After this internship ends, my immediate future will be spent on the beach.  After a week of rest and relaxation I will be coming back to LA where the start of water polo and classes await me.

My time here has exposed me to a wonderful office and a fun industry.  I have liked working here a great deal and have learned more then I could have ever imagined.   This school year will have some hard but exciting classes and will also offer the flexibility to take classes I want to take.   It will be my last water polo season playing at the collegiate level which is equally hard to believe.  Having to work full-time has really prodded me to make sure I enjoy my last year in school and I really look forward to it.  But it is equally satisfying to know that I found a great place to work while interning this summer.

-Greg in LA

The weeks are flying by, especially after spending the whole third week of the program outside of our home office in good ol’ Itasca. This was an absolutely incredible experience. It was a real eye-opener to see how large the company truly is with +/- 140 interns from across the nation coming together to company headquarters. The varying accents, cultures, and talents that were unique to each intern resulted in a completely different form of education that no formal training could provide.

Nonetheless, the seminars were all very useful, allowing me to return to Los Angeles better versed in AJG’s services. I also seemed to have discovered that the Retirement sector is something that I would like to become an expert in if given the opportunity.

Much appreciation to Liane for her hard-work, and the company executives who took time to meet with all of us.

The only complaint I came back with was that I didn’t really get to see Chicago; however, this is completely understandable considering we have so much to cover with all the training seminars.

It was a pleasure meeting everyone!

Thanks,

Ari in LA

Trip to Itasca was fun and exciting. We got to meet the leadership of the company, as well as, other interns from all over the country.

Workshops included:

Networking for Results

Corporate Headquarters Tour

Specialty Marketing and international

GBS

Regulatory Changes in Health Care

The Gallagher Way to Ethical Decision Making

Brokerage Services Division

Gallagher Basset

Retirement Services & Executive Life Plans

I had a great time, however, I love SoCal and happy to be back.

–

Vladimir from the Los Angeles Office

Los Angeles is a happy city after last night’s Laker victory. Hopefully all of America will be happy after the U.S. v. Slovenia game. Side note: I’m an avid soccer fan and player (played college and semi-professionally).

Focusing on the topic at hand, things have been going just as I was hoping in the Los Angeles office. Two weeks into it, and I’ve accompanied consultants to meetings, met with clients, and have been juggling more projects than I could have anticipated. It’s very encouraging to see the internship program provide the summer associates with substantive work. It became evident to me immediately that the culture here is to fully invest in the summer internship program, in order for us to grow significantly and fulfill our potential. Who wouldn’t want to see a return on investment, right?

I’m hoping to continue to grow professionally, develop my analytical and problem-solving skills, and improve my Excel knowledge (as I have had minimal exposure to such a valuable tool). Now, it’s time to finalize all the pending projects before heading out to Itasca.

Best of luck,

Ari from Los Angeles

Just finishing up the second week here in the LA office of GBS, and it has been a long but fun week.  I had the chance to: work on different open enrollment newsletters, presentations, and forms, attend a conference at UCLA, meet with the CFO of one of our clients, and get to know the people in our office better.  It has been a hectic week as we prepare to travel to Itasca and help our office get ready for the western region sales meeting in Las Vegas.   We are still trying to navigate the over abundance of acronyms that proliferates our industry but it is getting better day by day.

As far as our office goes, everyone is wearing their Lakers colors today and the city went crazy last night.  I however, refuse to support the lakers so declined to take part in any capacity.  I am also still very upset about that 3rd US goal being disallowed this morning in group play of the World Cup.  What was that ref watching?

Outside of the office I love to play water polo and will really play any sport for that matter.  I play water polo for school and am currently trying to get back into the swing of things after a semester abroad.

See everyone in Itasca.

-Greg in LA

Hi Everyone, my name is Greg and I am a Los Angeles GBS intern for the summer of 2010.  I will be a senior in the fall at Occidental College where I am majoring in Economics with an emphasis in Business and Management in addition to pursuing a politics minor.   I am currently residing in sunny Los Angeles where I attend school.   However, I was born and raised in Philadelphia and love everything about the city (including its sports).  I recently returned from a semester studying abroad in Ghana and am excited to being working for GBS this summer.

-Greg in Los Angeles