates, who need a break from work and school as well.  As the Executive Director for the Well Devil Coalition at ASU, I encourage students to use some of our wellness resources such as Devil X classes, massages, healthy eating tips, and exercise, whether it is walking, running, lifting weights, or yoga.  This helps manage stress and deal with all the chaos in your life.  I also think this is a good weekend for people to catch up on sleep ( I know I will be catching up on this come Monday.)

I hope all of you enjoy your fall break and come back well rested!