Free Write: Interview with Vanguard

     The other day I had my first four hour interview. The interview process was long and carried out a ton of information. The first portion of the interview was an introduction of the business. They handed out information about their programs and the way that different positions operated. After that portion of the interview, Vanguard ended up interviewing us individually for another hour based on behavioral questions.

     The behavioral questions portion was only an hour, but it felt like a lifetime. I remember the questions were nothing too difficult, but there were just so many questions that I had to try to stay really focused without having my mind stray. This interview started at 7:30 in the morning which meant that I had to be up by 5:30 to get there on time. Luckily I left with sometime to spare just in case I got lost, but at the same time I was exhausted beyond belief. 

     After the hour of behavior questions, I had to do another hour of a case study. The case study consisted of a scenario that was reasonable to handle. The interviewer gave you a case that you had 15 minutes to read and conduct yourself and how you were going to solve the case. Then the interviewer asked you a select few questions which you answered accordingly. After she was done asking those questions off the first case study she gave out a second part of the case study. This scenario was slightly different and incorporated a role playing part. The role playing part went well. However, I did have to tell the customer that we might not be able to complete a certain task of theirs, which made me kind of sad.

      The last hour consisted of them explaining their benefits and rewards programs. The program are made to help out with your retirement, health, dental, and auto. After explaining the benefits, they went to explain their philanthropy program. The philanthropy program can range through mentorships to public rights programs. Overall, I got a lot out of the interview with Vanguard. I learned new behavioral questions that I have never practiced before and I have grown an appreciation for case studies. The first part of the case study was pretty predictable, but the second part caught me off guard which means that you must be prepared for anything during an interview.

Interview with my Supervisor/Mentor

     The person that I decided to interview was someone that I actually interviewed a long time ago. However, the interview that I conducted with him was really a conversation that I was trying to do to get to know him better and how he progressed through the business. My supervisor that I am mentioning is an MCM of auto. For those of you that do not know Allstate jargon, an MCM is an acronym for Market Claims Manager. As a market claims manager he is responsible of overseeing and managing all actions that take place in the auto department of Allstate within the states of Nevada, Utah, Arizona, New Mexico, and Oklahoma. A position like this is something that is difficult to come by and takes a lot of training and knowledge of the departments within Allstate.

     However, my supervisor did not go throughout his life wanting to become an MCM for Allstate. Prior to working with Allstate, he worked on a farm and went to college at Purdue. It was at Purdue where he received a diploma in agriculture business. Once he received his degree he started working at Target in logistics. My supervisor was content at Target however, he wanted something that had better hours and more structure. It is at that moment when he decided to apply at Allstate as a member of Allstate’s liability determination unit.

      After he received the job at Allstate, he worked under the liability determination unit for a while and after that he moved throughout Allstate. He went to become a processor for repped and unrepped clients, after that he became the FPL (field processing leader) for theft, then he went to become a CSA and finally became an MCM. While he was working at Allstate he continued to learn by going out and getting his Masters in Business Administration while maintaining a family. Overall, I want to follow my supervisor’s steps to hopefully become as successful as he has become. I have been blessed to be given this opportunity to succeed and to be given such a great supervisor to look to for guidance.

How is leadership demonstrated in my internship

     It is interesting that this is a question at this time of my internship. As an intern at Allstate, I have been exposed to all the different departments and have become familiar with almost everyone that works there. In the past I would have to ask people where or who is this person, however, now people ask me how and where do I find so and so to discuss whatever position. The new hires now ask me where to find certain people and look at me to seek advice on how to move on and what position to look for in order to progress at Allstate. For instance, while working in auto I was exposed heavily in the good hands repair network, but I knew of the interview process for the other auto departments. One of my colleagues was going to interview for a position in auto, but he did not know that much of the auto process since he came from the casualty department. My friend asked me to help him out by giving him some knowledge in regards to the auto side. I gave him the knowledge that I knew in order to help him get a better understanding of the position that he will be interviewing for. As a result of me helping him out he was able to receive the job that he applied for and loves it.

     Another example of how my leadership is helping out is through my property experience. Recently we just hired a new manager; however, the manager is new to the department and often wants to clarify how certain operations are handled. The manager now comes to me in order to help her out with certain tasks that need to be completed on a monthly basis. Things that I do for my new manager is often done through excel and I must look back on prior documents to record and document certain data amongst our team. Another thing that has come in handy is my ability to utilize a computer. We just had new computers installed at our office and some people find it hard to use the new system. I often go ahead and teach them of the new system and how to utilize the new programs to its fullest. Even though I am an intern, there are still tons of ways that my abilities and my skills through this short time can help and develop and show leadership.

     My supervisor demonstrates great leadership skills on a day to day basis. He is constantly on the go and has tasks that need to be complete. Despise how many tasks my supervisor may have, he is still able to socialize and see how I am doing. As time goes on, I know that my supervisor is someone that is more than a supervisor. He is someone that I can go to in order to seek advice and mentorship from. My supervisor is someone that is calm, yet firm, focused, yet social, intelligent, but not cocky, and a well rounded individual, yet humble.

Career Service Write Up: Career Fiesta

     So the other day I went to the career fiesta to look at some companies. The top companies that I was looking for were Geico, Progressive, Allstate, Teach for America, Vanguard, and Arizona Department of Economic Security. I know these careers are drastically different from each other, but they are both careers that intrigue me. The MU career fair is huge and has tons of great name companies that hire there. 

     While I wasn’t looking for a new job, I still wanted to go out and throw my name out there to the select companies. As of now I feel pretty set with Allstate, however, my mother always told me to cover my back and she suggested going to the career fair. I did and found that all the companies there are extremely interesting. Vanguard is looking for a client relation specialist. Gieco is looking into hiring people for their management development program (MDP). Progressive is looking for another internship job. Teach for America is looking to hire teachers and progress theme through into educational policy. The Arizona Department of Economic Security is looking to hire a multitude of positions and finally Allstate is looking for an associate regional sales manager. 

     I found the events at the career fair to be extremely helpful. I was able to look into all the careers I was interested in and I was able to look at the positions available in them. If I were given the opportunity to go to the career fair again I would go again. The career fair is definitely a good choice for everyone to look into and it really gives you good insight on what each job position requires.

Free Write: Busy

     So about three weeks ago I was asked to coach a team in football, prior to working with Allstate and before I even moved to Arizona I use to be an athletic coach that would coach football, volleyball, basketball, and track and field. Since my friend asked me to coach their team for them I decided that I will help out and coach them. Everyone on the team is awesome and great to work with. They try really hard in everything they do. However, it is really difficult to get everyone to come together for an agreed practice. Sadly, yesterday only four people showed up to practice and only two people showed up on time. The team only has a couple of games left and the last game is today! If we win this game then we are going to the playoffs, but if we lose then our season is over with. Overall, I feel like our team has a great chance to win but if we can schedule more practices that would be amazing.

     School, work, and football practice is a lot to take on your plate. I didn’t think it would be so busy… but it is. I start my day off around 6 AM. However, I use to start my day at 5 in the morning to go to the gym before, but I grew too tired. I usually don’t get home from work or school till 5. On Thursdays and Fridays I can stay home past 5 and work on my school work. However, Mondays, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays I find myself up late working on homework because I don’t get back from practice or a game till close to 10. I usually meet with the coaches prior to the practices and plan our practices on Monday and Wednesdays and Tuesdays are our game days. With all that being said, I love coaching and I have a deep passion for it. Despite the lack of sleep I may be receiving during the weekdays, it is totally worth it.