Located in the middle of Sacramento ghetto, our office, like somebody once called it, reminds me of a community apartment or dormitory. You always know if someone sneezes at the end of the hall, brings donuts, or pretends to sleep behind the computer screen. Like in every dorm, no one likes to do the dishes, everyone complains about the room temperature, and supports a sport team that seems to never be able to win a game. Nevertheless, everyone seems to be obsessed with either kids, dogs, or food; sometimes even all of these at the same time.

We LOVE to work as much as we love to play, hug our clients as we do our friends, and treat them as part of our own family. We learn our news from Youtube, discuss it through YahooIM, and interpret it into the PDC (Performance Driven Culture). Also, little things make us happy. It doesn’t matter if it’s a thank you email from one of the clients, a scheduled marketing appointment for a group of 2 lives, a Jelly Belly jar on Kelly’s desk, or a recited quote from the Anchorman or the Office.

The sad thing is that the more comfortable I feel myself around here, the more I realize I’m going to miss this place with all the characters who work here:

Craig: Brain-man

Dale: Big Daddy

Simon: Swashbuckle

Kelly: Mama Mia

Megan: Mega Prega

John B: Rip Van Winkle

Jon P: Pyle of DJ

Corrine: Rin-Run

Renee: Big Mama

Lee: The Lady Babe

Debby: The banker

Tracie: Two shoes

Vinny: The big V

Sherida: Fitness fanatic

Rob: Hot shot

Lisa & Cindy: The twins

~Kristina @ Sac GBS

During this internship I have learned many key components to working in a successful corporation. Things ranging from insurance lingo to not having a panic attack when i ride with one of our producers (name will remain anonymous) because he drives at top speeds while emailing on his blackberry, putting on his tie, and weaving in and out of traffic. But the most beneficial skill that I have picked up from this internship would have to be my communication skills. I have been able to fine tune my public speaking skills when I was in Itasca, as well as communicating my ideas at business meetings while setting up our new website. Communication is essential to a successful business and I am thankful that I have been able to practice my communication skills this summer because it is definitely something that I will take with me for the rest of my professional career in the future.

- Libby

I had a fanciful image about what insurance brokers do. In my mind, which is an interesting place, I pictured insurance companies to be like impregnable fortresses with tiny business people knocking at the giant doors trying to get in. They could, of course, enter; provided they pay the hefty toll. Where does Gallagher fit into this image you might ask? Well, I don’t think that you have any business questing my mental images; but I will acquiesce and tell you; but only because you asked so nicely.

Gallagher is the knight in shining armor who helps the small townspeople battle the imperious forces of the insurance company. The townspeople are ill-equipped to stand up to the Aetnas or the Kaisers of the world. I won’t even mention the towering behemoth that is Blue Cross. How could they stand up to an underwriter? The underwriters, who I imagine wear long black cloaks and carry lanterns as they traverse the catacombs under the insurance buildings, would be able to make any kind of proposal they wanted if there were not knights to stand up against them. I thought that this was the role of a broker.

So, has the internship turned out the way I expected it to? Yeah, pretty much.

I don’t mean to suggest that Gallagher is living in the Middle Ages, as I am sure you have deduced, my knowledge of the pre-industrial world is somewhat stilted and shaped mostly by cartoons and trivia I have learned at Burger King. Gallagher is a great place to work and what they do here differs from day to day. The consultants (or knights, if you will) are constantly in motion and it is amazing to see how fast they have to change from working on one project to another. It seems as though there is always something going and there is always a way for us to help and contribute. It is a fast-paced and dynamic environment. – Evan

Daily life in the Bellevue office is very different from how we expected it. Everyone is far more laid back then we expected them to be yet are very good at buckling down when they need to. It really shows when the sales figures come out. Daily life really gets going at around 8:15. We check our email, return messages and look at our calender for the day. Depending on which department we are in we check in with oursupervisor for that day and see if they have anyting for us to do. Then we go to starbucks literally every day. Its in another building which blows but it is a daily necessity. Then we come back and do whatever tasks have been assigned to us that day while usually constantly working on the vegas sales conference. We pretty much do that everyday with different odd jobs in between. We have also been working on a presentation we have to do for all the managers at the end of the internship.

Ashley and I pretty much do the same thing so this is a joint blog*

Alex

The Amazing Morrie! Here he sits like he does every morning reading his confidential sipping his coffee in his own personal lounge. He is just that cool

Daily life at the office was a little unexpected for a guy whose friends are in investment banking and tell horror stories of their crazy hour weeks and cut-throat bosses. I can say for certain that the people at GBS are nothing like those people my friends tell me about. Co-workers are huge on the open door policy and they walk around and chat about things that are completely unrelated to work. That being said, the Gallagher people are not ones to slack-off either. Managing twenty clients, handling million dollar books of business, and finding the time to mingle is a testament their ability to multitask. From what I observe there is not usually any one single task that is overwhelming, but the number of smaller tasks need to be juggled in this business is what makes it difficult. It is amazing how many teams people are involved in at Gallagher. A particular client has a team assigned to them and any one consultant has different clients and so that means everyone works with everyone. Having had no experience in insurance I had no idea what to expect but I have been pleasantly surprised.   – Andrew