Starting first "real" job-insurance?

[MirrorriM]

I recently graduated college and I've posted my resume on 2 monster.com and careerbuilder.com and scoured through craigslist. In my month of job searching, I've gotten a lot of job interview offers...but for things I'm fairly certain dont interest me.

By far the most emails requesting an interview with me are for insurance companies. They are for sales/customer relations/management-in-training type jobs. I never thought about working for an insurance company, so is there anyone out there who has some experience in the industry? Right now it seems like it could be pretty boring, but maybe some of you have a different opinion.

If working for an insurance company sucks, any of you have other suggestions for a good starting job?

[SEAL]

I'dd strongly suggest to travel a bit now you can.
Soon you will be stuck with 15 vacation days per year (in the usa?).
I know it doesn't answer your question, but I hope it helps. (i've worked at an insurance company, and i thought it was interesting.. for a while. then i left after 2 years)

[Vue]

i finished university last year and have been working for an insurance company since. it sucks.

well, it does for me but it depends what you want to do. if you got a degree in history i doubt insurance will interest you much.

i imagine the main reason it sucks is that i work in a customer-facing role that pays next to nothing, i'm sure there are other areas of the business that are far more interesting...human resources and compliance for example. if i were you i wouldn't take something in sales unless ur absolutely sure u'll be great at it, because working in a call centre will destroy u.

[HateTheFake]

If you have ever seen the movie the office, its easily comparable to working with an insurance company. If you take in claims you have to deal with some asses. If your filing its boring as hell. If your an agent your pay is made through who youve signed up for insurance

[Pearl Jam]

I recently graduated college and I've posted my resume on 2 monster.com and careerbuilder.com and scoured through craigslist. In my month of job searching, I've gotten a lot of job interview offers...but for things I'm fairly certain dont interest me.

By far the most emails requesting an interview with me are for insurance companies. They are for sales/customer relations/management-in-training type jobs. I never thought about working for an insurance company, so is there anyone out there who has some experience in the industry? Right now it seems like it could be pretty boring, but maybe some of you have a different opinion.

If working for an insurance company sucks, any of you have other suggestions for a good starting job?

What did you graduate with a degree in? Business? What are you ultimately interested in?

[Saturn V]

honestly? sounds annoying as all fuck

i've never worked insurance, but sounds like it's interaction with a lot of people. as long as you don't have to talk to people making claims or whatever (in other words: mad people), then it would be at least bearable-border-line-suicidal.

[MirrorriM]

Hmm, ok, doesnt sound too good so far.

Seal: I studied abroad for almost 4 months in Italy and traveled throughout Europe last Fall, it's definitely a goal of mine to travel even more later on, but now I must find a job :-/

Pearl: I have a BA in Psychology and Social Behavior and minor in Anthropology. Now comes the question: What can you do with that?! Well, I think a lot of things that require interaction with people, as long as it doesnt involve engineering or something specialized I think I could pick up the knowledge. After I get some work experience, I hope to get a master's in Industrial-Organizational Psychology.

My main problem is I love creative things (photography, video editing, music, etc), but sort of steered away from them for more "serious" academic pursuits throughout high school and college. My parents have drilled it into me that those pursuits arent practical and I will be poor all my life/struggle to get higher into the career all my life. So if I could find a good, practical, slightly-creative job-that would be great! heh

[pascone]

yeah, pretty much took me a year to find a job. and it only lasts for 2 years. oh well, better than working in insurance.

check state and federal jobs. those are good

[LaG KiLLeR]

Hmm, ok, doesnt sound too good so far.

Seal: I studied abroad for almost 4 months in Italy and traveled throughout Europe last Fall, it's definitely a goal of mine to travel even more later on, but now I must find a job :-/

Pearl: I have a BA in Psychology and Social Behavior and minor in Anthropology. Now comes the question: What can you do with that?! Well, I think a lot of things that require interaction with people, as long as it doesnt involve engineering or something specialized I think I could pick up the knowledge. After I get some work experience, I hope to get a master's in Industrial-Organizational Psychology.

My main problem is I love creative things (photography, video editing, music, etc), but sort of steered away from them for more "serious" academic pursuits throughout high school and college. My parents have drilled it into me that those pursuits arent practical and I will be poor all my life/struggle to get higher into the career all my life. So if I could find a good, practical, slightly-creative job-that would be great! heh

You should focus more on internships, things that will give you some experience and help you get into a good graduate school. Don't think about career at the moment because with a BA in Psych, you can only do so much...
There's lots of opportunities at schools and research firms, you can be a research assistant, work as an intern for local counseling practice offices, etc. But in terms of anything else, you'll need a Master's to get a "real" job....the brute truth bro.

I had similar interest in psych but realized the limiteed number of opportunities that a psych degree produces outside of the specific field (yours being Social Behavior), you must really be passionate about it lol. Are you looking to become a future professor or counselor? Whatever it is, good luck

[MirrorriM]

I disagree, I think most jobs are looking for someone who was able to get through University-level courses. It shows responsibility, work ethic, etc. Besides jobs that require specific BA's, lots of people work in places completely unrelated to their major. My counselor majored in Biology, for example.

[stark]

I posted my resume on monster.com, as well, 'cause I just graduated... as well... Anyways, I hope you're not referring to e-mails like this:

Hello, my name is Durhon Oldham ; I am the State Director with National Income in Rochester , New York . Our management staff has viewed your resume on the Internet and I wanted to contact you to let you know we are looking for qualified candidates to help our rapid expansion. I sent you an email in the recent past letting you know that I would like to set up an interview with you. We are looking for managers and sales associates to help us manage our expansion in the Rochester/Buffalo/Syracuse/Albany areas.

 

The position is for management and outside sales. THERE WILL NEVER BE ANY COLD CALLING OR PR OSPECTING, EVER!!!

 

LET ME EXPLAIN:

 

We have a public relations department that is responsible for securing all of the leads.

 

Here is how it works:

 

The PR team has business-to-business meetings with the group heads of Unions, Credit Unions, and Associations. They explain our program. 
The group votes on whether to pursue the relationship. 
The group signs a contract with National Income. 
A letter goes out to all of their members on the particular group’s letter head, informing them what is being made available to the members along with a reply card that the member sends back to American Income if they want to receive our no cost benefits as well as other supplemental benefits that they may qualify for. 
Our sales team only calls on the members who request to be seen by our representatives 
 

 

National Income is a part of the Torchmark Corporation, a $44 billion Company that is recognized by Forbes magazine as a top Platinum 400 Company. National Income has been in business for over 54 years and is nationally recognized as one of the significant carriers of supplemental insurance in North America . National Income is licensed in 49 states, the District of Columbia , Canada , and New Zealand

 

If this opportunity sounds like something you feel that you may qualify for (sales associates average $50K-$75K first year, managers average $60K-$90K first year, second $100k plus), please contact our Human Resources Department @ (585)279-3521.

 

 

Best Regards,

 

Durhon Oldham

State Director

National Income

Rochester , New York

'cause I'm pretty sure they're spamtastic, as I'm a crim major and would know nothing about business or insurance.

[LaG KiLLeR]

I disagree, I think most jobs are looking for someone who was able to get through University-level courses. It shows responsibility, work ethic, etc. Besides jobs that require specific BA's, lots of people work in places completely unrelated to their major. My counselor majored in Biology, for example.

Depends on each individual's own ambitions, if you want a basic desk job at an insurance company, then yeah...but if you want to work for a company with great reputation, even a B.A. isn't enough nowadays...with federal aid being poured into our educational system (America's anyway), more and more young individuals are able to have access to college. With that being said, more and more individuals have a B.A. degree. In order to distinguish oneself from others, in present times anyway, is work experience or an extensive academic background (Master's or Ph.D.).

University-level courses do not necessarily demonstrate responsibility or work ethic, an individual who cheats on an online program or goes to a college where the his/her professor has low standards are specific examples. You cannot make the assertion that university-level courses demonstrates this because in certain cases, it's not true....and there are people who are responsible with good work ethic that may not even have had the opportunity to attend college...in fact, sometimes these people (especially those of low-income backgrounds) have shown to have better sense of responsibility and work ethic because they're struggled from the get-go where as children of high-income families were able to bullshit around in life and live off mama and papa's connections/income.

[LaG KiLLeR]

I posted my resume on monster.com, as well, 'cause I just graduated... as well... Anyways, I hope you're not referring to e-mails like this:

Hello, my name is Durhon Oldham ; I am the State Director with National Income in Rochester , New York . Our management staff has viewed your resume on the Internet and I wanted to contact you to let you know we are looking for qualified candidates to help our rapid expansion. I sent you an email in the recent past letting you know that I would like to set up an interview with you. We are looking for managers and sales associates to help us manage our expansion in the Rochester/Buffalo/Syracuse/Albany areas.

 

The position is for management and outside sales. THERE WILL NEVER BE ANY COLD CALLING OR PR OSPECTING, EVER!!!

 

LET ME EXPLAIN:

 

We have a public relations department that is responsible for securing all of the leads.

 

Here is how it works:

 

The PR team has business-to-business meetings with the group heads of Unions, Credit Unions, and Associations. They explain our program. 
The group votes on whether to pursue the relationship. 
The group signs a contract with National Income. 
A letter goes out to all of their members on the particular group’s letter head, informing them what is being made available to the members along with a reply card that the member sends back to American Income if they want to receive our no cost benefits as well as other supplemental benefits that they may qualify for. 
Our sales team only calls on the members who request to be seen by our representatives 
 

 

National Income is a part of the Torchmark Corporation, a $44 billion Company that is recognized by Forbes magazine as a top Platinum 400 Company. National Income has been in business for over 54 years and is nationally recognized as one of the significant carriers of supplemental insurance in North America . National Income is licensed in 49 states, the District of Columbia , Canada , and New Zealand

 

If this opportunity sounds like something you feel that you may qualify for (sales associates average $50K-$75K first year, managers average $60K-$90K first year, second $100k plus), please contact our Human Resources Department @ (585)279-3521.

 

 

Best Regards,

 

Durhon Oldham

State Director

National Income

Rochester , New York

'cause I'm pretty sure they're spamtastic, as I'm a crim major and would know nothing about business or insurance.

and yeah...that happens a lot too. You have to be careful because sometimes you'll receive spam as stark pointed out

[MirrorriM]

I agree, there are exceptions to everything. But still, my point stands. Sure people can get by with "easy professors," and people who didnt go to college could be more hard-working, but that still doesnt discount the fact that universities are supposed to provide a better foundation for the future. I think it would be hard to find employers who pshaw at a person for going to a university holding your kind of skewed viewpoint.

Anyways, I'm not arguing about whether or not my degree is "worth" anything. I'm not worried about standing out. It's becoming a fact that a lot of people have BA's now and the Master's is becoming the BA.

Aaanyways, back to the point of my post. What's a good starting job for work experience?

P.S. stark: yeah, I've been avoiding those emails. I got an offer from American Income I believe, who also said they are part of the Torchmark company. What's so annoying is a lot of the emails do not even reference what the hell their company is! They dont even give any information on what the job is, just to "call them." So shady.