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

                I can’t say that my internship at Gallagher is going to change the fact that my class registration took place last semester so it would be a little hard for my experiences here to have any influence in my class selection for the upcoming fall semester. But, if it did, then I would definitely take more health economic classes like the one I took first semester Junior Year.  Even though my experience at Gallagher goes beyond any experience I might draw from a textbook or classroom what a classroom does offer is a strong conceptual understanding of subject matter and with that I would make me a more knowledgeable consultant. That health econ class was probably not a typical insurance 101 class. It was an application of economic theory to the healthcare and insurance industries and probably an appropriate way for me to gain exposure to this market. I’m going into my senior year and I need to start thinking about possible thesis topics and I am strongly considering exploring the effectiveness of wellness programs in corporate LA, which is definitely influenced by my experiences here at Gallagher. Although this internship has not influence my class selection it has helped me formulate an idea for my senior thesis.

- Andrew

For the longest time I wanted to become a physician.  I finished pre-med last semester but I’ve been on the fence about going to med school. More than one person has told me that in order for Med school to be a right fit, I need to be 100% passionate about it, because if you’re not you won’t last beat down after beat down. With that in mind I decided to explore my other interest and one day at a career fair I came across Gallagher Benefits Services. 

I wouldn’t say that Gallagher has contributed to goals of becoming a physician but it has helped me explore my interests in the corporate world. I find the consulting aspect of the business world appealing because like a physician, consultants provide information and help in areas where people have little understanding.

-Andrew

I must say Santa Barbara is awesome. I went up from LA for the first time for the 4^th of July weekend. I do not recommend, however, trying to finding a place a week before. I did it and places are rather pricy this time of year. Who knew right?

On my first day we rented bikes and went around State Street, which is much better than walking because who likes walking and better than driving because parking is impossible. We watched fireworks from the beach at night and they fired ones that formed crazy shapes like cubes and smiley faces. On the second day I did some wine tasting. I didn’t make it up to the vineyards; I stuck to the wineries by the beach, which was probably just as awesome. They are all in walking distances of each other so no worries about having to drive afterwards.

That is what I did for my 4^th of July weekend. I would definitely recommend going to anyone who has not yet been to Santa Barbara.

- Andrew

With three weeks left I feel like this internship is cruising along more quickly than I would like. Perhaps the pace is a reflection of how busy it has been at the Los Angeles GBS office, but unlike some of my other internships the level of busyness here does not correspond to the amount of filing/photocopying I have to do. I appreciate the importance of the type work that I have been given. Here are some of my current projects:

1.       Niche Marketing; specifically I’ve been given the Higher Education Niche.  

2.       Commission auditing

3.       Client assignments

4.       Finding ROI on wellness programs

I thoroughly enjoy working with the people in the LA office. People are extremely supportive and accessible whenever I need help.  Until this internship I did not realize the complexity of the inner workings in the insurance industry.  I learn a solid amount everyday yet I feel like I have barely scratched the surface on what this industry has to offer.