Gallagher Interns

You say goodbye, and I say hello

August 7, 2009 – 9:42 am
Hello, Hello. Hello working world, hello senior year. After this summer, I feel better prepared going into my senior year with confidence and knowledge that no one else will have. I know I'll be ready to jump right into the working world and hit the ground running. I think you can all read into my internship experiences my reading my other blogs but I'll take this time to talk about the benefit of our regional project and why it makes me feel so good about saying 'hello'. The SalesForce project gave me intangible skills that I can carry to any new adventure in life, school, or work. I now know how to pick up the phone, do my best sales pitch, and get rejected without skipping a beat. (I can't imagine how much this will help me recover after a bad attempt at picking up a girl on campus) I know how to deal ...

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FYI, INTERNS WRITE A SIGNATURE

August 7, 2009 – 9:31 am
I encourage everyone to go back to all their posts and write a signature at the end so we can tell who wrote it. Without that some of these ambiguous posts will go unacredited. It takes 30 seconds. Do it. -TJ

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Final Blog (!!)

August 6, 2009 – 3:37 pm
Tomorrow is the last day of the internship!  Oh how the time has flown!  I have been having the time of my life learning from and working with everybody here, and I'm very excited to have been offered the opportunity to work part time starting on Monday and throughout the school year!  Among Oxy's many many strenghths, it is also located right down the street from Gallagher! So, even though I'll be back on Monday, the end of this program is still a significant milestone for me.  Over the past nine weeks, I have learned so much, not only about insurance, but about myself and my future.  I was always afraid that leaving Oxy would mean leaving a nurturing community which I love, but I've found at Gallagher that going corporate does not have to mean leaving that community behind. 

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End of the intern program

August 6, 2009 – 1:32 pm
It's absolutely amazing that nine weeks have already flown by.  It feels like we were just in Itasca getting to know everyone!  I've really enjoyed working on different projects in the SF and Lafayette offices, and working on our regional intern project.  It was great working with everyone and hearing how everyone's experiences have been similar, and how they have been different.  It's pretty crazy that we're at the end of this program.  I can honestly say that I have gotten a lot out of this internship, and like they told us in Itasca, this wasn't "just another summer job".  Best of luck to everyone! -Melanie

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Last days

August 6, 2009 – 8:48 am
Today is the second to last day of our internship and man has it flown by.  I guess that's a good thing, because it shows that we all stayed busy and had some fun learning the industry.  I have to present a new niche today to the BSD and GBS producers and branch managers.  This is my "final" for the internship.  This is the last chance I get to really impress and show what I have learned these past 9 weeks.  I think that my presentation and the information I have gathered could be beneficial to the producers in the branch, so I am looking forward to presenting.  I look forward to hearing all the success we all had on our regional project in a few minutes.  By the way Jura has saying how good we have all done, it sounds like to me that we have surpassed the previous interns.  GO 09 interns!!! - Kevin

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Bring it on Home

July 30, 2009 – 3:38 pm
So it all comes down to this. A final week to finish up those projects, get to know the people you always wanted to meet, and letting Gallagher know what you really think of them. The nine week interview is almost up and at taht point we'll be given our final evaluations by our supervisors and we'll be given the chance to evaluate our last nine weeks with the company. In that process a lot of us will ask ourselves, could we imagine doing this for MORE than nine weeks? 52 weeks? 500 weeks?! These are realistic questions we have to think about. What distinguishes this decision for this group of interns vs. the same question facing previous years interns is the climate in which we are living. I'm sure we've all been told many many times to grab any job opp we can find and hold on for deal life. ...

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End of the 8th week

July 30, 2009 – 9:41 am
Like everyone else has been saying, I can't believe that we're almost done with the intern program.  This week has gone by so quickly, with meetings and projects that I've been working on.  It's crazy to think about the fact that we've almost completed 9 weeks of the intern program!  Yesterday I was able to go to a client meeting discussing their wellness program that they are hoping to pilot for this year.  They have just begun to think about things such as their slogan, and their mission statement.  I enjoyed being able to be there for one of the first meetings, to see where a client would begin to think about implementing a wellness program, and how to make it most effective.  I've also been working on some projects in the Lafayette office, so I've been out there between one and two times a week.  I went on a prospect visit ...

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Seattle Post (Week 8)

July 30, 2009 – 9:06 am
Things are winding down here in Seattle but the work is still coming.  This last week my main focus has been on a bidding project for our suite of voluntary benefits (BenefitsBUFFET).  For the first time we are sending the entire buffet out to bid and we are hoping that the carriers will not only lower their rates, but that they will present us with some new offerings to add to the buffet. Also, as I will talk about in the conference call, I have begun making calls.  After customizing my own script/survey, I have had some success obtaining  information.  In fact, I might have hit the jackpot with one prospect.  I am going to be making a follow-up call today that might result in a booked meeting. Finally, to finish off my time here, I have been working on a presentation I will be giving to the office management next Tuesday.   It really ...

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Week 8

July 29, 2009 – 11:08 am
Seems like yesterday we were all in Itasca getting to know each other and learning about Gallagher, and now we're a week away from saying goodbye.  Well hopefully some jobs come about for us, but the internship is over.  The next week and a half I have to continue making my prospect calls, present a new niche to both GBS and BSD in the Fresno office, and anything else the producers throw at me.  Lately I have been organizing files for a new client and made a powerpoint presentation for the producers to present a new option to their clients.  I am learning a lot each week and am expecting to learn a lot about the niche I am presenting on.  I have been looking into the vineyards around the central valley and noticed we don't have very many if any.  To me that seems like a niche perfect for the ...

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Week 8

July 29, 2009 – 9:01 am
I never thought I would be saying that we are halfway through week 8 (the 2nd to last week!) of this internship. It was so weird this week when I filled out TWO evaluations pertaining to how this summer internship was for us, which definitely gave me the feeling that this 9 week program will be coming to a close sooner than we know it. As most of you heard, I was assigned to work in BSD last week. My anticipations were high and I was very excited to learn more about what they do; however, it was a bad week for them to have me over there because most of their producers were out the entire week for vacations, etc. As a result, there was little for me to do and help with over there. It was definitely no one's fault, it was just bad timing. The great thing was I was ...

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