One interview secret that will help you land that job!

Hi All!  I recently read a good article about connecting with others.  It was called 11 Surefire Ways to Instantly Connect with Anyone – it’s a great read and you definitely should have a look.  The article got me thinking about how it applies to interviewing.

Most people assume that in interviews the potential employer is focused on your answers and your experience.  This couldn’t be farther from the truth.  Instead, I think that most employers are instead looking at your potential fit within the organization – after all if you have a good resume they already know that you can do the technical potion of the job. 

This is why it is so important that you connect with your interviewer.  Connecting with them gives you a leg up as people remember those that they connected with in a more favorable light.  Every time the employer sees your resume they will instantly be reminded of the positive feels from the connection. 

The article offers several great tips that are applicable in an interview situation.  They include:

• Make a great first impression
• Ask good questions
• Smile
• Use their name

All of these are really good tips that you should follow.  However, there is one surefire way to connect with the interviewer that always works!  What is it?

Ask them specific questions about themselves and why they like working at the company!

Outside of death and taxes there is one other thing that I’m certain of.  People like to talk about themselves.  If you ask me about my kids, gardening, DIY fixes in my house or Disneyworld – you will be in for a long one-sided conversation that will probably leave you bored and me happy because I was able to tell you all about the stuff that makes me happy.  The majority of people that you interview with feel the same away about their job – otherwise they would be on the other side of the table with you.  This means that if you get them talking about how much they love their job and company they will remember you positively – and this will help you land the job!  

As always I can be reached at sthompson@csgrecruiting.com  or by leaving comments below.

Beware! What you say on social media can and will hurt your career!

Well, it’s that time again.  Just like stores start selling Christmas decorations in October, the campaign for president has begun 16 months before the actual election.  Whether this is right is a conversation for another day.  Instead, I’m going to discuss one of the unfortunate byproducts the campaign season. 

Fifteen years ago political speech for most people consisted of putting a sign in your yard in September every two years.  Today we have this terrible/wonderful communication tool called social media and every 2 – 4 years it has been exploited by politics.  In an attempt to create a viral sensation, each side of the aisle creates media that is intended to be shared.  What gets the most shares?  Cats – we all love cats.  But the second most shared thing on the internet are things designed to be incendiary.  Let’s be honest here.  Most of the things created for political speech are designed to make one side say “this is awesome!” and the other side say “I’m so angry.”

The two things that drive the internet - cats and divisive comments...

 Social media  has allowed us to become more interconnected than ever.  Think about it – now we no longer share our private thoughts and beliefs with a small circle of friends who actually know you and the person that you are.  Instead, we connect with every trivial relationship that we have.  That friend of of a friend that was so nice at that party one time – twenty years ago you’d never see them again.  Today you are Facebook buddies and they see things about you.  Even worse often times their friends do too!  The problem is that these people don’t really know you and have no capacity to look at your posts in context.  The odds are that you have probably offended someone who doesn’t know you well enough to know what you meant. 

Is this fair?  The answer to this question is pretty simple – it doesn’t matter.  Facebook and the like has amped up the right to free speech to the nth degree.  You and every other person has the right to post or say whatever you want.  You also have the right to hurt people’s feelings, offend people, and appear to be a hypocrite.  That’s the double edged sword that comes with the freedom.  That’s what I’m here to talk to you about today.  This can hurt your career.  This can derail your career.  This can limit your options.

Here’s the deal.  Employers can choose not to hire you or fire you for what you say on Facebook or other social media outlets and you have no recourse.  Your right to free speech is only protected in that the government can’t persecute you for it.  It doesn’t extend to the workplace.  If you don’t believe me – please Google fired for Facebook post.  Here are some results from the first page of the Google Search:

17 People Fired for Facebook Posts

11 Brutal Reminders that You Can and Will Get Fired for What You Post on Facebook

Facebookers Beware - That silly update can cost you your job  

So how do you protect yourself?  Here are some options:

1.  Make all of your settings private

This is probably a good idea.  However, this doesn’t entirely protect you.  Here are the holes in this solution:

-your connections can still see your posts (problematic if you are friends with bosses and coworkers)

-Once something is on the internet it is there forever

-you have no control over what others that are allowed to see your posts do with it – they can always screenshot posts and share them in other ways.

2.  Drop out of social media

While it is an effective solution, it is horribly impractical and self-defeating.  After all, car accidents are the #7 killer in the United States.  Should you stop driving.  No you shouldn’t drive drunk and should always wear a seatbelt.  If you drop out of social media you miss out on a ton of opportunity both professionally and personally.

3.  Watch what you post

This is by far the best way to handle things.  Just stop and think before you post.  I want to be clear here.  I’m not advocating that you mind your posts because of some politically correct belief that you need to be nice.  Instead, I’m suggesting this because I think that your number one priority is to look out for numero uno.    Before you hit post  you should  consider the following things:

-why am I posting this?

-what am I gaining from this post?

-Does it involve race, sexuality, religion or the like?

-Could someone take this out of context?

Additionally, you should remember that intent is irrelevant.  In the business world and in your career perception is everything.  What you do is far less important that what you are perceived to have done. 

The fact of the matter is that we live in a polarized country right now.  We are a nation divided on several issues.  If you choose to post about divisive issues, the odds are that half of the people you know don’t agree.  Some of them might disagree passionately. Now, some of you might feel that I’m advocating being politically correct and am somehow against free speech.  I’m not.  In fact, I think we have gone too far with our outrage culture.  However , my opinion  doesn’t change reality.  The reality is that your actions on social media impact your career;  50% of the world probably doesn’t agree with you; and what’s fair doesn’t matter.   Do you want to leave your career prospects up to a coin flip?

What to do when you are offered a low salary

Hello world!  I hope you are all doing well.  Things are great here in Iowa.  The weather is hot, the pools are open, and the corn is growing.  I’m proud to say that I successfully completed my first year as a soccer coach and that I successfully achieved getting each of my five year old a goal!  I rock!  Today I wanted to talk about a situation that recently encountered.  I was working with a candidate that did everything right.  They were up front about their salary needs, they discussed it with the client, they discussed it with us.  They covered all of their bases and the company still came in way low. 

A lower salary might make you do this...

 Now – I’ve talked about why a company sometimes comes in low and what you can do – you can read about this here:

Dealing with a Lowball Offer

Everything I shared in this past blog is accurate.  However, in some cases asking for more money can be problematic.  Why?  Because sometimes the company will just walk away.  This is what happened in the situation I described above.  My candidate was devastated.  They needed the job and would have accepted at the lower level.  So what’s the point of this?  Do I think that you should just suck it up and accept a low offer?  Definitely not.  Instead, today I want to share other things you can negotiate on other than money if you are afraid of risking losing the job.  Here are some things you negotiate on :

Vacation

Vacation is a great thing to negotiate on.  Just remember two things.  Some companies have a policy about how much vacation you get and can’t do it.  More importantly, remember that it is only valuable to negotiate for more vacation if you actually use it. 

Schedule

So you are going to take a paycut… would it be worth it if you left every Friday at noon?  What about if you could drop your kids off at school every morning?  The key here is to think of tradeoffs  that increase your quality of life.  It never hurts to ask!

Future Raises

Alright, there is no guarantee that if a company promises you a future raise that you will actually get it.  However, what you could negotiate is a review of your work at a predetermined time in the future – something like 90 days or six months.  Work your tail off until then and be prepared to state your case.  It works!

Variable Income

Often times when people are offered lower salaries it is accompanied by bonus potential that gives them the opportunity “to be made whole.”  If they are asking you to take a risk, why not try to push the potential bonus higher.  From their perspective it seems more palatable because they aren’t actually giving you anything today – then when you work really hard you both win.

So what do you think?  Please remember that I don’t condone taking a salary that is too low just to get a job.  At the end of the day, the first measuring stick should be if you can pay your bills.  However, if you can – you may want to look at other options when negotiating.  Have a great week!  As always I can be reached at 515-216-5455 or by email at sthompson@csgrecruiting.com  

National High Profile Leadership, Service, and Sales Roles in the Insurance Industry

Hi All!  I'm working on some great opportunities across the nation!  Have a look and let me know if you have any interest!

Commercial Lines Account Executive – Minneapolis, MN

The Commercial Lines Account Executive is critical to this onboarding of large account new business and the strategic retention of existing clients.  Working alongside senior producers, you’ll quarterback the entire service process relying on an account management team for policy administration, stepping in as needed on those items of critical service importance, negotiating underwriting terms and directly consulting with insureds throughout the year.   The agency is growing and has two positions available, one that will exclusively support a large book of construction business.  The other position is generalists handling a variety of accounts in heavy industrial, transportation, education and captives. 

Commercial Lines Account Executive in Minneapolis

Commercial Lines Account Executive – Rockford, IL

The Commercial Lines Account Executive plays a critical role in retaining a large, established book of business heavily concentrated in the construction industry.  The opportunity to grow with this agency is tremendous and will allow you to help lead all client management, relationship building and new sales opportunities as you wish.  The key to success in this position is having a strong technical foundation in middle market and risk management insurance plans with a thorough understanding of the onboarding and renewal process.  This is a very autonomous position that may for the right individual will work without the direction of a producer, may assume a book of business through upcoming retirements and handle some sales responsibilities too.

Commercial Lines Account Executive in Rockford

Commercial Lines Marketing Manager – Sioux Falls, SD

The Commercial Lines Marketing Manager assists the sales and service teams with achieving production goals by participating in strategies designed to increase new business revenue and maintain a high level of client retention.  Insurance agencies look to the marketing department as a technical underwriting resource helpful in identifying competitive pricing and programs.  Agencies also rely on this role as a way to coach and mentor employees through the underwriting analysis and due diligence of complex property and casualty risks.  This is a highly integrated role with career development opportunities.  It’s also a role suited for someone who excels in coverage analysis and placement such as an experienced underwriter who desires more direct interaction in the sales and consulting process.   

Commercial Lines Marketing Manager in Sioux Falls

Group Benefits Account Executive – Nashville, TN

The Group Benefits Account Executive collaborates with the producers and account managers on new and renewal business activities including marketing strategies and escalated implementation concerns.  You are responsible for day-to-day servicing and consultation for an assigned book of business. You are involved in all aspects of the client management process such as producing executive summaries, reviewing/preparing reporting, scheduling and conducting open enrollment meetings and participating in client consultations.  You will advise clients on benefits plan design, administration, funding, communication and compliance. You are a central figure to this team's onboarding and retention process helping account managers and account representatives with escalated issues and daily workflow management.  

Employee Benefits Account Executive in Nashville

Employee Benefits Producer – Cincinnati, OH

This is an opportunity to help build out an agency platform that focuses on a team environment and ability to take advantage of plentiful resources.  Our client is a well-respected agency with multiple offices in OH that is looking to add to their growing sales staff in their Cincinnati office location. They are looking for a dynamic individual that has proven sales success in group insurance products, preferably in an agency setting. The right candidate will be extremely motivated to be immediately successful, while also building a profitable book of business and representing the agency in a professional manner in the market.

Employee Benefits Producer in Cincinnati

Sales Managers, Commercial and Employee Benefits – Louisiana

Sales Managers for this large, independent insurance brokerage will concentrate on the development of the producers in the property and casualty or corporate benefits disciplines.  Coaching, mentoring and goal setting with the sales executives are key aspects of your role. As the agency grows you will likely oversee a sales group comprised of experienced producers brought in through acquisitions, inexperienced producers through college risk management programs and career changers from outside the insurance industry. It's critical that you can be a resource to help each type of producer set and achieve their production numbers.

Employee Benefits and Commercial Sales Leaders in Louisiana

Employee Benefits Practice Leader – Denver, CO

The Employee Benefits Practice Leader provides strategic leadership, vision and branding of group health and welfare resources for this large regional agency in Colorado. Leaders within the agency set the tone for growth and collaborate across multiple disciplines to achieve those results. This role is critical to marrying the agency's strong culture in everything it does to the way the benefits team transforms.  This is a very active leadership role in the day-to-day operations of the agency's entire corporate benefits practice as well as the strategic responsibilities of continuously driving growth and profit.

Employee Benefits Practice Leader in Denver

Commercial Lines Marketing Manager – Memphis, TN

The Commercial Lines Marketing Director is an exciting, highly integrated role within this insurance brokerage that will be the knowledge source and placement expert for high level property and casualty cases.  The agency's centralized marketing department needs you to be the "doer", the person with the same impetus and expertise to get deals done as the account executives and producers.  You will be brought in on a lot of new business projects and critical renewal cases. You will help shape the interaction between the centralized marketing department and the sales and service teams showing where your team can tackle placement freeing up their responsibilities for other consultation with the client.  You will also provide a direct link between insurance companies and the agency which is in excellent standing with many of its partners. This allows you to build critical rapport to work through complex cases or ones that require special program and financing features.  

Commercial Lines Marketing Manager in Memphis

Vice President, Employee Benefits Leader – Paducah, KY

The Vice President, Employee Benefits Leader has key strategic responsibilities over the group health and wellness practice within this regional insurance brokerage.  In concert with the sales and executive team, your goal is to create and execute plans that will support revenue growth, improve operational efficiency and strengthen the agency's client service platform.  Any all resources tied to the agency's operations and client deliverables will fall under your purview including maximizing the use of technology, implementing wellness resources and hiring and training internal staff. 

Employee Benefits Leader in Paducah

Employee Benefits Producer – Charlotte, NC

The Employee Benefits Producer is a new opportunity for an experienced employee benefits producer to join a successful, highly specialized insurance agency that's based out of Charlotte with market expansion.  The division president looking for a larger group contributor akin to his own sales focus within the team.  Where some of the other producers have worked on smaller groups, he's the type of person who loves the thrill of the hunt with self-funded cases ranging from a few hundred lives to several thousand.  He would like someone with a strong benefits sales acumen to pick up that torch with him and grow the benefits practice out of Charlotte while also serving as a major resource to commercial producers in satellite offices. 

Employee Benefits Producer in Charlotte

Commercial Lines Producer – Rockford, IL

The Commercial Insurance Sales Executive is responsible for business development and direct client consulting with a unique opportunity to join this growing insurance agency in the Rockford area.  The firm’s model is built on organic growth with producers building terrific careers starting out in this same role.   The very special part of this role is that you’ll be hired as the successor on a large, established book of business.  Someone with a proven track record of new business origination and strong client retention will work closely with the senior producer to be mentored on the ins and outs of the existing accounts.  The ability to build strong relationships with C-level decision makers is key to success in this role. 

Commercial Lines Sales Producer in Rockford

For help with other opportunities or a search in insurance please reach out to Scott Thompson at sthompson@csgrecruiting or call at 515-216-5455.

Does your resume font really matter? Is Times New Roman all that bad?

Hi there Blogosphere!  This week there was an article in Bloomberg discussing the best and worst font for your resume.  The article went on and on about how using Times New Roman is the equivalent of wearing sweatpants to an interview.  You can read the article here:

Times New Roman = Sloppy Sweatpants

Obviously font trumps experience in every situation...

I've read this article a couple of times and I've got to tell you.  I think that the article is really wrong.   Full disclosure here, I read resumes for a living.  As a recruiter I look at probably 30 a day and I can tell you that I have never looked at a resume with a reasonable font and thought ill of them for using Times New Roman.  Instead, I can tell you that I have seen fonts that border on the ridiculous.  For instance, you should never use:

Comic Sans

Freestyle Script

Hurry UP

Old English Text

All of these make you look silly.  Instead of focusing on Times New Roman vs. Helvetica, you need to focus on content and presentation.  Below are some thoughts I’ve put together over the years that will help your resume way more than switching away from Times New Roman.  In my opinion a good resume consists of three parts:

Be action oriented

Your resume needs to show more than your duties.  Use verbs to start your bullet and describe how you did it, not what you did.  Facts and figures are really helpful!  Use strong words like developed, created, and achieved. 

Here is a bad example:

Justice League                                                                                                             Metropolis, USA

Superhero                                                                                                                     1938 – Present

• Leaps tall buildings in single bound
• More powerful than a locomotive
• Faster than a speeding bullet 

Here is a good example:

Justice League                                                                                                             Metropolis, USA

Superhero                                                                                                                    1938 – Present

• Saved city seventeen times in 2015
• Recognized as 2012 Metropolis Citizen of the year
• Apprehended Lex Luthor four times in 2011
• Successfully reduced supervillain attacks by 17% in 2014 

Make your resume easy to read and scan

A successful resume is formatted in an eye-pleasing, regular manner.  You want to follow typical formatting by using similar fonts and bold facing similar things.  Essentially, if you bold face one thing then you should bold face everything else that is similar.  Formatting should be eye catching but should not take away from the actual meat of the resume – your accomplishments.

Be relevant and concise

The goal of your resume is create interest with the potential employer so that they want to ask additional questions about.   In short it’s a one page advertisement for how awesome you are.   I don’t prescribe to the belief that a resume must be a certain length (that said – you need a ton of relevant information to go over one page) instead I follow these rules.  A resume is as long as it needs to be.  A resume should only contain relevant information.

Read the second part of the blog here!

So there you go!  What are your thoughts?  As always please leave comments below or feel free to email me at sthompson@csgrecruiting.com .  

Senior Account Manager - Employee Benefits - Troy, MI

Our client is a leading independent agency in the Detroit area. They are currently seeking a dynamic individual to join their team as a Senior Account Manager for their Employee Benefits team. This is a unique opportunity to join one of the most well respected firms in Michigan on a large, established book of business. The ideal candidate is going to thrive under the pressure of a challenging environment where top tier customer service is a must.

Senior Account Manager, Employee Benefits Responsibilities

Provide marketing and client services for designated prospects and clients.

Independently manage the market submission (RFP) process, secure information to effectively market to all carrier partners, prepare all new and renewal submissions for marketing, request data from insurance companies, review proposals and complete benefit and rate comparison, and communicate strategies with the client.

Stay abreast of markets, products, and carrier competitiveness to provide a comprehensive product portfolio to the client.

Act as a liaison between the client and insurance companies in order to resolve all normal service issues regarding billing, claims, eligibility, and other customer service issues.

Senior Account Manager, Employee Benefits Requirements

7-10 years of applicable experience in a brokerage/retail agency environment.

MI Life/Health license required.

Experience with large self-funded medical plans necessary.

Additional designations such as RHU, REBC, and CEBS preferred.

Please contact Scott Thompson for immediate confidential consideration and additional details. 

Email: sthompson@insurance-csg.com

Phone: 515-216-5455

See our website at www.csgrecruiting.com/jobs for a complete listing of nationwide opportunities.

Check out some of my recent articles on the blog here:

Get Lucky!  Four Things you can Learn from Daft Punk's Success and Apply to your Career

Peyton Manning's Amazing Comeback and How You Can Apply it to your Career

Learning from Microsoft's Mistakes and Applying it to your Career as a Producer/Salesperson

The Six Biggest Challenges Faced by Insurance Producers

How Insurance Producers Can Use Social Networking to Increase Sales

Four Skills that Every Account Manager Needs to Succeed

Bad Customer Service Experiences

Four Keys to a Great Reference

Three Things that Account Managers Should Do

So You Just Lost the Super bowl: What’s next in your career after a big Fail!

Ouch!  If you were a Denver fan that one hurt.  In case you were under a rock I’m sure that most of you saw the Seahawks beat destroy annihilate the Denver Broncos last night.  It was ugly and the kind of game that would scar an ego even had it not been at the Super bowl.  However, the fact that it was on the biggest stage in the nation must amplify that pain even more.  In fact, the only thing more painful would have been a Bill Buckner style gaffe to end the game. 

First of all this isn't real - but its still funny and it isn't as bad as the Broncos were last night (almost)

The good news is that most of these guys will be just fine from a career perspective.  However, it got me thinking about the rest of us and how we deal with failure in our career.  Before we go any further let’s get something out of the way.  It is a foregone conclusion that you will fail at something in your career and you will probably do it multiple times.  There are so many ways you can fail – you can make a mistake, you can simply just not be as good as the other guy (see Denver Broncos), you can make a bad ethical decision.  The good thing is that since everyone does this from time to time, it isn’t the end of the world.  However, how you deal with mistakes can be.  Below are three tips for dealing with failure.  Happy Reading!

1.  Don’t cover it up!

Richard Nixon didn't resign because three low level guys broke into some hotel one night.  He got in trouble because once he knew about it he hid it and then kept hiding it even when people knew he was lying about knowing about it.   There are three universal truths about mistakes.  First, mistakes get exponentially harder to fix the longer you take to address them.  Secondly, the first assumption an outside party makes about a hidden mistake is that it is done out of self-preservation and deceit.   Finally, if you try to cover up a mistake most people assume that there is more to the story that you are hiding – simply put they believe you did it on purpose, are a bad person and you must have done more bad things.  So covering up a mistake in most cases makes it harder to solve the problem and makes people not trust you.  This isn’t good. 

2.  Own it!

So if people find covering things up distrustful then the opposite must be true as well.  People like it if you own a mistake and apologize.  This isn't a political blog but I’m going to use the current Chris Christie Scandal as an example here.  If you don’t know about the Chris Christie Scandal then you probably aren’t reading this blog as you probably didn't watch the Super bowl as well. (For the uninformed, Chris Christie, Governor of New Jersey, had someone in his administration close down lanes of the busiest highway in the world in New Jersey.  The prevailing thought is that it was done as an act of political retribution) Here’s the deal, I personally don’t believe that Christie had knowledge of the closures.  However, it doesn’t really  matter if he did or didn't, it happened on his watch and he bears some responsibility.  The real issue here is that it turned into a scandal because he denied that it occurred and blamed others.  I believe that if he had taken ownership and apologized this would be absolutely nothing. 

So, back to your career.  When you make a mistake the best course of action comes in three parts:

                1.  Admit it

                2.  Apologize

                3.  Offer a solution and ask for help

Honestly ,you just need to take your medicine and get it over with.  One caveat here – doing this won’t necessarily shield you from negative consequences but it might lessen the impact.  You might lose your job instead of going to jail or just get written up.  However, you will be in a better spot.

3.  Learn from it!

This might sound a little hokey but I once had a coach that was full of colloquialisms.  His two best were:

-There are no mistakes if you learn from them

This isn't true from a literal standpoint.  Mistakes are still mistakes and they can cost you dearly even if you take something away from it.  However, if you learn from the mistake and end up in a better place from a long term perspective then from a purely utilitarian standpoint you could say it wasn’t a mistake.  A better way to say it might be that that the detrimental value of mistakes are lessened if you learn from them.

-I don’t care if you make a mistake as long as you are going 110%

Again – not really possible as you can’t expend more than 100% of your energy.  However, what he meant here is twofold.  First, don’t live your life afraid of making mistakes as this limits you.  Second, intent does matter.  If you are trying to do the right thing and end up doing the wrong thing, things will probably be OK as long as you handle things correctly. 

So, I guess the point I’m getting at is that when you make a mistake you have two divergent paths you can take.  You can be angry, depressed or some other emotion and let the mistake dictate your path.  Or you can learn from the mistake and learn to do better in the future.  It’s your choice. 

That’s all I've got!  As always please feel free to leave comments or email me at sthompson@insurance-csg.com!

Thanks!

Check out some of my recent articles on the blog here:

Get Lucky!  Four Things you can Learn from Daft Punk's Success and Apply to your Career

Peyton Manning's Amazing Comeback and How You Can Apply it to your Career

Learning from Microsoft's Mistakes and Applying it to your Career as a Producer/Salesperson

The Six Biggest Challenges Faced by Insurance Producers

How Insurance Producers Can Use Social Networking to Increase Sales

Four Skills that Every Account Manager Needs to Succeed

Bad Customer Service Experiences

Four Keys to a Great Reference

Three Things that Account Managers Should Do

Hey Producers! Does your commission split really matter?

Hi there!  It’s been awhile since I've been on here.  I apologize for the delay.  I’m happy to say that things are going terrific here in Iowa.  Ava, my oldest, is in 1^st grade!!!! Mia, my middle one, is in her first year of preschool, and Kai, my baby, is literally running everywhere.  Life is busy here to say the least. 

As many of you know, my specialty is working with people in the insurance agency and broker world.  My area of emphasis within this are producers, account managers and account executives, value added service staff like claims and loss control, and senior management.  As I've been talking to producers lately, I've noticed a trend.  Many of the producers I’m talking to are thinking about their commission split. 

Based on my experience the typical split in the industry is a 30/30 new and renewal split.  From there the percentages go up or down based on resources and company philosophy. 

A great commission split does not mean you'll be swimming in money...

 Additionally, I see three variations on this:

Graduated Split

This is a split that I personally think is the most attractive.  How it works is that the producer’s split increases over improves based on certain trigger points – typically this is either annual new business production or overall book size.  I like this because it rewards long term success.

Unequal Split

The unequal split is a split geared towards rewarding a very specific behavior.  Typically I see this in an organization that values new business production and in it they might offer something like a 40 new 20 renewal split meaning that in order to keep up your level of income you have to keep selling new business. 

50/50 Split or higher

This split is one that many producers crave as they feel like it adequately rewards them.  However, there is a downside to this type of split.  First, in many situations the producer assumes a lot of the expenses which effectively draws the split lower.  Even if this isn't the case the increased splits means that there is less money in the pot for the agency to invest in resources for you to keep growing your book. 

So what does this all mean?  First, I think that it means that there is no magic bullet when it comes to splits.  If there was one that worked better than others then everyone would be using it.  Secondly, I think that it means that in most cases, especially in the unequal or equal split (the graduated split is a different animal that truly can offer you more in my opinion), that I would argue producers typically end up in the same spot.  What I mean by this is that if the baseline is 30/30 any change up or down in most cases reflects investments in resources or staffing.  A really high split might be attractive if you feel you can manage your expenses better than others.  The lower split might be better if you need expensive resources that are easier to swallow with the pooled resources of the entire agency. 

Ultimately, I think that producers spend too much time focused on their splits.  Although there are certain outliers where the splits are unusually low or lucrative, in most cases they are a wash from company to company.  Instead, as a producer you should be looking at if the organization can help you maximize your production and through that your earnings.  After all, a 35/35 split of a $1MM book of business is better than a 50/50 split plus expenses of a $600K book of business.

Have a great week everybody!!!

As always please let me know if you have any questions or comments.  I can be reached by email at sthompson@insurance-csg.com.  I’ll see you then!

Check out some of my recent articles on the blog here:

The Six Biggest Challenges Faced by Insurance Producers

How Insurance Producers Can Use Social Networking to Increase Sales

Four Skills that Every Account Manager Needs to Succeed

Bad Customer Service Experiences

Four Keys to a Great Reference

Three Things that Account Managers Should Do

Six Interview Tips Part I

No Degree No Job - Overcoming Education Requirements

Hello Blogosphere!!!!  I hope that you all remember me.  It’s been awhile since I’ve blogged.  I apologize for dropping out of the blog game for a while but I’ll be honest.  I just got too busy and made a calculated decision to hit the pause button until May.  Why May you might ask?  Well, I’m proud to announce that I recently completed my MBA.  Up until I gave up I was working a full time job, blogging, teaching adjunct, raising a family of three and finishing up my MBA.  Needless to say I had to let something drop.  So... now I’m back and ready to go!

Today, I’d like to talk about a situation that stonewalls many people out there – education requirements.  More and more companies are requiring that you have a degree to get the job.  At first glance this seems self-limiting.  After all, only 30% of the population holds a bachelor’s degree.  That said it is a reality that companies require it and job hunting success comes from acknowledging this and dealing with it appropriately. 

If you don't handle things right this guy will appear more qualified than you...

Why do companies require it?

Before we look at how to deal with it I think it’s important to understand why they require it.   I’d like to start by saying that this isn't intended to be a discussion of whether this practice is right or wrong or if higher education is relevant.  Regardless of what I think or anyone else – I don’t see companies changing their policies on education anytime soon.  I believe that education is important – otherwise I wouldn’t have gotten my MBA – this is not a fact.  It is a fact that many companies think education is important and will create restrictions based on it. 

Companies do this for a couple of reasons:

·         They believe that higher education teaches critical thinking skills

·         They believe that it shows you can start and complete a long term project

·         They believe that a degree is an accurate predictor of success

All of these assumptions probably have some basis in fact.  However, you need to understand that this doesn't necessarily mean that someone without a degree will make a bad employee.  As a career seeker you need to understand that this isn't a personal judgment on you.  There are thousands of examples of people that were highly successful and didn't go to college.  However, just because Steve Jobs didn’t go to college doesn't mean that a company’s assumption about education being correlated to success is incorrect.  This means that it is incumbent on you to prove that you are more like Steve Jobs and not the high school graduate serving burgers at McDonald's.   

What not to do

Don’t get mad and don’t diminish it.  When faced with the education question I come across two common arguments:

·         This is ridiculous – how can you discriminate against me?

Stop right there!  Questioning a rule by calling it stupid is probably the least persuasive argument tactic out there. In fact it feeds into the assumption that your lack of education disqualifies you.

·         Education isn't really that important – I have real world experience

I’ll give you part of this argument.  Real world experience does trump education.  However, this only works if the other alternatives only have an education and no real world experience.  If this is the case then you are probably applying or interviewing for the wrong job. 

·         Make your resume look like you graduated from college even though you didn't

This is a really tough one.  Sometimes people try to get in the door by trying to trick people into believing that they have a degree.  This can work in getting you in the door.  However, I’ll tell you right now that the feeling of being tricked usually is followed by being embarrassed.  This does not lead to job offers.

Here’s the deal.  You will never win if your argument starts with telling the company that they are wrong.    You will fail and look silly.

What can you do?

Here’s the good news.  You can overcome this and here’s how:

1.  Acknowledge your lack of degree and sell against it

This is one of the easiest ways to do this.  Tell the interviewer up front – I don’t have the required degree.  However, I still think that I would be a great fit for this because…  Can we still discuss this position?

2.  Go back to school

OK – I realize that this isn't that simple.  However, there are a lot of places that offer the ability to get your degree part time on nights and weekends over an extended period.  Here’s the kicker.  Once you start going back you can put this on your resume with an anticipated date of graduation.  This in itself may get you past the requirement.  Secondly, I think that it is fair to say that many companies look at this very favorably.  It’s really easy to go get your degree straight out of college when you have limited real world problems.  It is a major accomplishment to balance a full time job and adult life while going to school. 

3.  Achieve Industry Designations

Most places won’t look at a professional designation as a replacement for a degree.  However, most designations require a great deal of studying and a significant time replacement.  Depending on why a company requires education, they might look at this as proof that you can accomplish a long term goal and finish something that you started.

So – what do you think?  I guess that the really important takeaways from this are that education is important.  However, you can overcome the requirement by compensating for it in some way.  Have a great week and feel free to share your comments below!

Check out all of our postings here:

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