The night of August 6th I will be taking a flight across the country to start a traveling road show that will go through Washington D.C., Philadelphia, New York City, Winnipeg and Chicago.  A little time off for some R & R is definitely in order.

After that I will start getting ready for my final year at the University of Washington.  It is terrifying how fast these last three years have gone.

The $20,000 question on most peoples’ minds here in Seattle is what are my plans for after college?  In a perfect world I would love to come work at Gallagher.  I love what I do and the people I work with.  I feel ready to get out into the world and start selling.  Everyone is now a potential prospect in my mind and I feel incredibly well-prepared to succeed.  However, I obviously have to respect the capacities and willingness of my company to bring me in.

I hope all of you first-year interns had as great of an experience I have.  Best of luck to everyone.

Sincerely,

Rick

Seattle, WA

It is unbelievable how fast these internships go.  It seems like just yesterday I was being shown my cubicle and now over a year later I am about to wrap up Gallagher internships forever.

Anyway, to answer the question posed to us this week, I absolutely feel like a career as a broker/salesperson is for me.  I love to manage my own schedule, I actually enjoy and thrive in pressure situations, I love interacting with people and making a lot of money if you are good isn’t so bad either.

If this internship has helped me learn anything about myself it is that this job is for me.  All the way.  I love being able to sell a service as complex and important as this and I feel as though my skill set could make me very successful.

I booked a meeting cold-calling the other day and I am feeling pretty good about that as well.

I hope you are all having a great summer.

Best,

Rick in  Seattle

The consultant I admire most in our office is Kevin. The reason for this is his work ethic, especially at the beginning of his career. As a new producer (my future?) you have to go through some especially challenging times and tons or rejection. In the span of a few year Kevin rose through the ranks to become the number two benefits producer nationally at Gallagher. When I asked him about making calls he honestly responded that he hates making them, but at first you just have to grind your teeth and get through it. I admire that attitude.

On a side note, I had an AWESOME week in Itasca as Tony can attest to. It was really motivational and made me really believe in what we do and my future role in the company. That is not to mention the insane cast of characters that I spent the last week with. Unforgettable times.

Best,

Rick in Seattle

So things are cruising right along here in Seattle.  I have been extremely busy putting together work force evaluations for our analyst and broker teams the last week and I really hope that the WFE tool is found to be useful at the WR conference in Vegas.

For a little background on me personally, I go to the University of Washington in Seattle and I was born and raised in Chicago.  I am a diehard Chicago sports fan and am STOKED that the Cubs are playing in Seattle tonight.  Needless to say I will be there. I am 21-years-old and am majoring in Business with a concentration in Marketing.

I hope all of you are having a great time in Itasca.

Rick

Hello I’m Veronica. I’m new to the Seattle branch and am super excited. Thus far I’ve spent my time in Admin, getting to know the basics of how things work. What’s most awesome is that everyone I work with is really cool and nice.

Outside of work I like to play/watch sports. World cup is fun to track but what I look forward to most is football. I’m a huge Bears fan and my goal in life is to marry into the McCaskey family so I can become a season ticket holder. But seeing as this is not a totally viable option, my back-up goal is to work for the Bears organization- one day.

I’m looking forward to heading over to Chicago and meeting the rest of the interns. It will be interesting to hear how other people’s experiences/branches are.

Looking forward to seeing some of you guys next week.

-Veronica from Seattle

Well I am back. I’m looking forward to working with the new Western Region interns on their projects and answering any questions or concerns you all may have. This year is far different for me. Instead of rotating my way around the office and leaning the different departments, I am working on launching our voluntary benefits program to the Western Region and also creating some Work Force Evaluations with our analyst team. Additionally I will be working with Tony from Sacramento on a telemarketing project, visiting clients with our producers and working with the other Seattle intern on a social media project. I hope everyone is well and enjoying their summers.

- Rick in Seattle