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 strengths, 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.

- Anna

It was suggested that we each write a post about the college we attend, and I am more than happy to oblige!  Like Andrew from last year, I am a Senior at Occidental College in Los Angeles – only a few miles away from the Gallagher office in Glendale.

Occidental (or Oxy) is a small liberal arts college with about 1850 students, so, like Gallagher, it’s really just a big family.  We are consistently ranked and recognized for our academic achievements, and our undergraduate research programs are regarded among the best in the country.  We are the former home of movie stars, Oscar winners and US Presidents, and we’ve got a lot of Tiger pride!  Diversity is considered to be a fundamental part of the learning experience–diversity of race, of income, of religion, of nationality and of viewpoint–and we strive to make this apparent in every aspect of the College.

As an Oxy tour guide and the Editor-in-Chief of the campus yearbook, La Encina, it’s easy for me to go on about what makes Oxy the best.  The three years I’ve spent at Oxy have been the best of my life, and the experiences I’ve had both academically and otherwise have been incredible.  It might not be as glamorous as a Big Ten, but I’ve never regretted coming to a school where I can learn on my own terms.

- Anna

So it’s the end of Week 6 and that means that we’re 2/3 done!  It seems like we just got started yesterday, and even though we’ve come a long way and learned more than I ever thought possible, we’ve got quite a ways to go before we’re as knowledgable as the rest of the people in the office!

Today we’ve got a lot of down time to be working on our different projects, so I’m going to spend a lot of it working on the audit project today.  We’ve also got our weekly reviews today, which is always constructive.  At first I was afraid that reviews would be really uncomfortable, but everybody’s been able to offer us practical and constructive advice as to how to make our summer more meaningful.

We’ve also been reading a book called “They Don’t Teach Corporate in College” by Alexandra Levit which we’ve been discussing every Friday.  Not all of us agree with all of the advice that she offers, but it definitely offers a perspective that you don’t hear about in many of the other coporate/business-oriented books and magazines.

Otherwise, it’s just been business as usual!  I’ve got some work to catch up on for now, but I’ll be sure to keep you posted!

- Anna in Los Angeles

So it’s the beginning of my third day at Gallagher and they’ve definitely been keeping us busy!  Today is packed pretty solid with training sessions, lunch meetings, and project orientations, but it’s really very exciting!  So far we’ve already learned the basic ins and outs of the insurance industry, as well as how Gallagher fits in, what we do, and how we do it.  It’s a lot of information, but everyone here is so welcoming and friendly that I’m not afraid to jump right in!

Each of us interns have been assigned to different niches and clients and mentors, so we’ve all already been able to meet with senior consultants and analysts working with our clients, and they’ve really let us get involved.  We’re even starting client meetings as early as tomorrow, which is so exciting.  I’m finding that this industry really cares about its clients, and that’s something that’s important to me.  I’ve always been the kind of person that likes to put a face with a name and really understand the people who are being affected by my work, so these meetings are very exciting for me!  Looking ahead at my schedule, I’m seeing a lot of opportunities to interact with clients, vendors, and even co-workers (not that we need an excuse–everyone here is very friendly and engaging!).

However, I think it’s important for me to mention that it’s not all fun and games!  We’ve got a Quiz coming up tomorrow with about a bazillion pages of material to prepare, so we’ve been burning the midnight oil learning all about the company–it’s definitely trial by fire!  I’ve also been keeping up with one of my assigned case’s renewal process, so I’ve been doing a lot of research for that.  Between all this and our big industry training meeting, there is no shortage of things to learn.

I’m excited to be able to hit the ground running, and I’ll be sure to keep you posted as I’m working on new things throughout the summer.

**EDIT**

So I wrote that about a month ago during our first weekand I had a little bit of technical trouble (faulty user!) posting it.  Since then, not a whole lot has changed–we’re still learning a lot, studying for those weekly quizzes, and interacting with clients and carriers, but we’ve been working on a lot of other things as well.

Some of the projects that we’re working on in the LA office are Workforce Evaluation (where we examine the demographics of a client’s workforce), a commission audit (where we look at the commissions coming in), and helping to update our branch website.  We’re also working on a regional intern sales project with everyone else, which is off to a good start!

One of the most exciting things I’ve done so far is help out with the renewal and open enrollment process for one of our clients, which was a challenge to say the least!  There was no shortage of things that needed to be done on our side, but when we were able to meet with the employees and help them figure out their plans, it was all worth it!  It sounds silly, but peoples’ insurance makes a big difference, and often times it’s way too complicated to understand.  I’m no expert, but what I’ve learned so far has allowed me to help others in a concrete way, and that’s what it’s all about.

Later today we’ll be meeting for a lunch and training session with one of our carriers, an insurance company, and we’ll get to learn all about the underwriting process.  All four of us are looking forward to it–I’ll be sure to keep you posted!

- Anna in Los Angeles